Common Law

General ideas about common law

The common law is sometimes referred as case law (individual cases) the judges check the previous cases then follow the doctrine (Doctrine of precedent). The common law is found in the records of several courts of justice, in books of reports and judicial decisions, in treatises of learned sages of the profession, proscribed and handed down to us from the times of ancient antiquity. They are the laws which gave rise and origin to that collection of maxims and customs.

General ideas about common law

Sources of common law: law made by judges by case by case Others Sources of English law: -European Human Rights -Law of EU Statute: Made by parliament William Blackstone made 4 volumes of all the corpus of the common law, he joined the decisions of the last judges and give a manual. Abraham Lincoln used to red Blackstone.

History
Building

upon this foundation, the norman kings after the conquest in 1066 (by William the Conqueror) developed more effective ways of centralizing royal government.
The

anglo-saxon kings of england regularly summoned the bishops and great men of the kingdom to a council which advised the king and occasionally served as a court of justice. This court calls

The curia regis

By the end of the eleventh century the king was entrusting business to his Curia, a body of officials appointed from the ranks of the highest noblemen, church leaders, and officers of the royal court. With the king, the Curia Regis administered all of the king's business financial, legislative, and judicial. From the Curia Regis developed the common-law courts, the Chancery, and even the Parliament.

We have a court but What about the limits of the court?

Magna Carta

Magna Carta was the first grant by an English king to set detailed limits on royal authority. Through its statement of liberties, it sought to prevent the king from exploiting his power in arbitrary ways and it made clear that the king was subject to the law, not above it

The Magna Carta is one of the oldest documents supporting challenges against arbitrary government and the divine right of kings. However, the Magna Carta slowly grew in stature and is credited with hastening historical trends in the growth of Common Law and civil rights both in England and its American colonies.

Only three of the original clauses in Magna Carta are still law.

One defends the freedom and rights of the English church

Another confirms the liberties and customs of London and other towns The third is the most famous, says:

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled . nor will we proceed with force against him . except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.

Henry II: Father of common law

Father

of common law He made use of juries and reintroduced the sending of justice (sending judges) on regular tours of the country to hear cases for the crown.

Henry introduces 18 judges that rotate in all the country because they can be corrupted if they stayed a long time in a particular area. So, the judges have a common idea of law, not a particular for a shire.
The system of judges replace vendetta; the people not to take the law into their own hands. The court underpin the order.

 The

earliest law reports are knows as the yearbooks (this contain doctrines, concepts and methods).

Important cases in common law

Lloyds Bank plc v Rosset [1990] UKHL 14, [1991] AC 107 Miliangos v George Frank Ltd. [1976] AC 443 Pickstone v Freemans plc [1989] AC 66 Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) v Hart [1992] UKHL 3,

Lloyds Bank plc v Rosset [1990] UKHL 14, [1991] AC 107

English property law dealing with the rights of cohabitees. The case establishes that contributing to the cost of running a house does not, in itself, create a beneficial interest.

Miliangos v George Frank Ltd. [1976] AC 443

Is a leading decision of the House of Lords enforcement of debts. The case created the Miliangos rule that allows creditors under a contract to obtain judgment under a foreign currency. The Lords stated that the date of payment would be the date of conversion to the foreign currency.

Pickstone v Freemans plc [1989] AC 66

Miss Pickstone brought a claim against her employer under the Equal Pay Act 1970. She was employed as a warehouse operative and was paid the same as male warehouse operatives. However, Miss Pickstone claimed that the work of the warehouse operatives was of equal value to that done by male warehouse checkers who were paid 1.22 per week more than she was. UK act doesn't accord with some features of European law The House of Lords decided that the literal approach would have left the United Kingdom in breach of its Treaty obligations to give effect to an EU directive. So the court interpret literally meaning for UK act that agree with EU law.

Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) v Hart [1992] UKHL 3

The court established the principle that when primary legislation is ambiguous then, in certain circumstances, the court may refer to statements made in the House of Commons or House of Lords in an attempt to interpret the meaning of the legislation. Before this ruling, such an action would have been seen as a breach of parliamentary privilege

Judicial Interpretation

Common law is comprised of the guidelines that are set forth from case law rather than actual legislature. Such case law represents all previous decisions made by judges according to the cases that came before them, which then act as a basis for judicial interpretation. Such interpretation constitutes how exactly courts provide their interpretation of the law as we see by way of the constitution as well as other areas of legislation.

.- Forbidden vehicles in the park. .- A wheelchair is a vehicle? .-No .-Why not? .- Because the judge only stay in the 4 corners of an act, the interpretation don't go further more than the unambiguous interpretation of an statute.

Bibliography

The Politics of Law by Geary, Morrison and Jago, 2nd Ed. Chapter 3 pp 31-61 English Common Law: Structure and Principles given by Professor Adam Gearey in University of London. (https://www.coursera.org/course/engcomlaw)