Federal law preserved some civil-law property rights during common-law expansion

Evidence

Among Thomas Rodney’s papers, from the Natchez district, are case records in which points at issue were resolved by reference to Spanish law or jurisprudence, translated for the benefit of jury and court. The Northwest Ordinance, after prescribing its own rules about wills and inheritance, promised to preserve, for “the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of the Kaskaskies, Saint Vincents, and the neighboring villages,” the benefit of “their laws and customs now in force among them, relative to the descent and conveyance of property.” — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 924

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Civil-law rights arise from contracts, legislation, regulation, or common-law rulings — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 173; American judges reshaped inherited common law to fit democracy and industrialization — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 139

Broader Connections

• Civil-law rights arise from contracts, legislation, regulation, or common-law rulings #qualifies (0.75) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 173