Okay, I’m not a lawyer or anything but I’ve heard this idea of American law being based on English Common Law of customs and court decisions, but usually that refers to the pre-US status quo, right? So my question is kind of: do US courts cite British courts in decisions? Are there any US court cases based on principles in English law established after the US gained independence?
I hope that question makes sense, I may be struggling to articulate my thoughts.
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The US system uses Common Law, this means that the law that exist today to a large degree is made up out of what judges have decided in the past. Some things were first decided a long time ago and are still good. Others have been replaced by newer judgments or by explicit laws written by law-makers that replace the old ones.
It is still common to cite to legal cases and principles that have been around since late medieval times.
To a lesser degree US courts can also cite and consider court cases from anywhere in the world. This doesn’t happen as often, because US precedents obviously take precedence.
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