The western frontier originated lasting legal innovations that later spread east

Evidence

Out of the West, then, came legal innovations that became enduring features of the law. The homestead exemption began in Texas; from there, it spread to the North and the East. The first Married Women’s Property Act, oddly enough, was passed in Mississippi. A number of important legal institutions began life in experimental milieus, on the outskirts of American society. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 922

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Frontier lawyers were peripatetic, moving frequently between boomtowns — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3702