In the beginning， federal law traditionally focused on areas where there was an express grant of power to the federal government in the federal Constitution， like the military， money， foreign affairs （ especially international treaties） ， tariffs， intellectual property （ specifically patents and copyrights） ， and mail. Since the start of the 20th century， aggressive interpretations of the Commerce and Spending Clauses of the Constitution haveenabledfederallawtoexpandintoareas likeaviation， telecommunications， railroads， pharmaceuticals， antitrust， and trademarks.
Procedure
After the President signs a bill into law， it is delivered to the Office of the Federal Register （ OFR） of the National Archives and Records Administration （ NARA） where it is assigned a law number， and prepared for publication as a slip law. Public laws， but not private laws， are also given legal statutory citation by the OFR. At the end of each session of Congress， the slip laws are compiled into bound volumes called the Statutes at Large， and they are known as session laws. The Statutes at Large present a chronological arrangement of the laws in the exact order that they have been enacted.
Every six years， public laws are incorporated into the United States Code， which is a codification of all general and permanent laws of the United States. A supplement to the United States Code is published during each interim year until the next comprehensive volume is published. The United States Code is arranged by subject matter， and it shows the present status of laws with amendments already incorporated in the text that have been amended on one or more occasions.
State law
The fifty American states are separate sovereigns with their own state constitutions and state governments. They retain plenary power to make laws covering anything not preempted by the federal Constitution， federal statutes， or international treaties ratified by the federal Senate.
The law of most of the states is based on the common law of England； the notable exception is Louisiana， whose law is based upon the Napoleonic Code. The passage of time has led to state courts and legislatures expanding， overruling， or modifying the common law； as a result， the laws of any given stateinvariably differ from the laws of its sister states.
Many American states have codified some or all of their statutory law into legal codes. California and Texas simply call them“Codes.”Other states use terms such as“Revised Statutes”or“Compiled Statutes”for their compilations. California， New York， and Texas have separate subject-specific codes， while all other states and the federal government use a single code divided into numbered titles.
In some states， codification is often treated as a mere restatement of the common law， to the extent that the subject matter of the particular statute at issue was covered by some judge-made principle at common law. Judges are free to liberally interpret the codes unless and until their interpretations are specifically overridden by the legislature. In other states， there is a tradition of strict adherence to the plain text of the codes.
The advantage of codification is that once the state legislature becomes accustomed to writing new laws as amendments to an existing code， the code will usually reflect democratic sentiment as to what the current law is （ though the entire state of the law must always be ascertained by reviewing case law to determine how judges have interpreted a particular codified statute） .
Local law
States have delegated lawmaking powers to thousands of agencies， townships， counties， cities， and special districts. And all the state constitutions， statutes and regulations are subject to judicial interpretation like their federal counterparts.
Thus， at any given time， the average American citizen is subject to the rules and regulations of several dozen different agencies at the federal， state， and local levels， depending upon ones current location and behavior.
supreme /sju pri m/ adj. 最高的
supremacy /sjuprem si /n.至高，主权
enact /i n kt/vt.制定（法律） ，颁布
circumscribe / s k mskraib， s k mskraib/vt.限制，立界限
jurisdiction / d u ris dikn/n.司法权，审判权，管辖权
statute / st tju t/n.法令，法规
statutory / st tjut（ ） ri/adj.法令的，法定的
repugnant /ri p gn nt/adj.不一致的
indigenous /indid in s/adj.本土的，本地的，土著的
fraud /fr d/n.欺骗，欺诈
fraudulent / fr dl nt/adj.欺诈的，不正的
appellate / pelit/adj.控诉的，上诉的
precedent /pri si d nt/n.先例，前例
chronological / kr n l d ik l/adj.按时间顺序的
amend / mend/vt. &；； vi.修正，改善，改良
amendment / mendm nt/n.修正案，改善，改良
sovereign / s vrin/n.主权（实体） ，独立国
legislature / l d is leit/n.立法机关
com m on l aw 普通法，习惯法，判例法
federall aw联邦法
consti tuti onall aw宪法
statutory l aw成文法，制定法
adm i ni strati ve regul ati ons行政法规
case l aw案例法，判例法
confl i ct wi th抵触（与？？冲突）
Com m onweal th nati ons英联邦国家
judi ci ali nterpretati ons司法解释
l egalforce法律效力
Statutes at Large《法令总汇》
ci vi ll aw民法，大陆法
1.merican Revolutionary War （美国革命战争，美国独立战争） ： The American evolutionary War （ 1775 - 1783） ， also known as the American War of Independence， egan as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British olonies on the North American continent， and ended in a global war between several uropean great powers.The war was the culmination of the political American evolution， whereby thecolonists rejected theParliament of Great Britain to govern them without representation which violated the Rights of Englishmen.
