What is common law?

Question

What do you think common law is? NO FUNNY ANSWERS

Answer 1

It can also mean a couple living together.
In Ontario, if you live together in the same dwelling for 2 or more years you are considered common law, basically married without papers or a certificate.
If you have a child, buy a house, car furniture together, the courts will consider you two to be married, for the division of property, and child support considerations.

Answer 2

Common Law refers to English common law. A set of judicial rules that are not written in statute , but rather implied by them. It means how a court has historically ruled on an issue based on customs and practices.

Much of our laws today are still based on this custom because legislatures are too lazy to write good laws. Why we still use English common law is beyond me. We left England 230 years ago to break away from the English rulers.

"Common Law Marriage" was a result of this tradition during divorce trials when a husband wanted to avoid paying alimony to his wife. In those days there was often no written records of marriages so the judge had to go on the testimony of witnesses that two people were living as though married, (or had been married.)

Answer 3

The common law forms a major part of the law of many countries, especially those with a history as British territories or colonies. It is notable for its inclusion of extensive non-statutory law reflecting precedent derived from centuries of judgments by working jurists.

There are three important connotations to the term.

One is used to distinguish the authority that promulgated a particular proposition of law: for example, the United States typically has "statutes" enacted by a legislature, "regulations" promulgated by executive branch agencies pursuant to a delegation of rule-making authority from a legislature, and "common law" decisions issued by courts (or quasi-judicial tribunals within agencies) that discuss and decide the fine distinctions in statutes and regulations. See statutory law and non-statutory law.

The second distinguishes "common law" jurisdictions (most of which descend from the English legal system) that place great weight on such common law decisons, from "civil law" or "code" jurisdictions (many of which descend from the Napoleonic code) in which the weight accorded judicial precedent is much less.

The third distinguishes "common law" (or just "law") from "equity". Until the beginning of the 20th Century, most common law jurisdictions had two parallel court systems, courts of "law" that could only award money damages and recognised only the legal owner of property, and courts of "equity" that recognised trusts of property and could issue injunctions, orders to do or stop doing something. Although the separate courts were merged long ago in most jurisdictions, or at least all courts were permitted to apply both law and equity, the distinction between law and equity remains important in (a) categorising and prioritising rights to property, (b) determining whether the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of a jury trial applies (a determination of a fact necessary to resolution of a "law" claim) or whether the issue can only be decided by a judge (issues of equity), and (c) in the principles that apply to the grant of equitable remedies by the courts.

Many important areas of law are governed primarily by common law. For example, in England and Wales and in most states of the United States, the basic law of contracts and torts does not exist in statute, but only in common law. In almost all areas of the law, statutes may give only terse statements of general principle, but the fine boundaries and definitions exist only in the common law. To find out what the law is, you have to locate precedential decisions on the topic, and reason from those decisions by analogy.

Answer 4

Common law is law that isn't actually written down in legislature, but is just accepted as law. Like murder, for example. In the UK there is actually no specific law against murder in any statute books, it's just known and accepeted to be illegal.

Answer 5

Common Law vs. Civil Law.

Common law is based on precedent set in past judicial decisions.

Civil law is code based.

Answer 6

LOL!! Darn... I had my jokes ready to go