COMPARATIVE LAW
Short Answer Questions
Why was the first American Government a Confederation? What were the flaws of this government?
Americans feared a strong centralized government due to their experience with Great Britain. They didn’t want to re-experience the suppression of an imperial law system which wasn’t able to resolve problems posed in the colonies. They also felt no loyalty to a government which wasn’t taking into account their own codes. The following declaration “Parliament had full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America…” strengthen them in the idea of a government granted with little power. It pushed the 13 colonies to establish a Confederation, an association of states which delegate the exercise of competence to a common structure, dedicated to deal with some aspects of politics. They hoped that by creating a centralized government with a bare minimum of power and by having their own governments and constitutions this would be possible to guard their sovereignty.
The 13 states deliberately decided to establish a weak central government which meant that he had no lends weight in decision. The weakness of the government was emphasized by the fact that all the important decisions had to be approved by at least the 9 of the 13 original states. Moreover, although the national government could vote laws, he had not real power to enforce them, except in policy area. He couldn’t oblige the states to pay taxes and therefore wasn’t able to finance its function. Plus, the government behaved really
In your opinion, is the US really a common law system?
The origins of American laws are definitely found in English common law. From the very start, the colonies have been under the control of English law. But, it appears quickly that colonies established their own legal system to deal with their everyday problems, which was relatively different from the English one. The