UNCOMMON LAW

UNITED STATES V. HUDSON AND GOODWIN 11 U.S. 32 (1812) FEDERAL COURTS LACK POWER TO WEIGH CRIMES DEFINED SOLELY BY COMMON LAW.

In 1776, 13 British colonies in North America declared independence from Great Britain. In 1783, the Crown signed the Treaty of Paris, acknowledging that independence. In 1789, the Constitution took effect, detailing how that independent country would govern itself. And in 1812, on the eve of a second war with Britain, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its own judicial declaration of independence.

stated that British criminal common law would no longer apply in federal courts of the United States. The justices were dumping the process used in tribunals since the first Britons settled in North America—a process