At an early date following the Declaration of Independence a general
convention of representatives from various counties and municipalities in
Virginia adopted an ordinance which, among other things, was designed "to
enable the present magistrates and officers to continue with administration of
justice, and for settling the general mode of proceedings in criminal and
other cases till the same can be more amply provided for." 31 This ordinance
is an extremely important piece of legislation in American law inasmuch as
it contained the following provision which was later to be copied in statutory
enactments of many other states:
"And be it further ordained, that the common law of England, all statutes or acts
of parliament made in aid of the common law prior to the fourth year of the reign of
king James the first, and which are of a general nature, not local to that kingdom,
together with the several acts of the general assembly of this colony now in force,
so far as the same may consist with the several ordinances, declarations and resolutions
of the general convention, shall be the rule of decision, and shall be considered in full
force, until the same shall be altered by the legislative power of the colony. m
A majority of the original thirteen states used another method in determining what law their judicial tribunals should apply, which is illustrated
by the following quotation from the New Jersey Constitution of 1776:
"... the common law of England, as well as so much of the statute law,
as have been heretofore practiced in this colony, shall still remain in force,
until they shall be altered by a future law. .... 35
The third method of common-law reception was used only in Connecticut among the thirteen original colonies. No express statutory or
constitutional recognition of the whole of the common law is to be found
in this state during the Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary period. Thus
it was left entirely to the courts to declare the force of the common law,
and this has been done in a somewhat selective manner as the Connecticut
Supreme Court has asserted that only that portion of the common law which
was applicable to the situation in Connecticut should be deemed to be the
law of that state.4'
799-800
https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4636&context=vlr