zur romischen
Kaisergeschichte_, a criticism of Herodian's account); Pauly-Wissowa,
_Realencyclopadie_, ii. 2464 ff. (von Rohden); Heer, "Der historische
Wert des Vita Commodi" (_Philologus_, Supplementband ix.).

COMMON LAW, like "civil law," a phrase with many shades of meaning, and
probably best defined with reference to the various things to which it
is opposed. It is contrasted with statute law, as law not promulgated by
the sovereign body; with equity, as the law prevailing between man and
man, unless when the court of chancery assumed jurisdiction; and with
local or customary law, as the general law for the whole realm,
tolerating variations in certain districts and under certain conditions.
It is also sometimes contrasted with civil, or canon, or international
law, which are foreign systems recognized in certain special courts only
and within limits defined by the common law. As against all these
contrasted kinds of law, it may be described broadly as the universal
law of the realm, which applies wherever they have not been introduced,
and which is supposed to have a principle for every possible case.
Occasionally, it would appear to be used in a sense which would exclude
the law developed by at all events the more modern decisions of the
courts.

Blackstone divides the civil law of England into _lex scripta_ or
statute law, and _lex non scripta_ or common law. The latter, he says,
consists of (1) general customs, which are the common law strictly so
called, (2) particular customs prevailing in certain districts, and (3)
laws used in particular courts. The first is the law by which
"proceedings and determinations in the king's ordinary courts of justice
are guided and directed." That the eldest son alone is heir to his
ancestor, that a deed is of no validity unless sealed and delivered,
that wills shall be construed more favourably and deeds more strictly,
are examples of common law doctrines, "not set down in any written
statute or ordinance, but depending on immemorial usage for their
support." The validity of these usages is to be determined by the
judges--"the depositaries of the law, the living oracles who must decide
in all cases of doubt, and who are bound by an oath to decide according
to the law of the land." Their judgments are preserved as records, and
"it is an established rule to abide by former precedents where the same
points come again in litigation." The extraordinary deference paid