Page "Common law" Paragraph 6

Connotation 1 distinguishes the authority that promulgated a law.

For example, most areas of law in most Anglo-American jurisdictions include " statutory law " enacted by a legislature, " regulatory law " promulgated by executive branch agencies pursuant to delegation of rule-making authority from the legislature, and common law or " case law ", i. e., decisions issued by courts ( or quasi-judicial tribunals within agencies ).

This first connotation can be further differentiated into ( a ) pure common law arising from the traditional and inherent authority of courts to define what the law is, even in absence of an underlying statute, e. g., most criminal law and procedural law before the 20th century, and even today, most of contract law and the law of torts, and ( b ) court decisions that interpret and decide the fine boundaries and distinctions in law promulgated by other bodies.

This body of common law, sometimes called " interstitial common law ," includes judicial interpretations of the Constitution, of statutes, and of regulations, and examples of application of law to facts.