What is a common law system?

A common law system is the term used to denote the type of legal tradition we have in the UK. The term also describes what our sources of law are. Other areas of the world - such as European countries - have civil law systems, which can be contrasted with common law systems. In civil law systems, the law is codified and the code deals comprehensively with what the law is. The judge does little more than establish the facts and then apply the relevant law, always working within the framework of the legislation. Thus, judicial decisions are not crucial in shaping the law. By contrast, common law systems are largely uncodified. The "common law" denotes a body of law derived from judicial decisions, where the past decisions of higher courts produce binding precedent on future courts. A common law system gives great weight to these precendents and to judicial reasoning therein. Judges here have a substantial role in shaping the law. However, it is important to highlight that not all law in England and Wales is common law precendent - there is a substantial amount of legislation in addition to case law. Where there is legislation, it will replace any previous precedent in that area of the law.