Common law
Also called: Case law, judge-made law, unwritten law
The body of law developed through court decisions rather than legislation, binding on future courts by the doctrine of precedent.
Definition
Common law is the body of legal rules developed through the decisions of courts over centuries, as opposed to statute law (Acts of Parliament) or delegated legislation. Judges do not simply apply pre-existing rules — where a case raises a novel point, the judge formulates a rule that then binds lower courts in future similar cases under the doctrine of precedent (stare decisis). Common law covers large areas of English law: contract, tort (negligence, defamation, nuisance), the law of evidence, and much of property law all developed primarily through case law. In contrast, areas such as employment rights, consumer protection, and criminal procedure are dominated by statute. The two systems interact: statutes can codify, reform, or override common law rules, but courts fill gaps in statutes by reference to common law principles. The term "common law" is also used in a comparative sense to distinguish the English legal tradition (used in England and Wales, and most Commonwealth jurisdictions) from civil law systems (used in most of Europe) that rely primarily on codified legislation rather than case-law development.
In practice
When researching a legal question, check both statute and case law — neither alone gives the full picture. All significant English judgments are published free at <a href="https://www.bailii.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BAILII (the British and Irish Legal Information Institute)</a>. Supreme Court decisions are also on the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/decided-cases/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Supreme Court website</a>. For an introduction to reading cases and statutes, see the <a href="/articles/how-to-read-a-court-judgment" class="body-link">how to read a court judgment article</a> and the <a href="/articles/how-to-read-a-statute" class="body-link">how to read a statute article</a>.