Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey.
Common law
| Federalism |
|---|
|
| •Key terms • Court cases •Major arguments • State responses to federal mandates • Federalism by the numbers • Index of articles about federalism |
This article does not receive scheduled updates. Please contact us with any updates.
Common law refers to a body of legal precedent that binds judicial decision-making. In a legal system based on common law, law is created and refined by courts on a case-by-case basis. In the United States, common law typically refers to the body of law and precedent that England established over centuries that contributed to and was referenced in the formation of America's legal system.
Background
Common law develops through decisions of courts rather than through legislative statutes or executive actions. Judges create and refine common law in an ongoing process. A judge's decision in a case depends on decisions from previous cases and affects the application of law in future cases. In cases where similar disputes have been resolved in the past, courts typically apply the former precedent to the new dispute under the stare decisis principle. If the court finds that a dispute is fundamentally distinct from all previous cases, judges have to set a precedent that becomes part of the common law and a guide for future decisions.[1][2]
See also
Footnotes
| ||||||||||||||||||||
