Basic Principles of Common Law

Statutes which reflect English common law are interpreted in light of the common law tradition, and so may leave a number of things unsaid because they are already understood from the point of view of pre-existing case law and custom.

Codification is the process where a statute is passed with the intention of restating the common law position in a single document rather than creating new offences, so the common law remains relevant to their interpretation. This is why even today American law schools teach the common law of crime as practices in England in 1750, since the colonies (and subsequently the states) deviated from the common law as practiced in England only after that date.

By contrast to the statutory codifications of common law, some laws are purely statutory, and may create a new cause of action beyond the common law. An example is the tort of wrongful death, which allows certain persons, usually a spouse, child or estate, to sue for damages on behalf of the deceased. There is no such tort in English common law; thus, any jurisdiction that lacks a wrongful death statute will not allow a lawsuit for the wrongful death of a loved one. Where a wrongful death statute exists, the damages or compensation available are limited to those outlined in the statute (typically, an upper limit on the amount of damages). Courts generally interpret statutes that create new causes of action narrowly – that is, limited to their precise terms – because the courts generally recognize the legislature as being supreme in deciding the reach of judge made law unless such statute should violate some "second order" constitutional law provision.

Where a tort is grounded in common law, then all damages traditionally recognized historically for that tort may be sued for, whether or not there is mention of those damages in the current statutory law. For instance, a person who sustains bodily injury through the negligence of another may sue for medical costs, pain, suffering, loss of earnings or earning capacity, mental and emotional distress, loss of quality of life and more. These damages need not be set forth in statute as they already exist in the tradition of common law.

Magna Carta

Magna Carta is a document that marked a decisive step forward in the development of constitutional government and legal ideas in England. In later centuries, much of the rest of the world also benefited from Magna Carta because many countries followed English models in creating their own governments. These countries include the United States and Canada. The Latin words Magna Carta mean Great Charter. English barons forced King John to approve the Charter in June 1215 at Runnymede, southwest of London. In the Charter, the king granted many rights to the English aristocracy. The ordinary people gained little. But many years later, Magna Carta became a model for those who demanded democratic government and individual rights for all. In its own time, the greatest value of Magna Carta was that it limited royal power and made it clear that even the king had to obey the law.

Reasons for the charter. From the Norman invasion of England in 1066 through the 1100's, most of the kings who ruled England were able and strong. They usually tried to govern justly and respected feudal law. Under feudal law, nobles called barons received land in return for military and other services to the king. But there was no actual control over the kings' power. When John became king in 1199, he exercised his power even more forcefully than earlier kings. He demanded more military service than they did. He sold royal positions to the highest bidders. He demanded larger amounts of money without consulting the barons, which was contrary to feudal custom. He decided cases according to his wishes, and people who lost cases in his court had to pay crushing penalties.

English barons and church leaders began to express dissatisfaction with John's rule early in his reign. Their unhappiness grew when he lost most of the English possessions in France in war lasting from 1202 to 1206. In 1213, a group met at St. Albans, near London, and drew up a list of demands based in part on the coronation charter of Henry I, who had been king from 1100 to 1135. After John lost an important battle against France at Bouvines (in what is now western Belgium) in 1214, civil war broke out in England. John saw that he could not defeat his opponents' army, and so he agreed to a set of articles on June 15, 1215. Four days later, the articles were engrossed (written out in legal form) as a royal charter. Copies of the charter were distributed throughout the kingdom.

Promises in the Charter. Magna Carta contained 63 articles, most of which pledged the king to uphold feudal customs. These articles chiefly benefited the barons and other landholders. One article granted the church freedom from royal interference. A few articles guaranteed rights to residents of towns. Ordinary free people and peasants were hardly mentioned in the charter, even though they made up by far the largest part of England's population.

Some articles, that in 1215 applied only to feudal landholders, later became important to all the people. For example, the charter stated that the king could make no special demands for money without the consent of the barons. Later, this provision was used to support the argument that no tax should be raised without the consent of Parliament. Still other articles became foundations for modern justice. One article says that the king will not sell, deny, or delay justice. Another says that no freeman shall be imprisoned, deprived of property, exiled, or destroyed, except by the lawful judgment of his peers (equals) or by the law of the land. The idea of due process of law, including trial by jury, developed from these articles. In John's time, however, there was no such thing as trial by jury in criminal cases.

Magna Carta tired to make the king keep his promises by establishing a council of barons. If the king violated the Charter and ignored warnings of the council, the council could raise an army to force the king to live by the charter's provisions, but these measures were unsuccessful.

The Charter after 1215. Magna Carta did not end the struggle between John and the barons. Neither side intended to abide by the charter completely. Pope Innocent III canceled the Charter at the king's request, and war broke out immediately. After John's death in 1216, however, his son Henry III and later English kings promised to abide by the Charter. The most famous of these promises was that of Edward I in 1297. Through these promises, the Charter came to be recognized as part of the fundamental law of England.

In the 1600's, members of Parliament used Magna Carta to rally support in their struggle against the strong rule of the Stuart kings. These lawmakers came to view the Charter as a constitutional check on royal power. They cited it as a legal support for the argument that there could be no laws of taxation without the consent of Parliament. These members of Parliament used the charter to demand guarantees of trial by jury, safeguards against unfair imprisonment, and other rights.

In the 1700's, Sir William Blackstone, a famous lawyer, set down these ideals as legal rights of the people in his famous Commentaries on the Laws of England. Also in the 1700's, colonists carried these English ideals on legal and political rights to America. The ideals eventually became part of the framework of the constitution of the United States.

Four originals of the 1215 Charter remain. Two are in the British Library in London, one is Salisbury Cathedral, and one in Lincoln Cathedral. For many years, the document was commonly known as Magna Charta, but in 1946, the British government officially adopted the Latin spelling, Magna Carta.

THE PLANTAGENETS (1216 – 1347)

The Plantagenet period was dominated by three major conflicts at home and abroad. Edward I attempted to create a British empire dominated by England, conquering Wales and pronouncing his eldest son Prince of Wales, and then attacking Scotland. Scotland was to remain elusive and retain its independence until late in the reign of the Stuart Kings. In the reign of Edward III the Hundred Years War began, a struggle between England and France. At the end of the Plantagenet period, the reign of Richard II saw the beginning of the long period of civil feuding known as the War of the Roses. For the next century, the crown would be disputed by two conflicting family – the Lancaster and the York.

The period also saw the development of new social institutions and a distinctive English culture. Parliament emerged and grew. The judicial reforms begun in the reign of Henry II were continued and completed by Edward I. Culture began to flourish. Three Plantagenet kings were patrons of Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry. During the early part of the period, the architectural style of the Normans gave way to the Gothic, in which style Salisbury Cathedral was built. Westminster Abbey was rebuilt and the majority of English cathedrals remodeled. Franciscan and Dominical orders began to be established in England, while the universities of Oxford and Cambridge had their origins in this period.

Amidst the order of learning and art, however, were disturbing new phenomena. The outbreak of Bubonic plague or the "Black Death" served to undermine military campaigns and cause huge social turbulence, killing half the country's population. The price rises and labor shortage which resulted led to social unrest, culmination in the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.