Glossary

"In its strictest sense, the expression "common law" refers to the first of the three main traditional branches of English law, the other two being equity and stature law. Common law here means a law common to the different regions of the kingdom, a law that, before the courts, must always prevail over particular usage or customs, and that is the indissoluble basis of the authority of the king over all his subjects with the advantages of a single system of justice. Common law is first and foremost a customary, unwritten law (lex non scripta), whose authority is tied to its immemorial nature. It is also a scholarly law, whose fundamental rules prohibit any arbitrary modification, and the knowledge of which is acquired through a long and patient study of precedents. But common law is not only an original "legal system": it is also the foundation of the English political regime, insofar as it provides the basis for understanding the power and domains of the different political institutions." 

CASSIN, Barbara, Emily APTER, Jacques LEZRA a Michael WOOD, ed. Dictionary of Untranslatables: A Philosophical Lexicon: A one-of-a-kind reference to the international vocabulary of the humanities. 1. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014. ISBN 9780691138701, p. 553.