论美国法形成的历史轨迹

美国法是英国普通法的美国化，它的形成始于殖民地时期，完成于19世纪70年代。其间，美国法从最初对英国普通法的排斥逐步转为对其加以吸收和改造，并最终形成了适应美国社会发展的法律形式和观念。因此，从总体上讲，美国法并未游离出普通法的框架之外，而是保留了普通法的精髓，成为普通法系的重要组成部分。

A Historical Perspective On the Formation of American Law

American law, which took shape from the colonial period to the 1870s, is the Americanized English common law. Though American law had once excluded the English common law,it later began to assimilate and transform the latter. Eventually,American law became an unique legal form and idea that conformed to the development of American society. Therefore,American law,as a whole,does not dissociate from the English common law,but retains the essential part of the latter and becomes a significant representation of the common law system.