The Common Law Constitution of the American Republic

Lectures:

“The Good Old Common Law and the New American Founding” | Professor James Stoner

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are rightly seen as innovative documents, representing what James Madison called Americans' “manly spirit” not to let “a blind veneration for antiquity, for custom, or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own good sense, the knowledge of their own situation, and the lessons of their own experience” (Federalist 14). But both documents are deeply rooted in unwritten common law, carried over from England and adjusted to American circumstances. Common law constituted no small part of American political experience at the time of the Founding and formed American common sense regarding liberty and justice.

“Discovering the Wheel: Ancient Legal Artifacts for the Age of Innovation" | Professor Adam MacLeod

Though we live in an age of moral and technological innovation, we are not very creative at problem-making. On the surface, our practical problems may look different from those confronted by Americans one hundred or three hundred years ago. But they are essentially the same. Our common law is the repository of centuries’ worth of solutions to recurring practical problems. It is full of norms and institutions that we can use to solve our most pressing problems today.

Below are videos of the lectures and the Q&A that followed them.

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