common law en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English comun lawe, comune lawe (“general law, common law”), from comun (“shared, universal”) + lawe (“law”), referring to the law's uniform nature throughout a jurisdiction. Compare Medieval Latin lex commūne, iūs commūne and Anglo-Norman commune lei.
Meanings
- (uncountable) Law developed by judges, courts, and agency adjudicatory tribunals, through their decisions and opinions (also called case law) (as opposed to statutes promulgated by legislatures, and regulations promulgated by the executive branch).
- (uncountable) Legal system mainly in England and its former colonies with a heavy emphasis on judge-made law, doctrines deduced by casuistry rather than from general principles, and law distributed among judicial decisions rather than codified statutes (as opposed to civil law).
- (historical, uncountable) Body of law and procedure administered in certain courts (known as law courts) in England and its former colonies characterized by a rigid system of writs, with a limited set of remedies (as opposed to equity or admiralty).
- (qualifier:Scots law; Roman-Dutch law; Scots law; Roman-Dutch law, uncountable) Law of general application throughout a country, province, or state as opposed to law having only a special or local application
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| common-law | alternative, attributive | lexicographic |
Coordinates
admiralty · statute · canon law · ecclesiastical law · constitutional law · Roman law · civil law · regulatory law · equity · delegated legislation · statutory law
Deriveds
Synonyms
judge-made law · jus commune · decisional law · precedential law · case law
Translations (30)
km ច្បាប់សាមញ្ញ (law of general application) · pl prawo powszechne (law of general application) · fi tapaoikeus (law of general application) · fr droit commun (law of general application) · ro drept comun (law of general application) · pl prawo precedensowe (legal system of England and its former colonies) · cmn 普通法 (legal system of England and its former colonies) · sv anglosaxisk rätt (legal system of England and its former colonies) · fi tapaoikeus (legal system of England and its former colonies) · enm comun lawe (legal system of England and its former colonies) · th คอมมอนลอว์ (law of general application) · vi thông luật (legal system of England and its former colonies) · fi common law (legal system of England and its former colonies) · la ius commune (law of general application) · it diritto comune (law of general application) · fr common law (legal system of England and its former colonies) · id hukum umum (law of general application) · et üldine õigus (law of general application) · af gemene reg (law of general application) · cmn 普通法 (law of general application) · hu szokásjog (legal system of England and its former colonies) · de common law (legal system of England and its former colonies) · sv angloamerikansk rätt (legal system of England and its former colonies) · pt common law (legal system of England and its former colonies) · ka საერთო სამართალი (legal system of England and its former colonies) · ja 慣習法 (law of general application) · ru о́бщее пра́во (law of general application) · no common law (legal system of England and its former colonies) · hu angolszász jogrendszer (legal system of England and its former colonies) · scn dirittu cumuni (law of general application)