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The Story of Contract Law : Formation

Before the American Revolution, the American states were British colonies.
English law, including English contract law, applied in each of the thirteen colonies.
The Revolutionary War freed the colonies from the British crown, but each of the
new states continued to apply primarily English contract law. The federal
government came into existence in the 1780s as a government of limited powers.
Various attempts have since been made to promulgate a federal contract law, but
none have as yet succeeded.
That means that states control contract law. Contract law is fashioned by state
courts and state legislatures. The English law of contracts was created one case at
a time in England's courts, and our states have generally carried on that tradition.
Court-created law is usually called "common law" because English medieval royal
courts supposedly adopted as law the common customs of the people, and also
because that law applied nationally. The name stuck several hundred years ago.
Now, our court-made law is called "common law" even if it is contrary to the
customs of the people and applies only in a single jurisdiction within the United
States. State legislatures also get in the act by passing statutes that codify or change
the common law. Law promulgated by legislatures is called "statutory" law as
opposed to "common law.” Most of the law we study will be common or statutory
law, adopted or promulgated by state courts or state legislatures. Here and there a
federal statute or regulation will intrude.

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Series Title
-
Call Number
340 RIC s
Publisher
: CALI eLangdell Press.,
Collation
-
Language
English
ISBN/ISSN
-
Classification
340
Content Type
text
Media Type
computer
Carrier Type
online resource
Edition
-
Subject(s)
Law
Specific Detail Info
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Statement of Responsibility
Other Information
Cataloger
fendi
Source
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Validator
maya
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