Einführung
in das US-amerikanische Recht I
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Dr. Karin Linhart, LL.M. (Duke)
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Map of the US today
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US Law in Practice
A client enters your office and asks for legal advise. He is German and has
bought a CD player in the US which turned out to be defective.
1. What court? (International jurisdiction)
a. International treaties?
b. National law
2. What law? (Applicable law)
a. International treaties?
b. National law
3. How and where to enforce the judgement?
a. Enforcing a German judgement in D/in the US
b. Enforcing a US judgment in D/in the US
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US legal system
 Federal state
 51 legal systems (50 state, 1 federal)
 Legal tradition:
 Common Law (based on English Law)
 Civil Law in Louisiana
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The notion „Common Law“
 Common Law
 (Common) Law
 Common Law
Civil Law
Equity
Statutory Law
Other Common Law-countries:
England/ Wales, Ireland, Canada (except Quebec),
Australia, New-Zealand, South Africa (hybrid), India,
Nigeria
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US Legal History
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Historical cornerstones
Legal traditions in the New World
Reception of English common law
Development of US (common) law
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Historical cornerstones -1 1492 Christopher Columbus
 1607 Pilgrim Fathers reach Jamestown,
Virginia („Mayflower“)
 Immigrants come from England, Ireland
and Italy, Germany, Poland and in the
20. Century increasingly from China.
 Reasons: Political and religious
persecution and unemployment
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Historical cornerstones -2 War against England
 Boston Tea Party („No taxation without
representation“)
 1776 Declaration of Independence
 1787 Constitution signed and submitted to
Congress
 1789 Constitution comes into effect and
George Washington becomes the first
President of the United States of America
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Four legal traditions
 New England States were English colonies
 Louisiana was French
 Many Germans lived in Pennsylvania and
Virginia
 Parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and
California Spanish
What legal tradition should the new
United States of America follow?
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Reception of English common law
 In the territories (colonies) of the
British Empire English common law
was applied (17th/18th century)
 Blackstone, Commentaries on the
Laws of England (1765-1769)
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Why English Common Law?
Language
Most people of English descent
Easy access to literature and precedents
Precedents easier to transmit and to apply
(Legislation takes a long time to be passed)
 Most lawyers were trained in England
 Traditionally in the US more trust is given
to a local judge and jury than to the
government
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Development of US-American (Common) Law
 1820-1840 James Kent and Joseph Story: (American)
„Commentaries“
 English common law was subject to changes due to
particularities in the New World
 At the latest since the Civil War (1862-65) English
precedents have significantly lost their influence in the
US
 But: Important features are still the same in English
and US Law (terminology, methodology, legal thinking
and reasoning, style of legal documents)
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George Washington
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US (Common) Law
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The Development of US Common Law
The rise of legislation
The Supremacy Clause
Federal Law/State Law
Supremacy Clause v. Amendment X
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Sources of law
 Federal Law  State Law
 Common Law  Statutory Law
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Federal and state sources of law
 Federal level:
 US Constitution
 United States Code (USD)
 Case law interpreting statutes
 State level:
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State constitutions
Statutes
Common law
Uniform laws and restatements
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Federal Law/State Law
U.S. Const., Amendment X:
„The powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited
by it to the states, are reserved to the
states respectively, or to the people.“
=> Exclusive jurisdiction/shared (concurrent)
jurisdiction
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The Supremacy Clause
U.S. Const. Art. VI:
„This Constitution, and the laws of the
United States which shall be made in
pursuance thereof; and all treaties
made, or which shall be made, under
the authority of the United Sates,
shall be the supreme law of the land;
…“
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Supremacy Clause v. Amendment X
Legislative jurisdiction condition for
Supremacy of Federal Law
Rule: legislative power with the states
Exception: legislative power expressly
delegated to Congress or prohibited
to the states by the Constitution
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United States Code
 No „Gesetzbuch“ in the German
sense
