[England alone uses within her boundaries unwritten law and custom].
Although in almost all lands use is made of the leges and the ius scriptum, England alone uses unwritten law and custom. There law derives from nothing written [but] from what usage has approved. Nevertheless, it will not be absurd to call English laws leges, though they are unwritten, since whatever has been rightly decided and approved with the counsel and consent of the magnates and the general agreement of the res publica, the authority of the king or prince having first been added thereto, has the force of law. England has as well many local customs, varying from place to place, for the English have many things by custom which they do not have by law, as in the various counties, cities, boroughs and villages, where it will always be necessary to learn what the custom of the place is and how those who allege it use it.