O law[2] common is a system[3] It emphasises the importance of legal precedents and decisions, mainly derived from judicial decisions, as distinct from statutory and regulatory law. Originating in England after the Norman Conquest, it emphasises the importance of judicial precedents and court decisions. court[4] in the creation of legal principles. Common law systems, spread globally through the British Empire, allow judges to create law where there is no statute, in contrast to systems of civil law[1] that restrict judicial interpretation. Historically, common law courts were separate from courts of equity, which could provide remedies beyond monetary damages. The merger of these courts integrated legal and equitable principles. Key features include the significance of previous court decisions, the ability of judges to interpret and apply the law[5]and a flexible approach to legal reasoning that evolves through published and indexed court decisions.
Common law (from English "common law") is the law which developed in certain countries through the decisions of the courtsand not through acts legislative or executives. It is therefore a family of law different from roman-german family (civil law), which emphasises legislative acts. Its cradle and most paradigmatic case is the English law.
In countries that adopt the common lawLaw is created or perfected by judgesA decision to be made in a case depends on decisions made in previous cases (precedents) and affects the law to be applied to future cases. In this system, when there is no precedent, judges have the authority to create law by establishing a new precedent. The set of precedents is called common law and binds future decisions. When the parties disagree on the applicable law, a court would ideally look for a solution among the precedent decisions of the competent courts. If a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is obliged to follow the reasoning used in that previous decision (a principle known as stare decisis). However, if the court concludes that the dispute under examination is fundamentally different from all previous cases, it will rule as a "matter of first impression" (matter of first impression). Subsequently, such a decision will become a precedent and will bind future courts on the basis of the principle of the "rule of law". stare decisis.
In practice, the common law are considerably more complex than the idealised functioning described above. A court's decisions are binding only in a jurisdiction and, even within a certain jurisdiction, some courts have more power than others. For example, in most jurisdictions, the decisions of a court of appeal are binding on the lower courts of that jurisdiction and on future decisions of the court of appeal itself, but the decisions of the lower courts are only "persuasive", not binding. Furthermore, the interaction between the common lawIn addition, constitutional law, legislative law and administrative regulations cause considerable complexity. However stare decisisThe principle that similar cases should be decided according to the same rules is at the heart of all legal systems. common law.
The common law have been adopted by several countries around the world, especially those that inherited from the England its legal system, such as the United Kingdommost of the United States, Canada, Australia and the other formercolonies of British Empiresuch as India e South AfricaThe latter countries have adopted an adapted version of the common law.
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