COMMON LAW

also called Anglo-american Law, the body of customary law, based upon judicial decisions and embodied in reports of decided cases, which has been administered by the common-law courts of England since the Middle Ages. From this has evolved the type of legal system now found also in the United States and in most of the member states of the Commonwealth of Nations. Common law stands in contrast to the rules developed by the separate courts of equity (q.v.), to statute law (i.e., the acts of legislative bodies), and to the legal system derived from civil law (q.v.) now widespread in continental Europe and elsewhere. Common law is the law that was developed in England after the Norman Conquest (1066), by judges who ruled in individual cases in the light of precedent or custom, with minimal recourse to statutes or enactments. This body of customary law continued to evolve through the end of the 18th century in England and its overseas colonies. Common law continues to undergo considerable modernization. Before the Norman Conquest the law in England was administered according to local Anglo-Saxon custom, with the church playing a major role. The Normans brought a new set of attitudes; for example, serious crimes were treated as public matters, not as matters concerning the injured only, as formerly was the case; and the power of the church was restricted to ecclesiastical courts. Although Roman law was being revived on the continent at this time, the Normans opposed its introduction into England. The Normans, in effect, created English common law by establishing a central judiciary that administered common (that is, general) laws based on the writ system. A writ is a written order requiring a person to appear and provide proof of compliance with the decision of the court or to stand trial. English statutory law owes much to Henry III (reigned 121672), under whose reign the famous legal treatise of Henry de Bracton was written, and especially to Edward I (reigned 12721307), who enacted a number of historic statutes. Among these was the first Statute of Westminster, making trial by jury compulsory in criminal cases. The enactments of Edward I were long the basis of English statute law, although some of the earlier ones are regarded as simply written reinforcements of the unwritten common law. Also during this king's reign, the professions of judge and barrister were established as full-time occupations, as opposed to functions assumed on occasion by other officials. In the late 15th century the High Court of Chancery was established to handle equity cases. This body, headed by the lord chancellor, decided cases on their individual merits. During the 16th and 17th centuries, a number of courts came into being that were outside the common law. These were known as prerogative courts, since they were set up to exercise royal power. One of them, the Court of Star Chamber, became a symbol of tyranny under the early Stuart monarchs, leading to its abolition in 1641. By the 16th century the Roman law of continental Europe was beginning at last to influence the English legal system. During the 17th century one of the strongest supporters of the common law was Sir Edward Coke, whose writings reformulated the common law and largely served to preserve it. In the 18th century Sir William Blackstone wrote his Commentaries on the Laws of England, a work that had a major role in the dissemination of knowledge of the common law, especially in America. Its four books, Persons, Things, Private Wrongs, and Public Wrongs, covered family and public law, real property, liability, and criminal law. The social and economic effects of the Industrial Revolution and the political repercussions of the French Revolution led to demands for legal reform in England. Among the major reforms undertaken in the 19th century were those according greater protection to the accused and those that codified the criminal law. The judiciary underwent a series of reorganizations beginning in 1857, when church courts were denied jurisdiction over lay matters. The Judicature Acts of 187385 brought about the merger into the High Court of Justice of a number of different courts. In the United States, English common law followed a separate development and rejected a number of specific English practices. Although common law today is still being developed by judges through case law, the trend is more and more toward a system of statute law originated by legislators. The complex societies of today appear to require centralization of law enactment and enforcement. But in the United States the existence of state sovereignty is an impediment to establishing a national code. As for England, that country's membership in the European Community may advance the process. also called Anglo-American law, the body of customary law, based upon judicial decisions and embodied in reports of decided cases, which has been administered by the common-law courts of England since the Middle Ages. From this has evolved the type of legal system now found also in the United States and in most of the member states of the Commonwealth of Nations. Common law stands in contrast to rules developed by the separate acts of equity (q.v.), to statute law (i.e., the acts of legislative bodies), and to the legal system derived from civil law (q.v.) now widespread in continental Europe and elsewhere. Additional reading A.K.R. Kiralfy, The English Legal System, 7th ed. (1984); and Philip S. James, Introduction to English Law, 11th ed. (1985), are general outlines. There are numerous general historical works, such as Edward Jenks, A Short History of English Law: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Year 1939, 6th ed. (1949); A.K.R. Kiralfy, Potter's Historical Introduction to English Law and Its Institutions, 4th ed. (1958); Theodore F.T. Plucknett, A Concise History of the Common Law, 5th ed. (1956); J.H. Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History, 2nd ed. (1979); and S.F.C. Milsom, Historical Foundations of the Common Law, 2nd ed. (1981), a difficult but classic text.For the United States, see E. Allan Farnsworth, An Introduction to the Legal System of the United States, 2nd ed. (1983), a broad study of the American legal system. A good historical treatment is Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2nd ed. (1985).General studies of other common-law nations include G.W. Paton (ed.), The Commonwealth of Australia: The Development of Its Laws and Constitution (1952); Bora Laskin, The British Tradition in Canadian Law (1969); E. McWhinney (ed.), Canadian Jurisprudence: The Civil Law and Common Law in Canada (1958); and M.C. Setalvad, The Common Law in India, 2nd ed. (1970).