case law

noun

: law established by judicial decision in cases

Examples of case law in a Sentence

Case law says that a person has a right to privacy.

Recent Examples on the Web

Copenhaver's attorney Bill Bock cited a heavy dose of case law and statute to claim the commission has the authority to investigate voters and that these voters don't have a right to ballot secrecy. — Cate Charron, IndyStar, 29 July 2026

Federal judges have found that the government filed statements generated by artificial intelligence that referenced nonexistent case law, wrote briefs that ignored facts and filed declarations with inaccurate dates, the ProPublica review shows. — J. David McSwane, ProPublica, 28 July 2026

The challenge hinges on whether claimants were born Italians with unrecognized citizenship, as previous case law had ruled. — Julia Buckley, CNN Money, 25 July 2026

The exhibition also includes information on case law related to freedom of religion, including for incarcerated people. — Stephen Silver, Sun Sentinel, 20 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1731, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for case law

• allantois
• baccarat
• chickasaw
• mackinaw
• overawe
• oversaw
• quebecois
• yojana
• aa
• aha
• bashaw
• bradshaw

Legal Definition

case law

noun

: law established by judicial decisions in cases as distinguished from law created by legislation

called also decisional law

see also common law