Legal Definitions - Anglo-American common law

Anglo-American common law refers to a legal system that originated in England and is now foundational in many countries, including the United States, Canada (excluding Quebec), Australia, and New Zealand. Its defining characteristic is its reliance on judicial precedent, meaning that legal principles are developed and refined through the decisions of judges in individual cases, rather than primarily through comprehensive legislative codes. When a court makes a ruling, that decision serves as a binding authority for future cases with similar facts, a principle known as stare decisis. This system allows the law to evolve incrementally over time as new situations arise and are addressed by the courts.

• Example 1: Contract Formation

  Imagine a scenario where two business partners have a verbal agreement to share profits from a new venture, but they never put anything in writing. When a dispute arises over the profit distribution, a judge in a common law jurisdiction would look to a long history of court decisions concerning the elements required for a valid contract, such as offer, acceptance, and consideration. Many of these fundamental principles were not initially created by statutes but evolved through centuries of judicial rulings. The judge would apply these established common law principles to determine if a legally binding contract existed, even without a specific statute addressing "verbal business partnerships."

• Example 2: Negligence in Personal Injury

  Consider a situation where a shopper slips and falls on a wet floor in a grocery store, sustaining an injury. In an Anglo-American common law system, the shopper might sue the store for negligence. The concept of negligence, including the "duty of care" owed by property owners to their visitors, was largely developed through a series of court cases over time. While some aspects might now be codified in statutes, the core principles—such as what constitutes a reasonable standard of care or foreseeability of harm—are deeply rooted in judicial precedents. The court would refer to past rulings to assess whether the grocery store acted reasonably to prevent the accident, thereby illustrating the application of judge-made law.

• Example 3: Property Rights and Easements

  Suppose two neighbors are in a disagreement over the right to use a shared driveway that crosses one neighbor's property to access the other's land. In a common law system, the court would examine the concept of an easement, which is a legal right to use another's land for a specific purpose. The various ways easements can be created (e.g., by necessity, prescription, or implication) and their scope were largely established through judicial decisions over centuries, rather than being exhaustively defined in a single legislative code. The judge would analyze the facts of the case against these established common law principles and precedents to determine if a valid easement exists and what rights it confers, demonstrating how property law is shaped by judicial interpretation.