What is the major principle behind common law?

The major principle behind common law is the balance of prior rulings, which involves the practice of using past judicial decisions to guide the outcomes of current cases. This principle stems from the idea that legal precedents established by higher courts should be followed by lower courts to ensure consistency and predictability in the law. When judges make rulings, they often reference previous decisions that are similar in nature, creating a body of case law that evolves over time. This reliance on earlier rulings not only helps maintain stability within the legal system but also allows it to adapt to new circumstances while ensuring that similar cases are treated similarly.

In contrast, the other options do not encapsulate the essence of common law as effectively. Elaborate codes of conduct refer more to codified legal systems, which provide explicit statutes rather than relying on judicial precedent. Community consensus implies a more subjective and potentially variable basis for law, which is not the foundation of common law. Lastly, uniform rules across jurisdictions suggest a level of homogeneity that is not characteristic of common law, as it often varies significantly between different regions or jurisprudential systems, allowing for localized adaptations of the law.