when did the doctrine of precedent begin to emerge in english common law
Common law The doctrine of precedent developed during the 12th and 13th centuries,[73] as the collective judicial decisions that were based in tradition, custom and precedent.[74]
Rule of law In 1776, the notion that no one is above the law was popular during the founding of the United States. For example, Thomas Paine wrote in his pamphlet Common Sense that "in America, the law is king. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other."[29] In 1780, John Adams enshrined this principle in the Massachusetts Constitution by seeking to establish "a government of laws and not of men."[30]