Definition of "common law" [common law]

• The system of laws originated and developed in England and based on court decisions, on the doctrines implicit in those decisions, and on customs and usages rather than on codified written laws. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The abstrusest elements of the common law are impressed into a disciplined service."
• "If the Council deems any derogation from the common law useful, it ought to send a postulatum to the pope."
• "Rescripts contrary to common law contain a derogatory clause: all things to the contrary notwithstanding."