CHAPTER VII 
SOURCES AND FORMS OF LAW 
The sources, or formulating agencies, by which legal rules, 
principles, and standards have been formulated have been 
classed by Roscoe Pound as: A usage, B religion, C ad- 
judication, D scientific discussion, E the general moral 
sense of the community, and F legislation; and the forms 
of the law as: A legislation, B judicial decisions, and 
C books of authority. 
A. Legislation. There are three forms of legislation in the 
United States: constitutions, federal treaties, and federal and 
state statutes. 
B. Judicial decisions are embodied in the common law, 
equity, canon law, and the law merchant. 
1. Common Law. The common law is that body of law de- 
veloped by the common law courts of England, of which thru- 
out most of English legal history the courts of original juris- 
diction were the King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, and the 
Exchequer, and the courts of appellate jurisdiction were the 
King’s Bench, Exchequer Chamber, and Plouse of Lords. 
These courts made the common law a well-defined strong sys- 
tem of law, strong enough to withstand the Roman law, by 
regarding their past decisions not merely as decisions of the 
particular causes before the court but as solemn ascertain- 
ments of the law as well. In the United States until the 
middle of the eighteenth century, justice was administered 
mostly by executive officers and legislative assemblies with 
little or no other law than common sense, the light of nature, 
and Hebrew law ; and for some time after the Revolution there 
was antipathy towards English law, but economic develop- 
ment and the study of Blackstone finally led to its establish- 
ment as the law of America. The common law of the United 
States now consists of the decisions of the old English courts 
(generally prior to the Revolution ) 19 so far as applicable to 
conditions here, American judicial decisions since the Revolu- 
tion, judicial decisions in England and other common law 
countries since the Revolution, the law merchant, the canon 
19 Indiana, prior to 1607. 
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