lex non scripta

American  

[leks non skrip-tuh, nohn] / ˈlɛks nɒn ˈskrɪp tə, noʊn /

noun

Law.

1. unwritten law; common law.

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lex non scripta British  

/ nɒn ˈskrɪptə /

noun

1. the unwritten law; common law

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Etymology

Origin of lex non scripta

From Latin lēx nōn scrīpta

Example Sentences

"The common law or lex non scripta," says Blackstone, "depends upon its having been used time out of mind; or, in the solemnity of our legal phrase, time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary."

From Project Gutenberg

Juggins was too dumbfoundered to reply to the accusation, and several spectators came forward to testify that they had personally witnessed him curbing his steed, and—it being contrary to the lex non scripta of turf etiquette to pull at a horse's head when he is winning—Juggins was very ignominiously plucked by the Jockey's Club.

From Project Gutenberg

But the Recorder refused to tell him, saying it was lex non scripta, and it was not to be expected that he could say at once what it was, for some had been thirty or forty years studying it.

From Project Gutenberg

Little difficulty, however, is there experienced from the want of written laws, the lex non scripta of every parish or county being perfectly understood where it is in force.

From Project Gutenberg

Blackstone divides the civil law of England into lex scripta or statute law, and lex non scripta or common law.

From Project Gutenberg