| 1. | the system of law originating in England, as distinct from the civil or Roman law and the canon or ecclesiastical law. |
| 2. | the unwritten law, esp. of England, based on custom or court decision, as distinct from statute law. |
| 3. | the law administered through the system of courts established for the purpose, as distinct from equity or admiralty. |
[kom-uhn-law] 
| of, pertaining to, or established by common law: a common-law spouse. |
| common law n. The system of laws originated and developed in England and based on court decisions, on the doctrines implicit in those decisions, and on customs and usages rather than on codified written laws. |
Law developed in the course of time from the rulings of judges, as opposed to law embodied in statutes passed by legislatures (statutory law) or law embodied in a written constitution (constitutional law). (See stare decisis.)
Note: The importance of common law is particularly stressed in the legal system of Britain, on which the legal system of the United States is based.