Common law
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The common law is the legal system developed in England beginning around 1500, and continued in the United States, whereby legal rules are based on court decisions (precedents) rather than statutes passed by the legislatures.
Even today in England and the United States judges will apply the common law in the absence of a statute governing a dispute. All states use the common law tradition except for Louisiana, which uses the French civil law tradition consisting of countless statutes to govern all potential disputes.