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 need for laws didn’t stop at the Revolution and rather than spend years drafting thousands of new laws, they kept the existing English common law. The change was to make the US supreme court the top court rather than Privily Counsel in England.
Laws were then modified and changed over time but some times it is necessary to ask, why do we have this law and what is it’s intent? If the law was first used as part of the English common law which, in some cases goes back centuries, the court is informed but not governed by the old common law.
This is a simplified view of a fairly complex history.
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