Q.
What do you understand by "Common Law"
A.
That part of the law of England formulated, developed and administered by the old common law courts, based originally on the common customs of the country and unwritten.
It is opposed
- to equity (the body of rules administered by the Court of Chancery);
- to statute law (the law laid down in Acts of Parliament);
- to special law (the law administered in special courts such as ecclesiastical law and the law merchant); and
- to the civil law (the law of Rome).
It is the 'common sense of the community, crystallised and formulated by our forefathers'. It is not the local law, nor the result of legislation.
Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman Kings and their Barons began to unify the previously existing local systems of law and to make it into one which was applied in a uniform way to the country as a whole. This became the 'common law'.
More formal court structures and procedures emerged by the 12th century and representatives of the King were sent out to the Shires to administer justice.
The term 'common law' is still in use today. It helps to distinguish the rules of law that evolved through the old court cases from the rules that are made by Parliament. These rules, influenced by the common law forms of action still shape today the issues we now refer to as 'contract', 'tort' and the like.
The use of the term 'common law' also helps to distinguish this system of law from codified systems of law such as those prevailing in many European countries and the Unites States. The term 'common law' has therefore come to mean those systems of law that are based upon the English legal system. Countries such as Australia, Canada and India are good examples of common law jurisdictions.
Ref:
http://nuweb2.northumbria.ac.uk/bedemo/sources_of_english_law/page_05.htm