Does the common law apply to the present transactions as well as the past transactions?

That means any alterations to the law apply to past transactions as well as to present and future ones. As observed by Bayda C.J. S. in Edward v. Edward Estate (1987), 1987 CanLII 982 (SK CA), 39 D.L.R. (4th) 654 at 661-662: In all of the cases cited above, there is no mention by the courts that they are giving retrospective application to the common law. It may be taken that in keeping with the attitude of the English and Canadian courts generally, the courts in these cases assumed that the retrospective principle is so basic and inherent in the law, that it may be applied without mention or acknowledgment.