Common law

The common law is the system of judge-madelaw that originates in the King's courts of medieval England and which has since been received to the former colonies of the British Empire.

During the 12th century, Henry II established a system of travelling judges, who decided on cases and enforced a set of laws common to all England. Over time, the precedent of the judges's decisions evolved into a sophisticated system of common law, which constituted the main form of lawmaking in England for hundreds of years. Today, the term 'common law' refers to both the historically-English legal system that recognises the ability of judges to create rules binding on future courts as well as the body of laws that emerges from such systems.

Compared to the civil law tradition of much of Continental Europe, the common law tradition has markedly less, though still significant, influence from Roman law, and has less tendency to be codified, leaving common law judges broader discretion in statutory interpretation and performing a quasi-legislative function in adjudication. Nonetheless, some countries, such as South Africa and Scotland, have mixed jurisdictions that incorporate both common law and civil law elements. The common law can also be distinguished from valid laws that are created by other judicial or legislative systems, including statutes, the law of equity, and religious laws such as the canon law or sharia.

Today, approximately one-third of the world's population lives in common law jurisdictions or in mixed legal systems, including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, and the United States.