Custom (law)

Custom (law)

Custom in law is the established pattern of behavior that can be objectively verified within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law." Customary law exists where:

  1. a certain legal practice is observed and
  2. the relevant actors consider it to be law (opinio juris).

Related is the idea of prescription; a right enjoyed through long custom rather than positive law.

Read more about Custom (law):  Customary Law and Codification, International Law, Customary Law Within Contemporary Legal Systems, Custom in Torts, Custom Law in India, Customary Legal Systems

Famous quotes containing the word custom:

    People who love only once in their lives are ... shallow people. What they call their loyalty, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination. Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect—simply a confession of failures.
    Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)