The Common Law: An Account of its Reception in the United States

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