Americanization of the common law : the impact of legal change on Massachusetts society, 1760-1830

Few attempts have been made to trace the emergence of modern American law from its colonial antecedents during the half-century following the American Revolution. The present monograph makes a limited attempt to do so by studying in depth the legal development during the period from 1760 to 1830 of one state -- Massachusetts. Since this study is one of a single state whose development was in many ways unique, broad conclusions about the legal history of the entire United States are, of course, unwarranted. Nonetheless, the work of other scholars suggests that the trend of legal development in Massachusetts was sufficiently similar to that of other states that conclusions drawn from Massachusetts evidence can provide working hypotheses for studying how the legal system of prerevolutionary America was transformed into the legal system of today. - p. 3. 1. Law in a changing social order The prerevolutionary legal system, 1760-1775. 2. The legal restraint of power 3. The law of a "civil and Christian state" 4. Rules of unity and stability The postrevolutionary legal system, 1780-1830. 5. The reform of common law pleading 6. Law as the guardian of liberty 7. Liberty and the breakdown of stability 8. Economic growth and the law 9. Toward a modern American jurisprudence : judges and legislators as makers of law Bibliography of manuscript sources ix, 269 pages ; 24 cm Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-181) and index