BRITISH INSTITUTION LECTURE 1 : "THE ORIGINS OF COMMON LAW"

Flashcards with vocabulary terms and definitions related to the origins of common law.

Common law

The decisions of judges in courts are of central importance, and earlier court decisions by higher courts are binding on judges who decide later cases.

Feudalism

A form of property holding and land tenure in the Middle Ages whereby the Crown owned all of the Realm and portioned it out to the nobles.

Fief

A piece of land given to someone by their lord, to whom they had a duty to provide particular services in return.

Unitary system

A system that concentrates power in a single body, rather than sharing it with more local bodies.

Curia Regis

Also known as the King's Court, it was the main court in early Norman England and laid the foundations of the common law system.

Magnum Concilium

The enlarged curia regis, also known as the great council, used for state trials and civil disputes.

Justitiari Errantes

Traveling justices who travelled around the country managing Eyre Courts during the reign of Henry I.

General Eyre

Dispatching a group of royal justices to visit all the counties in England over a given period of time, with authority to cover both civil and criminal cases.

Assizes

A. courts that convened in a town periodically, rather than being permanently established. B. trial by jury in English law.

Writs

A brief administrative order, authenticated by a seal; under Henry II, they became available for purchase by private individuals seeking justice.

Common Law

A body of rules and principles which have developed from the precedents of the old courts rather than laws made by legislatures and politicians.

Due Process

The legal right to be treated equally and fairly.

Case Law

Law that is based on judicial decisions rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations.

Statute law

All statutes (acts) passed by the Parliament.

Equity

A system of jurisprudence founded on principles of natural justice and fair conduct, supplementing common law and mitigating its inflexibility.

Chancery

A/ In England, formerly, the highest court of judicature next to the Parliament, exercising jurisdiction at law, but chiefly in equity; B/ In the United States, a court of equity.

Chancellor

The chief judge of a court of chancery.

Ad hoc

For a particular purpose.

Discretionary

Left to one's discretion; regulated by one's own choice.

Unconscionable

Unreasonable, unscrupulous, excessive.

Remedy

A way of solving a problem or ordering someone to make a payment for harm or damage they have caused, using a decision made in a law court

Maxim

A short statement of a general truth, principle, or rule for behavior.

Ratio decidendi

A Latin term meaning 'the reason for deciding'; a statement of the law on which a decision is founded.

Obiter dicta

Meaning 'things said by the way'; statements of law that are not essential to the court's decision.