Case law in alegal system are thoselaws based on previousjudicial decisions. This is opposed to decisions based on existingstatutes orregulations.[1] In countries usingcommon law, it is generallyuncodified meaning there are no collections of legal rules, and laws to rely on.[2] Instead they rely onlegal precedent. Precedents are previouslegal cases that are used asexamples for deciding the present case. They are also binding on lower courts where the facts and issues are similar.[3] Incountries that usecivil law, their laws are codified, and there is much lessreliance on case law.
Judges make judicial decisions based on precedent, and their ownunderstanding when there are few or no precedents.[4] This is "judge-made law" as compared to statuary law, which is made bylegislatures, andgovernments.[4] In theUnited States the courts can rule statutes, and regulations unconstitutional if they go beyond theauthority given by theconstitution.[4] In theUnited Kingdom judge-made law, or common law cannot rule against statutes made by an act ofParliament.[5] The judiciary, and legislative branches are not coequal. Judges, however, have traditionally used one of three ways ofinterpreting statutes:
Judges make decisions by decisions based on the appropriate laws. They theninvestigate to learn all the facts. Finally they make a decision.[4] Under civil law, judiciary decisions are not a critical part of forming civil laws.[4] UnderDutch civil law for example, there are so many civil laws that it becomes difficult forlawyers andjudges to know if they have found all the laws that apply to a case.[6] Even with all the laws, not every situation is covered. The civil court will research everything it can on the subject, then make a decision.[6] For this reason those who start a legal case never know for certain what the decision will be.[6]
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