American Law

American Law. A term generally applied to the law of the United States of America which is based, in the main, on the common law of England. The law of Louisiana, however, is derived from the Code Napoleon. Though the decisions of the Courts of the United States are often helpful in elucidating analogous questions, and accordingly are frequently quoted in text-books by English writers and sometimes cited in argument, they have no binding effect upon any English Court. America, however, it need scarcely be said, has produced lawyers and text-writers of the highest eminence, and such works as those of Wheaton, Story, and Professor Gray are in constant use in this country.