Page 342 - Law and the Media

21 The Law in the United States
of America

Estelle Overs

21.1 Introduction

The American legal system is one of the most important in the world today. It affects legal,
business, technological and political issues throughout the globe.

The American legal system is based on English law. However, it has evolved into a two-tier
federal legal system. Each of the 50 states making up the union of the United States of America
has independent legal authority and its own laws and constitution. Co-existing with the laws
and constitution of each individual state is the separate unified system of federal law,
specifically granted to the federal government of the union of the United States of America by
the United States Constitution (the ‘Constitution’). Federal law can either be made by judges
sitting in federal courts or passed as law by Congress. The Constitution provides that whenever
there is a conflict between state law and federal law, federal law will prevail.

The Constitution is an important source of law in the United States. It provides citizens with
a number of ‘rights’ that limit the power of the government over their actions. Some of the
rights apply only to the federal government. Some apply to both state and the federal
governments. A few limited rights even apply to actions between individuals. The Bill of
Rights, which is set out in the first ten Amendments to the Constitution, is the most important
source of limitation on the federal government’s power. Most of the rights in the first ten
Amendments are also applicable to state governments. Until the incorporation of the
European Convention on Human Rights under the Human Rights Act 1998, there was no
equivalent source of ‘rights’ in English law.

Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are rights granted under the First Amendment,
and are therefore considered to be ‘fundamental’ principles. However, these freedoms are not
absolute. State governments and the federal government can legislate in respect of them,
although such legislation is subject to constitutional challenge in the courts.

This chapter sets out state-based law as followed by the majority of the states, as well as
federal law passed under the authority of the Constitution. Unlike the position in England,
civil actions in the United States are often heard by a judge and jury. The term ‘plaintiff’ is
used instead of ‘claimant’ in the United States.