The Legal Philosophy of the Common Law: Some Discussions on Natural Law, the Common Law, and American Law

AbstractThis book is a commemorative work dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Thanks be to God - after 250 years, today in 2026, America still stands strong among the nations of the world! In 1849, the American writer Henry David Thoreau said: "The present American government is something handed down from the past, but its history is not long. It is always striving to transmit itself intact to the next generation, yet at every moment it loses something and cannot preserve itself whole." The theme of this book's exploration and reflection on political order is precisely that precious gift from God which we have already lost - Natural law. The contents of this book are divided into three parts: Natural law, the Common Law, and American Law. I use Natural law as the main thread connecting these three parts. Yet I did not title this work Natural law, but instead chose The Legal Philosophy of the Common Law. Why is this so? Because the concept of Natural law has already been forgotten by humanity today, whereas the common law, though also deeply in crisis, still appears in the social life of a few English-speaking countries such as Britain and the United States. What this book wishes to share is that the reason the common law has fallen into crisis today is precisely because Natural law has been abandoned. Natural law is the legal philosophy of the common law; the common law arises from Natural law. Today, the legal philosophy that once guided the common law-also called higher law-namely Natural law, has been discarded, and thus the crisis of the common law becomes understandable. Not long after Natural law was abandoned by modern humanity, the concept of philosophy of law was also discarded by the intellectual world, and a seemingly respectable concept of jurisprudence appeared as its substitute. In truth, the abandonment of legal philosophy and the abandonment of Natural law are the same event, because before the concept of philosophy of law emerged, its substance was precisely Natural law. The crisis of the common law brought about by the abandonment of Natural law constitutes a core component of the crisis of modernity itself; this is a crisis of human civilization. The third part of this book, in addition to introducing the development of American law, also discusses the modernity crisis of the common law and, through in-depth analysis of three cases, explains where the problems of the United States Supreme Court lie. The final chapter of this book attempts to offer several proposals for reforming the American political system. For conservative readers, this book provides the philosophical armor necessary to defend the American common law tradition. As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, this book reminds us that the common law tradition is a vital foundation of America's endurance; when we abandon Natural law-the philosophical foundation of the common law-we lose our communion with God. May God help us!