American Law in the Common Law Tradition Foundations of the Law of the United States is designed to introduce individuals to the basic structure of the American legal/political system, with contrasts to the civil law system: 1) The adversarial approach; 2) Sources and Interpretation of American law (with emphasis on customary law and the role of judicial precedent); 3) Fact finding (in particular the jury); 4) Structure of American government, and 5) Relationship between governments and individuals. The materials emphasize the primary source of American law - published decisions from American courts. About the author: Mack A. Player is Professor of Law at Santa Clara University, where he teaches In...