page_title: Common law
section_title: Civil law systems—comparisons and contrasts to common law
hierarchical_section_title: Common law / Alternatives to common law systems / Civil law systems—comparisons and contrasts to common law
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Јустинијанов зборник (Corpus Iuris Civilis) - Насловна страна Готофредусовог издања из 1583. године.
context_page_description: In law, common law is the body of law derived from judicial decisions of courts and similar tribunals. The defining characteristic of “common law” is that it arises as precedent. In cases where the parties disagree on what the law is, a common law court looks to past precedential decisions of relevant courts, and synthesizes the principles of those past cases as applicable to the current facts. If a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is usually bound to follow the reasoning used in the prior decision. If, however, the court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally distinct from all previous cases, and legislative statutes are either silent or ambiguous on the question, judges have the authority and duty to resolve the issue. The court states an opinion that gives reasons for the decision, and those reasons agglomerate with past decisions as precedent to bind future judges and litigants. Common law, as the body of law made by judges, stands in contrast to and on equal footing with statutes which are adopted through the legislative process, and regulations which are promulgated by the executive branch.
context_section_description: The main alternative to the common law system is the civil law system, which is used in Continental Europe, and most of Central and South America.
caption: A 16th century edition of Corpus Juris Civilis Romani (1583)
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