common law is an English expression that can be translated as "common law". It is used to refer to a legal system in which judicial decisions that arise from other decisions already given in Courts.
This means that the rules in the common law - unlike what happens in other legal systems - they do not originate in legislative processes (laws). At the common law, the jurisprudence is the main source of law.
The system common law it is adopted in many countries, especially where there is some connection or heritage from the legal system in England. The system is in effect in most parts of the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada.
How does the common law?
In this system, the application of the law is different from the way it happens in Brazil, where the laws are applied to the specific case of the analyzed process.
In the system common law, which has a very formal legal system, decisions originate in jurisprudence, that is, in the decisions that are given in court proceedings.
In the judgment of a case, similar arguments are used for the decision, already used in other similar cases. Thus, the judgments of previous proceedings form the basis of the decisions given in the common law.
However, laws also exist and have their importance in this system. But the decisions first consider jurisprudence as a source of law and the procedural discussion is based on processes of similar cases that have already been tried at an earlier time.
Learn more about the meaning of jurisprudence.
Origin of common law
O common law is a very old system that was created and initially used in England, in a period between the 12th and 12th centuries. At that time, decisions were fundamentally based on an appreciation of traditional habits and social mores.
Some scholars of law relate its emergence to the historical episode of the Norman Conquest, when the United Kingdom was occupied by the army of Normandy (extinct Duchy of Normandy, which existed between the years 911 and 1204).
Henry II, who was Duke of Normandy, created this legal system based on habits and customs. The system should be common to the entire region - that's why it ended up named as common law.
common law and civil law
common law it's the civil law they are two different legal systems, that is, they are two ways of applying the law. Ocivil law is the system adopted in Brazil, which privileges the application of what is determined in the law, that is, the law as the primary source of law.
However, it is important to know that this does not mean that the civil law disregard the existence of jurisprudence. In Brazil, for example, existing decisions are also used as a source of consultation and can be used both in procedural manifestations and in the grounds for decisions.
Read here the meaning of law.
The sources of law
One of the differences that can be pointed out between the two methods is precisely the order of importance given to the sources of law.
At the common law, jurisprudence and law are considered individually, they are used as if they were two different systems.
already in the civil law, the law is the first source of law used. Jurisprudence and other sources are used in a secondary way to reinforce the idea contained in the legislation.
Also know the meaning of Right, Civil right and natural law.