Also known as: ius commune · common law
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A body of general law common to a country or jurisdiction as a whole. It stands in contrast to special or local law that applies only in particular places or to particular persons.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Jamal Jefferson drove his car through a red light at high speed and struck a pedestrian, killing her. The prosecutor charged involuntary manslaughter under the unlawful-act theory drawn from the general common law. Because the traffic violation supplied the predicate unlawful act, the jury could convict without proving separate criminal negligence.
Jeanette Jensen sued her former employer for unpaid severance after the company allegedly induced her to sign a reduced agreement by misrepresentation. She demanded a jury. The court denied the employer's motion to strike the demand because the action for money damages fell within the general common law category of suits that carry a jury right.
Joy Jiang, a citizen of State A, sued Jarvis Aviation in federal court in State B for breach of a service contract. The airline argued that federal courts should apply a uniform national rule. The court rejected the argument and applied State B's substantive contract rules under the general common law principle that federal courts must follow state law in diversity cases.
Jonathan Jaffe and his spouse petitioned to adopt a child in a county where they did not reside. The court dismissed the petition because adoption was unknown to the general common law and modern statutes had not yet filled the jurisdictional gap left by the UCCJEA's exclusion of adoption proceedings.
June Jiang sought to compel production of counseling notes from a licensed social worker who treated a police officer after a shooting. The court sustained the privilege claim under the general common law as interpreted by federal courts in light of reason and experience, because no federal statute or constitutional provision displaced it.
Jensen Farms left a gate open on a public road, allowing livestock to wander onto the highway. A motorist struck one of the animals and sued for negligence. The court instructed the jury that the general common law, legislative enactments, and local customs supplied the standard for determining whether the farm should have recognized the risk its conduct created.
Jus commune refers to the general law of the land that applies throughout a jurisdiction. Special or local law, by contrast, applies only to particular places or persons and does not displace the general rules unless it expressly provides otherwise.
Supporting sources
Yes. The amendment preserves the jury right in suits at common law, meaning actions that historically would have been tried under the general common law rather than in equity or admiralty. Modern claims that mirror those historical actions therefore carry the jury right.
…weights of the respective interests involved, with the lessons and examples of medical and legal history, with the lenity of the common law, and with the demands of the profound problems of the present day. The decision leaves the State free to place increasing restrictions on abortion as the period of pregnancy lengthens, so…
…constitutional freedoms of speech and press. It matters not that that law has been applied in a civil action and that it is common law only, though supplemented by statute. See, e. g., Alabama Code, Tit. 7, §§ 908-917. The test is not the form in which state power has been applied but, whatever the form, whether such power…
…treaties, or statutes of the United States otherwise require or provide, shall be regarded as rules of decision in trials at common law, in the courts of the United States, in cases where they apply." Because of the importance of the question whether the federal court was free to disregard the alleged rule of the…
…would pervert the constitutional provision into a restriction upon the rights of the citizen, as those rights stood at the common law
…been a distinction in the substantive law of property under a system quite unlike our own. Buckland and McNair, Roman Law and Common Law
Federal courts may not create a general federal common law to govern state-law claims. They must instead apply the substantive rules of the state in which they sit, including that state's conflict-of-laws rules, to avoid displacing the general common law of the states.
Adoption was unknown to the general common law and exists today only by statute. Because the UCCJEA excludes adoption proceedings and many states have not adopted the Uniform Adoption Act, jurisdictional rules for adoption cases must be supplied by other statutes or court decisions.
Rule 501 provides that the common law, as interpreted by United States courts in light of reason and experience, governs a claim of privilege unless the Constitution, a federal statute, or Supreme Court rules provide otherwise. In civil cases governed by state law, state privilege rules apply instead.
The Restatement directs courts to consider the general common law, legislative enactments, and local customs when determining whether an actor should have recognized that conduct created a risk to others. These sources supply the background knowledge against which reasonableness is measured.