How old is a tradition?

[Archangel]

I could give two flips about how long it takes to create a tradition, but there is, or was, a thing called Anglo-American common law. I don't think it existed in England (where they probably just called it "common law" or even "our common law" or perhaps even "English common law" if they were going to draw a distinction between it and American common law), but it really did exist in America.

For all of the early fractiousness between (independent) America and the United Kingdom, we were/are, to a real degree, your children. To pick only one extraneous example, the mess nights I attended in the USMC probably differed only around the edges from mess nights in the Royal Marines.

While we split off from English common law long enough ago to qualify as a different sub-species, we did still spring from the same roots. Several of my professors at law school used the term "Anglo-American common law."

Now, common law is increasingly being replaced in America, as well, with codes and statutory law but well up into the 20th century American jurisprudence was shaped to a very real degree by the common law that had developed in the United Kingdom/Great Britain.

Yes, you are right. I have just realized that, in between my post and yours, I made a fundamental error.

The terms have not been defined.

"Common law" has a number of meanings and applications which are too complex for me, really. The US does use a form of "common law" and shares its origins with the British system.

So, I'm still okay with my statements except refer to Kid Cossack for the US model.