How did the english common Law begin, and how has it developed?

Answer 1

Originally law in England was 'customary' and varied from place to place. In 1154 Henry II succeeded to the throne and began a uniied system of law 'common' to the whole country, abolishing customary laws and practises. He reinvented the jury system and sent his judges out across the country on 'assizes' to hear cases. They then returned to London and discussed things with their fellow judges. In time these decisions began to be written down and eventually the system of 'precedent' became established. The judges found that they were often required to hear different cases with the same background of fact and felt that they had to follow the decision that had been arrived at in previous cases. This became known as the common law, and was in force long before Parliament obtained the power to pass 'statutory' law. The common law is not written down in any codified manner, but has to be interpreted by reading what judges have said in similar cases in the past. Torts, or negligence, are a main part of the common law. So it became held that negligence happened when someone owed a 'duty of care' to another and had broken that duty, enabling a claim for damages to be made. However, there had to be cases to decide when a duty of care was owed. So in the 19th century a judge decided the case of Donague v Stevenson where Mrs D was upset at finding a decomposing body of a slug in a bottle of ginger beer produced by S. Could S be made liable for her injuries? Yes, said the judge because it was 'reasonably foreseeable' that having bottled a slug in a soft drink, that drink was going to be sold and consumed. So the common law moved on. And that is how it has developed - by judges looking at what has happened in past cases, applying the decision - the 'ratio decidenda' - of the past to the case before him/her. The common law constantly develops - lawyers seek to make subtle distinctions between one set of facts and another, social conditions change and the judges try to adapt to meet those changes.