Comparative Law 2006 Prof. Fischer Class of February 23, 2006 AMERICAN LAW
Organization Why treat American law separately from other common law systems?
COLONIAL LAW What was law like in the American colonies prior to independence?
REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD Role of lawyers?
Egalitarianism and Law How did political ideals of democracy and egalitarianism affect American law and the legal profession in the nineteenth century?
Codification To what extent did Jeremy Bentham’s ideal of codification have any impact on American law and the legal profession?
Field Codes David Dudley Field ( ) Field Code ( )
Civil War How did the Civil War affect American law and government?
Post Civil-War Industrialization How did economic growth affect American law and the legal profession?
Legal Education Christopher Columbus Langdell ( ) Reforms to HLS Curriculum
PRAGMATIST PHILOSOPHY William James John Dewey
Oliver Wendell Holmes “The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.”
Sociological Jurisprudence Roscoe Pound ( )
American Legal Realism Jerome Frank Karl Llewellyn
Complexity The United States has “perhaps the most complicated legal structure that has ever been devised and made effective in man’s effort to govern himself.” Griswold What makes the U.S. legal system so complex?
Complexity What makes the U.S. legal system so complex? Federalism Differing state laws Federal and state court systems
CONTINUITY AND CHANGE Of English common law Of American Constitution