16. The relation of the state legislature to local government (Gettell, Introduction to Political Science, chapter xxii.)
17. Public forces influencing legislation. (Reinsch, American Legislatures and Legislative Methods, pages 275-298.)
FOR CLASSROOM DISCUSSION
18. Would shortening the length of the legislative session improve the character of legislation in your state?
19. Should members of the state legislature be residents of the districts from which they are chosen, or should they be chosen on a state-wide ticket?
20. Should our state legislatures be made unicameral? (See Munro, The Government of the United States, pages 416-418.)
CHAPTER XLVIII
THE STATE COURTS
A. SOURCES OF LAW
602. ENGLISH COMMON LAW.—One important source of our system of jurisprudence is the English common law. This law is not found in the enactment of statutes, but consists of court decisions spread over several centuries. The common law has been defined as "that rule of civil conduct which originated in the common wisdom and experience of society," and which "in time became an established custom, and has finally received judicial sanction and affirmance in the decisions of the courts of last resort." [Footnote: W. C. Robinson, quoted in Government and Politics in The United States, by W. B. Guitteau, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1920.] The common law began its development in early England, and with the settlement of America was transplanted to this country. Though radically modified by American constitutional and statutory enactments it still remains the basis of our legal system.