i This opposition made itself first felt in the EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY (q.v.) Act of 1880, which imposed upon the master a liability in certain events for injuries sustained by his servant in the course of his employment ; and in 1897 the WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION (q.v.) Act, and ultimately the Act of 1906, imposed still more extensive liabilities upon the master. Indeed, the combined effect of the above Acts almost neutralises this doctrine in practice, and even extends to servants greater and more practical advan tages than those they would have had under the common law, had there been no doctrine of common employment. But the do nine remains in fact, and wheVe a case of injury does not come within sove Acts, it may be applied to exclude the servant from relief.
COMMON England the Common Law is said to be that body of customs, rules, and maxims which have acquired their binding power and the force of laws in conse•ence of long usage, recognised by judicial decision, and not by reason of statutes now extant. The word common is used in the sense of general, and means that the law to which the word is applied is universal throughout the country, and not confined to any particular locality. Thus the general rule that a freehold estate descends to the heir is common law, as distinguished from the local rule (in Kent) that such an estate descends to all the sons equally. Again, common law is said to be lex non scripta (unwritten law), as distinguished from statute or written law—lex scripta. The term is also used very generally by lawyers to denote a certain part or branch of the whole law of England, to distinguish it from other parts. So used, it suggests that the common law is the one indigenous general law of the country, and would not be confined to the unwritten Jaw. In this sense it stands opposed to equity, or the law as originally exclusively administered in the Court of Chancery ; to the law administered in Admiralty, which may be said to be largely based upon a development of the Roman Civil Law ; and to the law administered in the probate and ecclesiastical courts, which is based on the Canon Law. Used in such a sense as this, the common law is now composed of more statute or written law than any of the divisions of law from which it is distinguished.
Sir Matthew Hale has said that the origin of the common law of England is " as undiscoverable as the head of the Nile." Of course the head of the Nile is not to-day so great a mystery as it was in the days of that eminent judge ; but his comparison seems very pertinent in the light of modern learning. For all practical purposes the origin of the common law of England is now fairly well elucidated, and it is probably to be found in a growth of peculiar customs introduced into this country during its early political vicissitudes, such, for example, as at the times of the settlement of the Saxons, Danes, and Normans ; this growth root in the customs of the country then found here, and which it probably shared in common with all Aryan peoples who had only arrived at a certain stage of culture. Even the Roman Law may have had some influence on the common law when this country was occupied by Rome ; the common law was certainly considerably influenced by it during the first few centuries after the Norman Conquest, as well as some one to two centuries ago, when commercial law was in the making by the judges.
Except as used in the above-mentioned sense, as opposed to equity, the civil law, and the canon law, it is doubtful whether there is any practical value in clinging with reverent respect to the term common law. There can be no absolute definition or description of it, there has been no continuity in its rules and provisions. The jury was once witness to the fact, to-clay it is the judge of the fact upon the evidence of other witnesses ; at one time the common-law judges would base their whole judgments on the Roman Law appropriate to the question before them, to-day, except by way of illustration, reference to the Roman Law would be impossible in a court of common law; at one time goods and chattels were almost absolutely disregarded as the subjects of oL by the unwritten common law, while to-day contracts and wrongs in respect thereof almost exclusively occupy the atm..
tion of our common-law judges, who to some extent generally apply to them the provisions of a written or statute law.
COMMON LODGING-HOUSE.—Such a place may be described as a house, or part thereof, where persons of the poorer classes are received for gain, and in which they use one or more rooms in common with the rest of the inmates, who are not members of one family, whether for eating or sleep ing. The common room is an essential characteristic of a common lodging house. These houses are subject to statutory regulation such as is contained in the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, the Public Health Acts, and in London the Common Lodging-Houses Acts. In London they are under the management of the London County Council, and in the provinces, of the local borough, urban, or district council ; but whether in London or in the country the regulations are in most respects similar. The fact that a house is kept for charitable purposes and not for purposes of gain does not prevent it from being a common lodging-house; and no distinction can be dram n between a case where a small charge for admittance is made, though not for the purpose of making a profit, and one where no payment at all is made.
Every keeper of a common must be registered by the local authority, and the house is required to be first inspected and approved. The words " registered common lodging-house " must, if required by the autho rity, be affixed and kept undefaced and legible in a conspicuous place outside the house. Officers of the authority, and in London the police as well, are entitled to free entry at any time ; the house must be kept in such condition as to whitewashing, the water supply, and otherwise as the authorities may determine and if vagrants and beggars are taken in, a full list thereof, if required, must be furnished every morning as to those using the house during the preceding night. Before registering a person as a common lodging-house keeper the local authority are entitled to satisfy themselves as to his char acter and fitness for the position. See also article in APPENDIX.