 Codification of the general and
permanent laws of the United States
 Federal Law
 50 Titles
 E.g. arbitration, bankruptcy,
copyrights, crimes and criminal
procedure, civil procedure, patents
Legal Information Institute (LII) of Cornell
University United States Code online
=> Copy
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Federal Statutes
 E.g. in the areas:
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Copyright (exclusive federal jurisdiction)
Antitrust
Workers‘ compensation
Bankruptcy
 See U.S. Code
 P: Notion „statute“ can also only mean one
or few provisions integrated into an existing
statute or code
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State Law - general
 Contracts, torts, family law, law of
succession is predominantly state law
(statute or case law/common law)
 Problem: Differences within state
laws bad for interstate-commerce
 Uniform Codes and Model Acts (statutory
law)
 Restatements (common law)
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State Law – Statutory Law
 Uniform Codes and Model Acts
 National Conference of
Commissioners on Uniform State
Laws (NCCUSL)
 Need implemetation by states
 Most famous example: UCC
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Traditional common law areas of law
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Contracts
Torts
Property
Family law
Trusts and wills (inheritance law)
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State Law – Common Law
 Restatements
 American Law Institute (ALI) since
1923
 Collection of common principles in the
(state) law of the 50 states
 Not binding
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Legal Sources
 Primary Sources of Law (binding)
 Constitutions
 Statutes
 Cases
 Secondary Sources (persuasive)
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Dictionaries
Legal Encyclopedias
Law Review Articles (Periodicals)
Treatises and Hornbooks
Restatements
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The Doctrine of Precedent
 What is a precedent?
 What part of a precedent is binding?
 Judicial decisions in the US
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Judicial decisions in the US
 No given structure
 One judge writes majority opinion
 Others can write concurring or
dissenting opinions
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Common Law: What is a precedent?
 Decision of a higher court of the same
jurisdiction
 U.S. Supreme Court decisions binding
for all other courts
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What part of a precedent is binding?
 Only holding (ratio decidendi) is
binding
 Holding: Parts of a court decision that
are necessary for the decision of the
case
NOT so-called obiter dicta
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Finding a precedent
 Digests
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Summaries
Word Index
Key numbers (400 topics – subtopics)
Table of Cases volumes
 Corpus Juris Secundum
 Treatises, Hornbooks, Articles
 Westlaw, LEXIS/NEXIS
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Localizing a precedent
(of a federal court)
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Reports (U.S.)
Supreme Court Reporter
(S.Ct.)
Lawyers Edition (L.Ed.)
U.S. Courts of
Appeals
Federal Reporter (F., F.2d,
F.3d.)
Federal Appendix (Fed. Appx.)
U.S. District Courts
Federal Supplement
(F.Supp.)
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Analysing a precedent
1. Procedure
2.
3.
4.
5.
Facts
Issue(s)
Rules applied
Holding
6. (Concurring and/or dissenting opinions?)
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Finding a Federal Statute
 Slip laws
 Individual pamphlets
 Published by the U.S. Printing Office
 Session laws
 All slip laws of one legislative session
 Published in „Statutes at Large“
 Code
 50 laws of permanent and general nature
 Published in U.S.C. and U.S.C.A.
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Interpretation of a Statute
 Literal interpretation
 Predominant method of interpretation in
common law countries: = „Literal Rule“
 Historical interpretation
 Significant use of legislative materials in the
U.S.
 Systematic interpretation
 Almost unimportant
 Teleological interpretation
 Less important than for civil law countries
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Secondary Materials
 Dictionaries:
 Black‘s Law Dictionary
 Online legal dictionary
 Legal Encyclopedias:
 Corpus Juris Secumdum (C.J.S.)
 American Jurisprudence 2d (Am.Jur.2d)
 American Law Reports, A.L.R. (Analysis of
selected cases)
 Restatements
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Citation
 The Bluebook
 Published by Harvard Law
Students
 Decisive for citations in
legal articles and law school
exams
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Analysis of a legal problem
IRAC-Rule
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R
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ssue
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Leo: Online dictionary (http://dict.leo.org)
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Online legal dictionary (http://dictionary.law.com/)
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Westlaw
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http://www.findlaw.com
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http://www.law.cornell.edu/
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