What exactly is common law? you have heard the term used with increasing frequency over
the last few years particularly on social media in conjunction with statements such as I stand
under common law not maritime law or I don't consent to be governed I stand under common law
and so on you may also have heard of the terms common law nuisance or common law agency common
law partner which doesn't really exist by the way all of which are derived from a concept which I'm
going to explain in this video but first of all if you're new to me I'm a barrister who helps you
understand law on this channel so please subscribe and hit the bell icon so you don't miss out on
anything so in order to explain, nor properly I'm going to have to give you a very brief overview of
the legal system in the United Kingdom that being England Wales Scotland and Northern
Ireland unlike the United States of America the United Kingdom does not have a single document
setting out a written constitution of the United Kingdom does not have a single document setting
out written rights of the individual on the way the government is supposed to act instead the UK
constitution is derived from a number of different sources some of them written such as statues but
others are constitutional conventions which are not written in the UK has a parliamentary system
of governance with the Westminster Parliament being the supreme lawmaking body in other words
this means that the courts will accept that the legislation enacted by Westminster Parliament is
superior over common law which is sort of the point of this video the UK Parliament is made
up of two houses the House of Commons and House of Lords the House of Commons being a representative
party in other words its members are elected the House of Lords is not a representative body is not
elected and is mostly made up of life peers all some of which are appointed as peers together
with the head of state known as the monarch currently have Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
House of Commons and House of Lords make up the legislative branch with the Monaco Prime Minister
other ministers and police and armed forces make up the executive branch and finally the judicial
branch comprises also of the monarch but also judges and magistrates most there is no formal
separation of powers within the UK it is quite easy to separate the persons within the branches
Parliament is creating law by written legislation Widows common law coming to all of this and what
does common law actually mean this is where the judicial branch comes into play through
a series of checks and balances the judiciary will ensure the residual freedoms of individuals
look at any act taken by the state it is there to resolve disputes and ensure the right to a
fair trial and a fair hearing even the principle of habeas corpus which is individual liberty
the court can review any decision to detain an individual although this is now also contained
within the ECHR and by creating judgements in individual cases based on individual sets of facts
the court create a hierarchical body of decisions known as common law and this is why there are many
different areas of law that are prepended with the term common law for example common law nuisance
there will be a collection of judgements which set precedents principles and rules upon which
future cases will be decided hence the term common law because this helps lawyers and individuals to
understand how certain area of law is applied in any given set of facts now of course in some cases
there may be statutory or written legislation to provide for such areas for example the occupiers
liability act of 1957 and 1984 deal with different elements of the property and the owner or
occupier's duty to make that property reasonably safe for guests and even trespassers whereas many
of the more finer points will be decided in case law for example coming back to common-law nuisance
the occupier of land has a general duty to his neighbour for any hazard occurring on that land
whether or not it is a naturally occurring hazard or a man-made one and this was set out in leaky
and the National trust of 1981 and that is refined further still in that the standard
of that duty of care expected of the occupier is to be that which is reasonably required of him
in his particular circumstances and as a principle set out in Godman and Hargrave 1967 and there are
some situations that legislation just cannot possibly foresee for example Japanese knotweed
in such a situation legislation had not taken into account such an invasive species when the facts
came before a court it had to make a decision as to whether this could amount to a nuisance
in particular when there was no physical damage whereas it had degraded the value of the property
this was in the case of Williams and network Rail 2017 you may also be forgiven for thinking that
the homicide act of 1957 is everything to do about murder however this remains a common law offence
and this act merely reformed the offence in fact there are many offences that remain as common law
offences to this day there are also defences that are common law defences including that of
self defence so self defence is a common law self-defence if you want to hear more about
self defence I have one or two videos linked below so you can imagine my concern when I saw
some videos on tick-tock just recently where someone is saying that you can just renounce
all legislation states that you stand under common law and none of the legislation applies to you
including things such as council tax and so on these types of video are dangerously misleading
and I strongly urge you not to even watch them and certainly not to take them into account even
on this video I repeatedly tell you that my videos cannot be legal advice to you as I'm not advising
you on individual facts and circumstances as a court would decide if the case comes to court
in these videos I can only explain to you broad outlines and guidelines as to how the law works
and applies in standard form so if you see such videos and you remain unsure please see formal
legal advice if you want to read more about how common law has developed over recent years
including offensive defences nuisance and so on I will put some links in the description below
two books that I find particularly useful in the meantime I hope that was useful if brief overview
of how common law integrates with the legal system of England Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland
please give this video a thumbs up if you found it useful and remember stay humble and subscribe