Sources of Anglo-american law
Tomáš Hrstka


Anglo – american law
-Both systems are similar
-The system was created in England
-It spread to America during the colonial times
-The main source of law in both countries is The Common Law
-Other similar features are trial by jury and system of judicial precedents
-In both systems, Supremacy of the law is one of the main characteristics

Sources of England law
-Common law = system of legal customs
-It was formed in the 12th century in England
-The King was the main judge
-Until the 19th century it was a privilege to ask the king‘s court for help in any case
-There had to be a ´´writ´´(name of privilege) which alowed the problem to be solved by the king
-Until 1832 there were only 76 writs, so only 76 types of problems could be solved by a court
-It was not enough, so the precedental system was invented

Sources of England law
-Judicial precedent
-The main source of law in England
-If the court of higher level resolves a case, the same resolution has to be applied in every
similar case after that
-This duty was called ´´stare decisis´´
-Nowadays there are two kinds of precedent: strict (fixed) and free
-In the case of the strict precedent a judge has to decide in absolutely the same way as the
precedent says, and it is not important that he can think it is not just
-In case of free precedent he can partly change the resolution
-

• - written precedents we can find in collections e.g. Law reports and Law of  England
•


Source of England law
-Statute law
-Historically it was a group of king‘s and later government‘s decisions and rules
-These rules were written and it creates a collection of prescribed texts and statutes
-Nowadays, this source of law is mainly used for civil law

Sources of American law
-Judicial resolutions (precedents)
-Lex scripta (written law) – it has a bigger power and usage in the USA than in England. The
Constitution of the USA is the most powerful.
-Restatement of the law (a collection of many common laws and customs). This collection is not
formal, but it is very authoritative.
-Other collections and files of law, precedents and rules
-
-
-

Principle of the ´´Supremacy of the law´´
-It means that nobody is above the law
-This principle was functional even in the Middle-ages, when the king also could be the subject in
any case
-Nowadays, it is used on governmental agencies and their acts
•

•Scotland
-Law system is a combination of English system and Continental system
-Scotish law was influenced by German and Roman law traditions

•Thank you for your attention! J