Also known as: common use · common usage
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An activity or practice that ordinary members of the community routinely engage in as part of everyday life. The inquiry focuses on whether the conduct is widespread and customary rather than specialized or rare.
A nonprofit group maintains a remote sanctuary housing adult lions and bears in open-air enclosures. One animal escapes and injures a passing cyclist. The cyclist sues under strict liability. The activity is not a matter of common usage because ordinary landowners and businesses do not keep large predators as a routine practice.
A defendant receives a mandatory life sentence without parole for possessing a large quantity of cocaine. He argues the punishment is unusual. The sentence is upheld because life imprisonment for serious drug offenses is a punishment in common use across many jurisdictions.
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A theater manager is prosecuted for showing an allegedly obscene film. The manager claims the material is protected expression. The court notes that obscenity prosecutions remain a matter in common use and therefore do not automatically violate constitutional limits on regulation of expression.
A landlord objects when a cable company installs equipment on the exterior of a rental building without consent. The company claims the installation is a minor and common utility practice. The court treats the permanent physical occupation as distinct from uses in common with the general public.
A resident challenges a total ban on possessing operable handguns in the home for self-defense. The government defends the law by arguing that certain weapons fall outside protection. The court holds that handguns qualify for protection because they are in common use by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.
A state enacts a statute requiring legislative approval before any new ice plant may be built. An existing operator challenges the law as an improper restraint on ordinary business. The dissent notes that manufacturing ice is an activity in common use and therefore not subject to special legislative gatekeeping.
The factor asks whether ordinary members of the community routinely perform the activity. When an activity such as keeping adult lions or operating a nuclear reactor is not a matter of common usage, that absence weighs in favor of classifying the activity as abnormally dangerous and imposing strict liability.
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No. Regulatory compliance addresses the exercise of reasonable care. The common usage inquiry instead examines whether the activity itself is routine and customary among ordinary community members, regardless of regulatory oversight.
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Weapons that are in common use by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes receive Second Amendment protection. Weapons that are dangerous and unusual fall outside that protection because they are not in common use.
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…properly designated as inferior; but the Court essentially admits that she is not subordinate. See ante , at 671. If it were common usage to refer to someone as "inferior" who is subject to removal for cause by another, then one would say that the President is "inferior" to Congress. The second reason offered by the Court —…