LessononeEverylawhasnoatomofstrength,asfarasnopublicopinionsupportsit.Wendellphillips,Americanleaderagainstslavery若是没有公众舆论的支持，法律是丝毫没有力量的。美国废奴运动领袖菲力普斯WBackground2024/9/8CharacteristicsText——PartOneitisconstantlybeingrenewedbytheadditionofnewelementsofpopulationandofnewStates不断有新的人口成分和新州的加入Itistheoldestofthe"new"nations—thefirstonetobemadeoutofanOldWorldcolony.第一个从旧大陆殖民地脱胎而出的国家theoldestwrittenconstitutiontheoldestcontinuousfederalsystemtheoldestpracticeofself-governmentThewholeofitshistorybelongsintheperiodsincetheinventionoftheprintingpress.美国历史是印刷发明以后的历史。foreventssuchasthosethatarelostinthelegendarypastofItalyorFranceorEnglandarepartoftheprintedrecordoftheUnitedStates那些在意大利、法国或英国过去的传说中湮没的那些事件，是美国有文字记载历史的一部分。AndtheAmericanrecordRecordofthecolonialera殖民时代的记载RecordoftheNationsince1776国家从1776年开始的记载RecordofthepresentfiftyStates当前50个州的记载TheintricatenetworkofrelationshipsbetweenStatesandNation各州与联邦之间错综复杂关系的记载ThereportsoftheUnitedStatesSupremeCourtfill350volumesThereportsofsomeStatesarealmostequallyvoluminous.ThereaderwhowantstotracethehistoryoflawinAmericaisconfrontedwithover5,000stoutvolumesoflegalcases.想要探索美国法律历史的人面对的是5000多巨册的法律案例。Noonedocument,nohandfulofdocuments,canproperlybesaidtorevealthecharacterofapeopleoroftheirgovernment.没有哪一个或者少数几个文件可以准确地揭示一国人民或政府的特征。Whenhundredsandthousandsofdocumentsstrikeaconsistentnote，overmorethanahundredyears,wehavearighttosaythatisthekeynote.当一百多年来成百上千的文件敲击出始终如一的音调时，我们可以说这就是基调。TheAmericanlegalsystem,liketheEnglish,ismethodologicallymainlyacaselawsystem.判例法Civillawlegalsystem大陆法系/罗马法系Mostfieldsofprivatelawstillconsistprimarilyofcaselawandtheextensiveandsteadilygrowingstatutorycontinuestobesubjecttobindinginterpretationthroughcaselaw.私法的大多数领域主要包括判例法，以及广泛的不断增加的成文法，这些成文法继续通过判例法受制于有约束力的法律解释。KnowledgeThecommonlawishistoricallythecommongenerallaw——withsupremacyoverlocallaw——whichwasdecreedbytheitinerantjudgesoftheEnglishroyalcourt.普通法在历史上是普通综合法，由英国皇家法院的巡回法官颁布的普通综合法地位高于地方法。Theenforcementofaclaimpresupposedtheexistenceofaspec