Obligatory For American Courts

As a part of the British heritage the federal government and all states, except Louisiana, use the legal tradition of a common law. According to the American common law, judgments have law force within the corresponding jurisdiction. Therefore, the references to a precedent law are a necessary part of the American legal practice. The force of the law follows from a precedent and the doctrine of stare decisis ("to stand on solved"). These principles demand (1) the subordinate courts to follow decisions of the superior courts and (2) the court to follow its own decisions for the lack of an incontestable argument against it. In the states the tradition of a common law also provides to judges considerable freedom of action on the development of

When there is a conflict, the applicable federal law outweighs the law of the state. At the same time only the decisions of the Supreme Court are obligatory for states. Decisions of the federal intermediate courts of appeal are obligatory only for the federal circuit courts within the respective region, but are not obligatory for courts of the states. Though the formulation of laws is obviously divided between the federal government and states, the pronouncement of judgments to that is not. Courts of states are competent to hear the cases on the basis of the federal legislation, and federal courts are competent to hear the cases on the basis of the legislation of states under some general conditions, such as cases when the parties in lawsuit come from different

However, the situation changed after the emergence of the doctrine recognized in the court practice of some states, but rejected by the others. It suggested replacing a traditional method of solutions to the conflicts with the direct search of the law which is most corresponding to circumstances of a dispute. The Supreme Court never found desires to interfere with the sphere of a collision of laws and the development of uniform norms, even though some provisions of the Constitution opened for them such an opportunity.

It is necessary to make one more remark concerning a collision of laws which illustrates how the common law in the USA is understood by people and how the American lawyers treat laws. Judges have to know the law, from the parties it is not required to state its contents. Judges were obliged to know laws only of the state (and federal laws, of course). The party demanding application of the law of other state had to report to the judge about existence of such law and state its contents. The judge could not apply the law of other