What are some English laws throughout history that have had influence
on the American Justice System?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 01 Feb 2005 04:59 PST

The English Bill of Rights of 1689 is probably the clearest example of
predecessor law influencing the style and content of law in the early
United States.

You can read the document here:


http://www.constitution.org/eng/eng_bor.htm


and as you can see, it includes language that touches on:


--separation of powers

--right to bear arms

--free elections

--free speech

--operations of systems of justice, including bail, fines, and "cruel
and unusual punishment"

--role of juries

and many other things that found their way, in various forms, into US law.


Then of course, there's the Magna Carta:


http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/magnatranslation.html


which laid out some of the important principles of democracy, even if
somewhat obliquely.



Beyond that, English common-law, as spelled out by Blackstone, (and as
noted int he comment, below) had a broad influence on the law as it
was practiced in the 18th century America.

What additional information do you need to make for a complete answer
to your question?  Let me know, and I'll see if I can rustle up the
relevant references.


pafalafa-ga

Virtually every British "common law" (derived from court decisions) in
existence in 1781 made its way into the American legal system.  U.S.
courts still occasionally will cite old British cases from pre-1781
for precedent, as they are no less valid now than they were then
unless they've been rejected by courts since.

One very important rule that often refers back to the British history
is the "statute of frauds" which requires that a contract be in
writing to be enforceable if the obligation involved in it can't be
finished within a year, if it involves real estate, if the value of
the goods are over $500, etc.  This goes back to a UK law from the
1600s.  This is notable because ordinarily a contract is no less
enforceable if it's oral (it may just be harder to prove).

--Joey

The Statute of Frauds (1677) was a statute of the English Parliament.
In 1677 there was no British or UK Parliament. The statute was not
extended to Scotland by the post-1707 British Parliament, and so
cannot be described either as "British" or "UK" law. (The question is
about English law. Scottish law had, indeed, little influence in the
USA.)