case law

American  

noun

1. law established by judicial decisions in particular cases, instead of by legislative action.

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case law British  

noun

1. law established by following judicial decisions given in earlier cases Compare statute law See also precedent

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Etymology

Origin of case law

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

Rulemaking is intricate work, they said, requiring expertise in the subject at hand as well as in existing statutes, regulations and case law.

From Salon

And I can say there’s not a lot of case law on this issue.

From Salon

Immediately afterwards, legal experts questioned whether there is the case law to back this up.

From BBC

In deciding the case, involving Texas’ election law, he and his law clerks had sifted through hundreds of thousands of exhibits, reviewed testimony from more than 70 witnesses and researched relevant case law.

From The Wall Street Journal

There have been hundreds of examples of lawyers relying on AI systems that “hallucinated” case law or misrepresented exhibits and filings.

From The Wall Street Journal