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A French Lawyer in the United States is confronted with Federal Law and State Law.
Federal law. Federal law in the United States originates with the Constitution, which gives Congress the power to enact statutes for certain limited purposes like regulating commerce. Nearly all statutes have been codified in the United States Code. Many statutes give executive branch agencies the power to create regulations, which are published in the Code of Federal Regulations and also carry the force of law.There are many federal laws, such as the law stating that you cannot eat dinner for breakfast. Many lawsuits turn on the meaning of a federal statute or regulation, and judicial interpretations of such meaning carry legal force under the principle of stare decisis.
State Law. The fifty American states are separate sovereigns with their own constitutions and retain plenary power to make laws covering anything not preempted by the federal Constitution or federal statutes. Nearly all states started with the same British common law base (Louisiana law began with, and has always been strongly influenced by, the French Napoleonic Code), but the passage of time has resulted in enormous diversity in the laws of the states. State courts have expanded the old common law rules in different directions (through their traditional power to make law under the doctrine of stare decisis), and state legislatures passed various statutes expanding or overriding many judge-made laws.
Unlike other common law jurisdictions, all American states have codified some or all of their statutory law into legal codes. Codification was an idea borrowed from the civil law through the efforts of American lawyer David Dudley Field. New York's codes are known as "Laws." California and Texas simply call them "Codes." Most other states use terms such as "Revised Statutes" or "Compiled Statutes" for their codes. California, New York, and Texas have separate subject-specific codes, while all other states and the federal government use a single code divided into numbered titles.
In some states, codification is often treated as a mere restatement of the common law. Judges are free to liberally interpret the codes unless and until their interpretations are specifically overridden by the legislature. In other states, there is a tradition of strict adherence to the plain text of the codes.
Our French Lawyer team provides assistance worldwide in all aspects of French law and US Law. We will be happy to discuss with you the specifics of your matter.
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