Common law

  • Law, policy, and regulation
  • Legal system

Definition

Common law countries are generally those that base their legal systems on that of England. In such countries, an important source of law is legal precedent or the judgment of a court, which is applied beyond the particular case in which the judgment is made.

In other words, subject to rules of hierarchy, the judgment of the court in one case can be applied as a source of law in future cases.

Examples of countries that follow the common law system: These countries would include any that were colonized by England. India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya or occupied by English settlers for e.g. Australia and the United States.

References

See also definition of legal family (ies), legal precedent, judiciary in the primer on public law and regulation. Compare and contrast civil law.

Heavily adapted from: Berkeley School of Law, The Common law and Civil law Traditions, 2010 the Robbins Collection, available at: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/CommonLawCivilLawTraditions.pdf, accessed on 1 November 2024