ABSTRACT
The relation of custom to statutory or precedent-setting case law is also crucial. Common law has often been seen as open to "the actual feelings and demands of the community" and "the exigencies and usages of the country". If placed under the heading of custom, common law courts usually require that the specific custom be proved. In doing so, however, one eliminates the use of analogy or logic thereby rendering custom immune to a significant aspect of common law legal reasoning. Relying on custom may be seen as a shorthand way for allowing change to come from the bottom up, for making it appear that the state is not really controlling matters, and for allowing an open texture into which assumptions of human nature can be drawn differently by various parties. Proponents of statutory codification may imagine they have eliminated custom.
