Is 'English Common law a product of the free market?
If so, Statute Law might be thought of as 'nationalised law?
The difference between, what is lawful (Common Law) and what is legal (Statute Law).
And whatabout the new kid on the block - Regulatory Law?
That is, does English Common Law preserve freedom, liberty and the Rule of Law? And Statute Law and Regulatory Law restrict freedom and liberty, and compromise the Rule of Law where they conflict with Common Law?
The $64,000 question being, can we do without Statute and Regulatory Law? Relying solely on English Common Law to protect people and their property?
Asking for a friend.
4 comments:
No, 'common law' itself does not have a single definition. It can mean any of these, they overlap and what it means depends on what you are contrasting it with:
1. A tidying up exercise back in 12th - 14th century (or something ages ago) when various local laws were standardised at national level by some Kings or other.
2. Case law or precedent, i.e. courts filling in the gaps in actual statutes.
3. Common law (relates more to contracts) vs Equity law (relates to family disputes etc).
4. A general handwave meaning custom or tradition, which a Court might take into account in the absence of overriding legislation or case law.
Ta.
Query prompted by David Friedman and 'privatising the law'.
It seemed to me that the things you describe are sort of 'privatised' in the sense that most of it is not being 'designed' by government/parliament but worked out and evolved through trial (sic) and error and well, common sense.
L, it's all well and good expecting the Court system to 'protect' people after the event. (Which is a massive great scam, English courts are primarily there to generate income for lawyers, and the party with the deepest pockets wins).
But where there is complete assymetry of information or bargaining power, a little bit of pre-emptive legislation or regulation is good stuff, up to a point, like labelling ingredients (for the growing number of people with intolerances or allergies); product safety or hygiene in restaurants; or fire and insulation regs for new homes or tenants; limits on how much of what fertilisers and chemicals or fertilisers you can put on fields etc.
Obviously, this all has limits where benefits outweigh the costs or ever more arcane and pointless navel gazing shit, as we both know full well that they usually do...
MW. Yeah. The 'Topsy principle'. Let 'them' through the gap and you have no control over where it all ends up.
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