(f) COMMON LAW. "In its largest sense," says Sir Frederick Pollock, "the common law means the whole body of legal principle and usage which is com mon to all parts of England, and now to all jurisdic tions whose law is of English origin." Custom exists as law in every country. The existence of custom or common law is generally proved by reference to de cisions by which it has been affirmed, or to the writings of commentators who have appealed to it for guid ance or authority. The common law then does not depend for its authority upon statutes, treaties or con stitutions. It is described as the "unwritten law," in the sense that the British Constitution is unwritten. It may be found in the written or printed decisions of the courts and in the pages of legal authorities, but it is still "unwritten" in the sense that it has not been reduced to statutory form or declared by statute to be law. / In so far as a given rule of common law is finally embodied in statutory form, it ceases to exist as com mon law and becomes statute law. For instance, the English Act relating to bills of exchange and prom issory notes is largely a codification of old common law rules found in the customs and usages of mer chants and in the decisions of the courts. The laws of the United States, with the exception of those of Louisiana, had their origin in the common law of England. Many of these laws have, of course, been formulated in Acts of Congress or of state legisla tures. The same may be said of the English law provinces of the Dominion. It will be found that these provinces have frequently enacted that the law of England as it existed at a given date shall form part of the law of the particular province. Thus in Ontario, the laws of England as to property, civil rights and evidence, in force on October 1.5, 1792, were In Manitoba the laws of England as to property, civil rights, evidence and procedure, as existing on July 15, 1870, were adopted by an act passed in In British Columbia, English laws were declared to be in force by the proclamation of November 19, 1858, and this so far as those laws "are not from local circumstances inapplicable," and as modified by past local legislation.
It is unnecessary to go thru the list of provinces. Since these dates, English statutes have been ex pressly adopted in certain provinces. Thus the Eng lish Sale of Goods Act was adopted by the Northwest Territories and by Manitoba in 1896, and by British Columbia in 1897.
In Quebec the case is different. The conquest of Canada in 1763, while it replaced French public law by English public law, did not introduce English pri vate law. The private law in force in Canada at that time was of course that of France.' Canada then in cluded what are now Ontario (Upper Canada) and Quebec (Lower Canada). When Upper Canada was created in 1791, it at once proceeded to abrogate the French laws then in force, and introduced the laws of England. In Quebec, then, from the first settle ment by the French in 1608, the common law has been the Coutume de Paris, except in commercial matters. This law has been greatly modified in the course of years by statute, and, as modified, is now found in the Civil Code of Quebec, which came into force in 1866. In commercial matters, when no provision is found in the Code, English rules of evidence apply. Sec lions 4 and 17 of the English Statute of Frauds, with certain exceptions which will hereafter be explained, are also in force. Quebec commercial law, in so far as it is codified, is a blending of English and French commercial law. The English law and jurisprudence are, however, constantly and almost exclusively fol lowed in commercial matters.