One of the oldest laws on the books...

[kentuck]

...it goes back to before America was a country.

Perhaps Old Anglo-Saxon Law?

But it stated that no man could be a judge of himself.

How would the Supreme Court look at that?

[napi21]

1. I agree that law prevents a President from pardoning himself. More people have to be aware of it!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Not a statutory law, but a common-law principle: Nemo judex in causa sua.

The phrase is usually attributed to Sir Edward Coke, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, in the seventeenth century.

[kentuck]

3. What is the difference between a statutory law and common-law?

To our resident counselor.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. A statutory law (statute) is a law passed by a legislature.

It's sort of complicated, but common law is a set of rules and principles developed by judges through court decisions. Historically, the laws of England, which we inherited, were almost entirely common-law rules, and many still are. For example, tort law (including personal injury law) is based almost entirely on common law created by court decisions in the state courts, which subsequent courts in the same states follow as precedent unless there's a good reason to change them. Contract law is largely based on common law principles as well, except for codifications like the Uniform Commercial Code. Most criminal law in the US is statutory, even in the state courts, and there is no general federal common law. Instead, federal judges interpret the Constitution and federal statutes rather than deciding substantive issues themselves.

[kentuck]

5. Thanks!

Can "common-laws" be broken in the same way as a statute?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Common law rules are generally civil and not criminal.

For example, you can be held civilly liable (not criminally responsible) for doing something negligent, as negligence is defined by the common law (court decisions) of your state. Crimes, however, are for the most part defined by statutes passed by a legislature, not by court decisions, though courts often interpret statutes.

[kentuck]

7. Sort of like a "common-law marriage"?

Good info!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Most states don't recognize common-law marriages any more.

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/fact-or-fiction-five-myths-about-common-law-marriage

[kentuck]

11. I did not know that!

Thanks!

[TomSlick]

9. And then just because the law likes to twist your noodle,

many states have "reception statutes" by which the state legislature adopts the common law to the extent not inconsistent with the American form of government or subsequent statute. As a result, the common law is also statutory.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. And then there's Louisiana and the Napoleonic Code.

[TomSlick]

12. I'm close enough to Louisiana that its law often comes up in my practice.

Louisiana court decisions are very nearly indecipherable to a common law trained lawyer making conflict of laws issues - well - difficult.

The legal terminology is also different. The first time a Louisiana lawyer started talking to me about usufruct, I thought he was swearing at me.

Every Louisiana lawyer I have ever known will argue to their last breath that le Code Napoléon is vastly superior to English common law.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. The Rule Against Perpetuities is almost gone, too.

Which is a shame, because bar exams aren't any fun without it, and that great old movie Body Heat is out of date because the rule has been abolished in Florida, like almost everywhere else.

[TomSlick]

15. What is left without the unborn widow rule?

Whither the fertile octogenarian rule? Even the Rule of Shelley's Case has been abolished in Arkansas.

Never fear, there are still traps for the unwary out there. There are still pretermitted heirs and destructibility of contingent remainders.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. LOL! Gave me flashbacks, like a bad acid trip.

[TheBlackAdder]

13. And a 'grant' is bestowed on other people, with no history of them used for self-dealing.