Some countries with Common Law systems do not have a codified list of all their offences,[0] meaning that a judge would have to decide whether a law even exists

Some countries with Common Law systems do not have a codified list of all their offences,[0] meaning that a judge would have to decide whether a law even exists, before someone could be prosecuted for it. As an example from that linked article, there apparently exists an offence "Concealment of treasure trove" under the common law of England, the definition of which had to be clarified in 1982 when Lord Denning "decided that objects have to be made 'substantially' gold or silver in order to qualify as Treasure Trove and he thought that they should have at least 50%."[1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law_offence#England_and_Wales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law_offence#England_and... [1] http://tartanplace.com/tartanillus/cite/treasur2.htm http://tartanplace.com/tartanillus/cite/treasur2.htm