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Simple English definitions for legal terms

American common law

Read a random definition: gradus

A quick definition of American common law:

American common law is a type of law that comes from court decisions instead of written laws. It is based on the English legal system and is used in most states in the United States. It includes the principles and techniques used by judges to make decisions. It is different from civil law, which is used in some other countries. American common law also refers to the body of law that was adopted by the American colonies from England and supplemented with local laws and court decisions. It is sometimes called Anglo-American common law.

A more thorough explanation:

Definition: American common law is a body of law that comes from judicial decisions, rather than from statutes or constitutions. It is based on the English legal system and is the general Anglo-American system of legal concepts that form the basis of the law in jurisdictions where the system applies. It is also the body of English law that was adopted as the law of the American colonies and supplemented with local enactments and judgments.

Examples:

  • Federal common law: This is the body of decisional law derived from federal courts when adjudicating federal questions and other matters of federal concern, such as disputes between the states and foreign relations, but excluding all cases governed by state law. An example is the nonstatutory law applying to interstate streams of commerce.
  • General federal common law: This is the judge-made law developed by federal courts in deciding disputes in diversity-of-citizenship cases before the period of Erie v. Tompkins (304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817 (1938)). Since Erie, a federal court has been bound to apply the substantive law of the state in which it sits.
  • Common law of England: This is the body of law that evolved from custom and was the body of law created by and administered by the king's courts. Equity developed to overcome the occasional rigidity and unfairness of the common law. Originally the king himself granted or denied petitions in equity; later the task fell to the chancellor, and later still to the Court of Chancery.

These examples illustrate how American common law is derived from judicial decisions and how it is based on the English legal system. They also show how it has evolved over time and how it is applied in different contexts, such as federal law and state law.

American clause | American Experience Table of Mortality

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18:49
thank you my little crow friend
Dkk
18:50
Med law easy done
medicine is a scam
join the ethically ambiguous legal field instead
Dkk
18:57
I want to meet an attorney that defends clients who run into flat earth problems. I want an attorney that knows and believes in flat earth theory.
19:05
i want a flat earther for president. i want a guy who posts on 4chan for president. i want someone who mogs for president.
Dkk
19:18
Exactly. My version of that awful poem.
Dkk
19:19
I can accept a president with maybe one or two of the poems traits hut good God, all of them??? No ty.
windyMagician
19:20
president who respects sex is crazy
windyMagician
19:20
we had bill clinton already
Dkk
19:21
Bill Clinton, first and last black president
windyMagician
19:23
I want to go running but my leg feels weird
windyMagician
19:23
it doesn't hurt its just tingly
Dkk
19:26
It needs more alcohol. You tingle when your nerves need watering.
19:27
try stretching it maybe to see what's up
windyMagician
19:27
stretches make me think it's just soreness
windyMagician
19:27
I'm sober lol
Dkk
19:38
Anyone else get the google notification that your LSD password has been compromised lol. LSD got hacked.
20:48
what.jpg @Dkk
CynicalOops
21:03
You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?
jackfrost11770
21:10
nope dk
CynicalOops
22:37
Calvinamala Harris
jackfrost11770
23:16
should i start using letterboxed again
Dkk
23:25
@jackfrost11770: if you want but like it aint for me
dk do u ever eat at bk
Dkk
23:48
@chickenburgahfart: I would do that in the Army if really desperate for food or if I had to work through lunch. One of the few fast food places I go to.
bk so slept on
Dkk
0:23
I will take In N Out everyday over it when I can though.
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