Читать книгу Глоссарий юридической терминологии (Glossary of legal Terminology) онлайн

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English law is the legal system of England and most of the states of the British Commonwealth of Nations and the United States. English law can be divided into two inextricably linked branches: general (or case law) and the law of statutes – acts of Parliament.

The essence of English common law is that the courts create it. Thus, in the course of hearings, based on the principle of stare decisis ("strictly adhering to what was decided earlier"), apply legal precedents to the facts and circumstances of each particular trial. The degree of legal force of judicial decisions depends on the court's position in the hierarchy of the judicial system. The hierarchy's highest court of appeal decisions is a binding legal precedent for application by lower courts.

Statutes are a codified reflection of case law since they are sets of rules from judicial precedents. The Parliament only has to bring the process to a logical conclusion by adopting the so-called "acts on legal reforms," amending the existing statutes, and formalizing the already actively applied law norms.