Quote:
Originally Posted by JacktheDumb
I did learn that the US legal system is called common law. Common law means that the law of the land is what courts rule. So this guy is a ****ing idiot.
Yes, this distinguishes the 'common law' countries (those which derive their laws from England's) from Continental code-based 'civil law' or 'Roman law' countries.
In common-law jurisdictions, such as, notably, the United States of America, the courts create law by case precedent: that is, how they interpret statute in actual usage. Only in civil-law jurisdictions is law determined by the fountainhead of the published code.