United States · Overview
The legal system of United States
A federal common-law system in which binding precedent, a written supreme constitution and fifty parallel state legal orders operate at once. Federal law is supreme within its enumerated fields; everything else is presumptively state law, which is why the same question can have fifty different answers.
Legal tradition
United States belongs to the common law tradition. A federal common-law system in which binding precedent, a written supreme constitution and fifty parallel state legal orders operate at once. Federal law is supreme within its enumerated fields; everything else is presumptively state law, which is why the same question can have fifty different answers.
How power is divided
Strict separation between Congress, the President and the federal judiciary, checked by veto, impeachment, advice-and-consent over appointments, and judicial review established in Marbury v. Madison (1803).
Where law comes from
- Constitution
- Supreme law; invalidates conflicting federal and state action.
- Federal statutes
- Acts of Congress, compiled in the United States Code.
- Federal regulations
- Agency rulemaking under delegated authority, in the CFR.
- Treaties
- Ratified with two-thirds Senate consent; supreme law alongside statutes.
- Case law
- Binding precedent within each appellate hierarchy (stare decisis).
- State constitutions and codes
- Govern all residual, non-federal subject matter.
The legal profession
Admission is state-by-state: an accredited JD, a state bar examination, and a character and fitness review. There is no split between barristers and solicitors.
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