Common law
The common lawso named because it was "common" to all the king's courts across Englandoriginated in the practices of the courts of the English kings in the centuries following the Norman Conquest in 1066. The British Empire spread the English legal system to its historical colonies, many of which retain the common law system today. These "common law systems" are legal systems that give great precedential weight to common law, and to the style of reasoning inherited from the English legal system.
Wet Algemene Bepalingen
The Wet algemene bepalingen was developed by a legal advisory committee instituted by the Dutch King William I in 1814. It was originally intended to be part of the ""General Definitions and Decrees"" section of the new Dutch Civil Law, which William I intended to replace the Napoleonic code left over from the French occupation of the Netherlands which had ended in 1813. However, 1815 saw the start of a long period of political discord among the committee members and later the States-General of the Netherlands. This discord had two primary causes:Despite attempts of several parties (including the King), the Southern Dutch dominated parliament rejected the new law in 1822 and pushed for a reformed Napoleonic law. As part of this transformation of the civil law book the "general precepts of law" were split off into a new law, the 1829 "Wet Algemene Bepalingen". This law was passed on 15 May 1829 but did not enter into force until October 1, 1838 together with the Civil Law. Ironically, the delay was caused by the Belgian Revolution in which the Southern Netherlands forcibly split off from the kingdom.