Common Law

Common law is the judge-made law developed in England after the Norman Conquest. The judges rode in circuits to different locations where court would be held. After about 1080, they began to decide cases between the people—none of whom were English, but were rather Celtic remnants, Saxons, Angles, Danes, Norsemen, Britons, and others who would eventually meld together to become English.

Between 1100 and 1300, the traveling judges developed the law common to all of England. In London, where they would return after they had finished riding their circuits to hear cases, they had their permanent residences and would meet in inns. From these meetings were established permanent legal institutions that have continued until the present as the Inns of Court.

The decisions of the judges that ...