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Can you elaborate on the notion of US case law, before the US existed? I don't mean this to be snarky, I assume this was intentional. Is this referring to cases
by TangoTrotFox 8y ago
Can you elaborate on the notion of US case law, before the US existed? I don't mean this to be snarky, I assume this was intentional. Is this referring to cases prior to the US's founding, that the US then adopted as relevant legal precedent?
- xxpor 8y agoThe US inherited the common law of England.
- xxpor 8y agoThe US inherited the common law of England. There's usually something more relevant now, but you'll still sometimes see citations of old English cases or the Magna Carta.
- JackC 8y agoGood question! This refers to caselaw from courts that predate the United States, such as Maryland and Massachusetts: https://api.case.law/v1/cases/ https://api.case.law/v1/cases/ State courts didn't come into existence with the US Constitution -- the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, for example, dates back to 1692, and those precedents are still "good" in some sense though unlikely to be cited. We don't have English precedents, unfortunately, as guessed by some sibling comments.