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Article: English Law
- Article from:
- West's Encyclopedia of American Law
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ENGLISH LAW
- magna charta
- english bill of rights
- second treatise on government
The development of U.S. law is rooted in English political and legal history. The colonial settlers of North America were primarily from England, and until the 1760s they viewed themselves as English rather than "American." They brought with them the English common law and the English constitutional tradition.
Unlike the United States, England has never had a written constitution. Instead, the English constitutional tradition is based on the substance and procedures of the ...