Best Law Talks

Common Law is a system of law that depends on previous judicial judgements or precedents to establish law.  

By way of contrast,  statutory law creates law with the successful statutes of a legislative body and regulatory law utilizes requirements and obligations handed down by members of the executive branch to form law.  Consitutional law predicates its laws upon the articles of the Constitution.

A governing principle of common law is stare decisis which in short means that if the components of a case are materially the same as a previously decided case then a similar result must be reached.

kevin What Is ...? Common Law, Due Process, Executive, Judicial, Legislative, Regulatory Law, Statutory Law

Stare decisis is the principle in common law that prior decisions are authoritative and binding for all cases where the facts are the same.  The implication is that any case with the same facts must be decided the same as any previously decided case.  This principle is how judicial decisions become binding precedent under common law.

The term literally means “standing by decisions” or “standing by things decided” in Latin.  It provides stability and consistency to common law rulings.

kevin What Is ...? Common Law, Judicial Law, Latin