Case Law

Image copyright Wikipedia - Creative Commons
Case Law, consists of a body of  judgments  (and the reasons therefore) by courts and tribunals in interpreting  the law applicable in cases brought  before them.
Called precedents,  they can be binding on  all courts (within the same jurisdiction),  to be followed as the law in similar  cases.
Over time, these precedents are recognized, affirmed, and enforced by the subsequent court decisions,  thus continually expanding the common law.
In comparison, statute law is the body of acts enacted by a legislature, and civil law does not recognize any precedent. Also called judge-made law.
Case law is relevant to the International Rescue Instructors Association as it learns from these case precedents and integrates protocols into its body of knowledge and Standards.
Managing risk through due diligence, by staying informed of case law developments and dispersing these to the membership are all pillars of the quality assurance protocols of the IRIA.