Sources of law

A Mumbai fishing community has always sold the morning catch at a fixed spot on the shore, and nobody has ever written that rule down. A dispute reaches court, and the judge asks two questions: where does a rule like this come from, and what makes it binding? Jurisprudence calls the first question one about sources and the second about authority. This topic separates the two, and then looks at the oldest source of all, custom.

In two minutes

A source of law is where a rule comes from or what gives it binding force; custom is a source only when it is ancient, continuous, certain, reasonable and compulsory, and is not opposed to statute or public policy.

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