Really easy question....

[Deleted User]

Which phrase is grammatically correct?
"Under common law..." or "Under the common law"
"Common law states that...." or "The common law states that...."
Basically do I need to put a "the" in front of "common law" when I'm referring to it?

Thanks....

[meganrobyn]

Either is fine. Replace it with statute to illustrate: "Under statute law...", "Under the statute...", "Statutory law states that...", "The statute states that..."

[ninwa]

Common law without the "the" is more... well, common with lecturers/academic writing, in my experience. But either is fine.

[zhenzhenzhen]

You save a word omitting the 'the'.