E. Sources of the Law

Earlier we discussed the idea that no one can have actual notice of all the law that exists. Have you ever considered how much law there is in this country and who is generating it? What are the sources of law in America?

1. Common Law

Before we were a nation, we were a colony. As English citizens, we followed English law. When we "threw off the yoke of the king"—that is, we succeeded in establishing our independence­—we retained the law that we knew, which was the English common law. It became our common law. But we were not content with it, and began overwriting it with our own statutory law. Where a statute exists, that statute supersedes the common law. After more than two hundred years we have passed a great many statutes. But, even today, there are areas which are not addressed by any statute. Frequently, these areas involve model theories or innovative trends (such as the vast changes in society, and thus, the law, brought about by the establishment and growth of the Internet). When an issue is not adequately addressed by a statute, the courts frequently resort to the common law to resolve that issue. For example, in the case of Micek v. Flightsafety Int'l, Inc., the plaintiff claimed his former employer wrongfully terminated him because of his complaints of unsafe licensing practices. The court ruled that "[b]ecause Plaintiff cites to no statute as the basis for this claim, the Court construes it as a common law claim of retaliatory discharge, and agrees with FlightSafety [sic] that it ... must be dismissed...." Micek v. Flightsafety Int'l, Inc., 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101*33 (S.D. Ohio Jan. 4, 2006).

Thus, we originally inherited our law from England. But we have extensively modified it by passing our own laws. However, when the need arises, even today, we refer to the common law, when the issue cannot be resolved by reference to an existing statute.