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 U.S. uses what’s called common law, which is a legal system that’s based on English law as it existed prior to our independence from Great Britain. So our legal system is fundamentally based off of principles of English law from before our independence, but we haven’t maintained any connection since then. In other words, our legal system is based on English common law, but it’s evolved independently of English law since our independence. U.S. courts might occasionally reference English caselaw as persuasive (but not mandatory) authority or to explain the origins of our own caselaw, but it’s quite rare.
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