Understanding Common Law in Nevada: Essential Information and Considerations
What is Common Law?
Common law refers to the body of unwritten laws that have been established through widespread and continuous legal custom and judicial opinion. This historical precedent for law is used as part of the body of law in which a case is found. Under common law, the weight of the authority of past rulings on a particular subject can be as high as statutory law, depending on the relationship between the past rulings and the current case. Judicial findings on issues of fact are not thought to create precedent under common law, as these rulings are specific to the particular case at hand and are not generalized or broadly applicable . Conversely, judicial opinions on issues of law form a body of common law that is generally accepted unless argued against in positive law. Positive law refers to statutes created by legislatures. In most modern legal systems, statutes and common law supplement each other and are used together to adjudicate disputes. The differences between the two chiefly relates to their derivation. A statute is expressly written law that lists the elements of a law. Common law is an unwritten body of law derived from customs and general principles. Common law precedents are used to fill in the gaps of statutory law and guide the court in making the proper decision.