Law

See Case System.

[L. Lat. consiliarius, consiliarius in lege; L. Fr. conseiller.'\ In practice. A person whose occupation and office are to give counsel or advice as to the management of suits and other legal business, to conduct the trial or argument of causes in court, (in which sense the word is synonimous with advocate,) and to do any other acts requiring a personal presence there.* Counsellors are officers of the respective courts in which they are licensed to practice; and the term itself is exclusively an official or professional title, the use of which is now rare in England, although very common in the United States. 1 Ld. Raym. 594, 695. See Counsel, Consiliarius.

COMMON. The common law is that which derives its force and authority from the universal consent and immemorial practice of the people. It has never received the sanction of the legislature, by any express act, which is the criterion by which it is distinguished from the statute law. It has never been reduced to writing; by this expression, however, it 1s not meant that all those laws are at present merely oral, or communicated from former ages to the present solely by word of mouth, but that the evidence of books of Reports, and depends on the general practice and judicial adjudications of our courts. The common law is derived from two sources, the common law of England, and the practice and decision of our own courts. In some states the English common law has been adopted by statute. There is no general rule to ascertain what part of the English common law is valid and binding. To run the line of distinction, is a subject of embarrassment to courts, and the want of it a great perplexity to the student. Kirb. Rep. Pref. It may however be observed generally, that it is binding where it has not been superceded by the constitutions of the United States, or of the several states, or by their legislative enactments, or varied by custom, and where it is founded in reason and consonant to the genius and manners of the people. See Sampson’s Discourse delivered before the Historical Society of New York.