COMMON, is a right of privilege which one or more persons claim to take or use, in some part or portion of that, which another man's lands, waters, woods, &c. naturally produce, without having an ab solute property in such lands, woods, waters, &c.
Commoisr law, that body of rules re ceived as law in England, before any sta tute was enacted in parliament to alter the same.
The common law is grounded upon the general customs of the realm, including the law of nature, the law of God, and the principles and maxims of law ; it is also founded on reason, as said to be the perfection of reason, acquired by long study, observation, and experience, and refined by the learned in all ages. It may likewise be said to be the common birth. right that the subject has for the safeguard and defence not only of his goods, lands, and revenues, but of his wife, children, life, fame, &c. Our common law, it is said, after the heptarchy, was collected together into a body by divers of our an cient kings, who commanded that it should be observed through the king dom ; and it was therefore called common law, because it was common to the whole nation, and before only affected certain parts thereof, being anciently called the sole right, that is the right of the peo ple.
The common law of England is, pro perly, the common customs of this king dom ; which, by length of time, have ob tained the force of laws. The goodness of a custom depends upon its having been used time out of mind ; or, in the solem nity of our legal phrase, time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. This gives it its weight and au thority; and of this nature are the maxims and customs which compose the common law, or lex non scripta, of this kingdom. This unwritten, or common law, is properly distinguished into three kinds : 1. General customs, which are the uni versal rule of the whole kingdom, and form the common law in its stricter and more useful signification. 2. Particular customs, which, for the most part, affect only the inhabitants of particular dis tricts. 3. Certain particular laws, which by custom are adopted and used by some particular courts of pretty general and extensive jurisdiction.