Customary law is based on customs.
Customary , coming from the Latin word consuetudinarius , is an adjective that qualifies that which is traditional , frequent or routine . The customary, therefore, is linked to the customary .
For example: “In this region of the country, certain plants have a customary use to alleviate health problems” , “We should not accept violence as something customary or normal: we have to try to eradicate it from our societies” , “Man, drinker customary and little inclination to respect medical suggestions, he died due to cirrhosis .
common law
At the judicial level, customary law is that which is introduced by custom . In this case, therefore, it can be stated that custom is a source of law : it contributes to the creation of legal norms. Another name by which customary law is known is uses or customs .
Customary law is made up of unwritten rules , but fulfilled by custom that develops over time in a certain territory. When there is no written rule or specific law, the customary law that is applicable to a given fact is appealed to.
Emergence of these rules
The current doctrine considers that customary law arises from the coexistence of two elements: awareness of obligation and generalized and repetitive use . In the first case, the concept refers to the fact that all members of the community consider that a certain behavior represents a violation of the principles that organize community life. Generalized and repetitive use, for its part, refers to a behavior carried out by all citizens in a sustained manner over time.
It is necessary to delve deeper into the concept of source of law , which refers to everything that contributes or has contributed to the creation of all the legal rules that can be applied within the framework of a State at a given point in history. Countries that rely on written law have a series of texts as fundamental sources of law, which can be constitutions, international treaties, regulations or laws.
In the case of customary law, sources are admitted according to the subject matter, one of which may be custom , together with the principles of natural law (a doctrine according to which human rights exist that determine their very nature) and the general principles of law established by jurisprudence.
Customary law can be constituted as a legal system.
Customary law as a legal system
Common law is also considered a legal system , like common law and continental law. A legal system is a set of norms, ideologies and attitudes that are valid in a State and define the characteristics of the law, such as its origin, its functions, the way in which it should be applied, understood, perfected and taught.
Although today's life is largely characterized by the existence of many structures that govern our actions and prevent us from moving freely through nature, it is curious that customs still have such strength to this day that they influence the way we live. decision- making by the authorities of a State.
Of course, Justice is not the only area in which customs have considerable weight and modifying power: the Royal Spanish Academy often accepts new uses and incorrect forms of terms based on the fact that a large portion of Spanish-speaking society prefers them. over the correct ones. This gives rise to various debates by academics, who must adapt to the deformation of the language that cost them so much effort to learn, but it also speaks of the possibility of freely choosing the way of communicating.