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You should thank them everyday. Common law is the secret power of a good legal system (Speaking as an American lawyer, of course). In non-common law systems, e
by pnw_hazor 7y ago
You should thank them everyday. Common law is the secret power of a good legal system (Speaking as an American lawyer, of course).
In non-common law systems, extra-judicial experts (e.g., law professors) have too much weight in interpreting laws.
If a legal hair is to be split, a common law court should do it. And, the court's holding should have precedence until a democratic legislature with jurisdiction over the issue says otherwise.
- eru 7y agoIn practice, Common Law jurisdictions and Civil Law Jurisdictions are not so different these days. (Democratic) legislation is an intruder to Common Law. And on the other hand, Civil Law systems give some at least informal weight to precedence. I don't quibble with your description of the idealized versions. See also http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Legal%20Systems/LegalSystemsContents.htm http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Legal%20Systems/LegalSystemsCo... for some alternative systems of law.
- anticensor 7y agoFully Codified Common Law would be the best of both.
- eru 7y agoWhat do you mean by that? Do you mean https://en.wikipedia.org/wik/Codification_(law) https://en.wikipedia.org/wik/Codification_(law) or writing law in computer code, or something else? If the former: Codification of Common Law is an ongoing process, and I guess will always be a bit behind the latest court rulings. (And that's by design.)