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A reception statute is a statutory law adopted as a former British colony becomes independent by which the new nation adopts, or receives, the
English common law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...
before its independence to the extent not explicitly rejected by the
legislative body A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...
or
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...
of the new nation. Reception statutes generally consider the English common law dating prior to independence, as well as the
precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great v ...
s originating from it, as the default law because of the importance of using an extensive and predictable body of law to govern the conduct of citizens and businesses in a new state. All
US state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
s have either implemented reception statutes or adopted the
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...
by judicial opinion, but there is a special case of partial reception for Louisiana.


Initial reception of English common law

In ''
Commentaries on the Laws of England The ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'' are an influential 18th-century treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone, originally published by the Clarendon Press at Oxford, 1765–1770. The work is divided into four volum ...
'', Sir
William Blackstone Sir William Blackstone (10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780) was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the ''Commentaries on the Laws of England''. Born into a middle-class family ...
described the process by which
English common law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...
followed English colonization:
Plantations or colonies, in distant countries, are either such where the lands are claimed by right of occupancy only, by finding them desert and uncultivated, and peopling them from the mother-country; or where, when already cultivated, they have been either gained by
conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, ...
, or ceded to us by
treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...
. And both these rights are founded upon the law of nature, or at least upon that of nations. But there is a difference between these two species of colonies, with respect to the laws by which they are bound. For it hath been held, that if an uninhabited country be discovered and planted by English subjects, all the English laws then in being, which are the birthright of every subject, are immediately there in force. ... But in conquered or ceded countries, that have already laws of their own, the king may indeed alter and change those laws; but, till he does actually change them, the ancient laws of the country remain, unless such as are against the law of God, as in the case of an infidel country.
In other words, if an "uninhabited" or "infidel" territory is colonised by Britain, the English law automatically applies in the territory from the moment of colonisation, but if the colonised territory has a pre-existing legal system, the native law would apply (effectively, a form of
indirect rule Indirect rule was a system of governance used by the British and others to control parts of their colonial empires, particularly in Africa and Asia, which was done through pre-existing indigenous power structures. Indirect rule was used by vario ...
) until it is formally superseded by the English law by
royal prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in th ...
, subjected to the Westminster Parliament. As colonies gained independence from Britain, the newly independent countries usually adopted the
precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great v ...
s of English common law as of the date of independence as the default law to carry forward into the new nation, to the extent that was not explicitly rejected by the founding documents or government. In some cases, the carry-forward was simply understood, with no express provision in either the new independence constitution or legislation. In other cases, the new legislature preferred to state redundantly but safely that common law had been received during the colonial period. Examples of both patterns are described below.


Canada

The Canadian colonies received the
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...
and English statutes under Blackstone's principles for the establishment of the legal system of a new colony. In five of the ten Canadian provinces, English law was received automatically, under the principle of a settled colony inheriting English law. In the other provinces and in the three territories, reception was governed by reception statutes. The reception of English law occurred long before Canada became fully independent and so reception statutes in Canada were not part of the decolonisation process. When Canada achieved formal independence with the passage of the
Canada Act 1982 The Canada Act 1982 (1982 c. 11; french: Loi de 1982 sur le Canada) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and one of the enactments which make up the Constitution of Canada. It was enacted at the request of the Senate and House ...
, no reception statutes were necessary for the decolonialisation process. English law had already been received in all the various Canadian provinces and territories by legislation and judicial decisions over the previous two centuries.


Atlantic provinces

In the four Atlantic provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador), the reception of English law was automatic, under the principle set out by Blackstone relating to settled colonies. British colonists were considered to have brought English common law and the applicable English statutes with them and so no reception statute was necessary. The reception date for New Brunswick is 1660, for Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island 1758, and for Newfoundland and Labrador 1825.


Quebec

Quebec was settled as a French colony and originally operated under the French civil law system by using the ''Coûtume de Paris''. Upon the transfer of the colony to British control, the British government issued the
Royal Proclamation of 1763 The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III on 7 October 1763. It followed the Treaty of Paris (1763), which formally ended the Seven Years' War and transferred French territory in North America to Great Britain. The Procla ...
, which imposed English common law on the colony under the principle set out in Blackstone relating to captured colonies. However, in 1774, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act, which restored the French civil law for matters of private law (matters such as contracts, property, and successions (wills)) but kept the English common law as the basis for public law in the colony, notably the criminal law. With the passage of the Civil Code of Lower Canada in 1866, Quebec's civil law became entirely statute-based and used the civil law system for matters within provincial jurisdiction. Public law in Quebec continues to have its origin in the common law, but even then, civil law plays a strong role. If federal legislation requires interpretation, judges must look to the Civil Code of Quebec.


Ontario

The territory now forming Ontario was originally part of Quebec and so was under the civil law. When Quebec was divided into the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada by the Constitutional Act of 1791, the first Act passed by the Legislature of Upper Canada was to adopt the law of England for all purposes, replacing the civil law. That statute adopted both the English common law and English statute law. The foundation for the operation of the common law in Ontario traces back to that reception statute.


Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nunavut, North-West Territories, and Yukon

The new Dominion of Canada acquired the territories of Rupert's Land and the
North-Western Territory The North-Western Territory was a region of British North America extant until 1870 and named for where it lay in relation to Rupert's Land. Due to the lack of development, exploration, and cartographic limits of the time, the exact bounda ...
from the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
in 1870. Those territories were considered to have been settled by British colonists and so the reception of English law was automatic. However, the long history of control by the Hudson's Bay Company caused some uncertainty as to the date of reception. To resolve the uncertainty, various statutes were passed to set the date of reception to July 15, 1870, the date of the transfer of those two territories to Canada. The Province of Manitoba set that date for the reception of English law for matters coming within provincial jurisdiction. The Legislature of the North-West Territories passed an ordinance, adopting the same date for matters coming within territorial jurisdiction. The federal Parliament eventually enacted a provision adopting that date for all matters in the North-West Territories. That provision was carried forward in the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan when they were created by the
Alberta Act The ''Alberta Act'' (french: Loi sur l'Alberta), effective September 1, 1905, was the act of the Parliament of Canada that created the province of Alberta. The ''Act'' is similar in nature to the '' Saskatchewan Act'', which established the ...
and the
Saskatchewan Act ''The Saskatchewan Act'', S. C. 1905, c. 42. (the ''Act'') is an Act of the Parliament of Canada which established the new province of Saskatchewan, effective September 1, 1905. Its long title is ''An Act to establish and provide for the ...
. The same provision is the basis for the reception date of English law in the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut.


British Columbia

British Columbia was considered to be a settled colony and so received English law automatically, under the principle set out by Blackstone.


Hong Kong

Hong Kong was ceded (in case of the
New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...
, leased) to the United Kingdom by
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
of China by a series of treaties, starting with the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. As a ceded or leased territory with its own set of laws, the
Great Qing Legal Code The Great Qing Legal Code (or Great Ching Legal Code), also known as the Qing Code (Ching Code) or, in Hong Kong law, as the ''Ta Tsing Leu Lee'' (大清律例), was the legal code of the Qing empire (1644–1912). The code was based on the Min ...
remained in force for the local Chinese population. Until the late 19th century, a Chinese man convicted of
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...
would be executed by
decapitation Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
, but an Englishman convicted of the same crime would be sentenced to death by
hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging ...
. It was not until 1971, nearly six decades after the fall of the Qing dynasty, that the Qing Code was completely abolished in Hong Kong. Even then, some vestiges of it remain. For example, before the Marriage Reform Ordinance 1970 (Cap. 178) came into force on 7 October 1971, a man could practice
polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is marr ...
by virtue of the Qing Code. The courts still refer to the Qing Code on the inheritance rights of surviving
concubines Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...
married before 1971 and that of their children. When Hong Kong was handed over to the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
in 1997, Hong Kong retained the
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...
in a reception statute in Chapter I, Article 8, of the
Hong Kong Basic Law The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 a ...
:


Republic of Ireland

In March 1922 the British Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 provided inter alia for the legal continuity of hundreds of existing laws and for the transfer of powers to the new Provisional Government of Ireland. The 1922
Constitution of the Irish Free State The Constitution of the Irish Free State ( ga, Bunreacht Shaorstát Eireann) was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution,Constitution of Ireland The Constitution of Ireland ( ga, Bunreacht na hÉireann, ) is the fundamental law of Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democracy, is broadly within the traditi ...
does likewise. Neither explicitly stated whether that meant only the statute law or, more broadly, the common law and
equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership *Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the diff ...
as well. The
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
has generally taken the broader view.


United States

After the 1776
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
, one of the first legislative acts undertaken by each of the newly independent states was to adopt a "reception statute" that gave legal effect to the existing body of
English common law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...
to the extent that the legislation or the
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...
had not explicitly rejected English law. Some states enacted reception statutes as legislative statutes, but other states received the English common law by provisions of their constitution or by court decision. British traditions such as the
monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic ( constitutional monar ...
were rejected by the
US Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...
, but many English common law traditions such as
habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, ...
, jury trials, and various other
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties ma ...
were adopted in the United States. The specific components of English law that were actually received vary considerably from state to state, but it is clear that subsequent changes in England to those portions of English law after a particular state's date of reception have no binding force in that state. Significant elements of English common law prior to 1776 still remain in effect in many jurisdictions in the United States because they have never been rejected by American courts or legislatures. For example, the New York Constitution of 1777 provides that: April 19, 1775, is the date of the
Battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, ...
, the beginning of the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.
Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charle ...
emphasized in ''
The Federalist Papers ''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The c ...
'' that the New York constitutional provision expressly made the common law subject "to such alterations and provisions as the legislature shall from time to time make concerning the same." Thus, even when reception was effected by a constitution, the common law was still subject to alteration by a legislature's statute. The
Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio and also known as the Ordinance of 1787), enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Co ...
, which was approved by the
Congress of the Confederation The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States of America during the Confederation period, March 1, 1781 – Mar ...
in 1787, guaranteed "judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law."
Nathan Dane Nathan Dane (December 29, 1752 – February 15, 1835) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the Continental Congress from 1785 through 1788. Dane helped formulate the Northwest Ordinance while in Congress, and ...
, the primary author of the Northwest Ordinance, viewed that provision as a default mechanism if federal or territorial statutes were silent about a particular matter. He wrote that if "a statute makes an offence, and is silent as to the mode of trial, it shall be by jury, according to the course of the common law." In effect, the provision operated as a reception statute, giving legal authority to the established common law in the vast territories in which no states had yet been established. In 1795, the Governor and Judges of the Northwest Territory adopted a reception statute that was based on the Virginia statute. Over time, as new states were formed from federal territories, the territorial reception statutes became obsolete and were re-enacted as state law. For example, a reception statute enacted by legislation in the state of Washington states, "The common law, so far as it is not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States, or of the state of Washington nor incompatible with the institutions and condition of society in this state, shall be the rule of decision in all the courts of this state." In that way, the common law was eventually incorporated into the legal systems of every state (except for the law of Louisiana for which some areas of law were received as
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...
and others were adopted from French and Spanish sources). Certain anomalies exist within certain US states because of the effective branching of the law in different directions. For example, the
Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...
adopted the
English common law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...
upon becoming independent but before
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
abolished
trial by combat Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the ...
. Thus, it has been argued that the right to request trial by combat theoretically still exists in Virginia, at least as far as a
form of action The forms of action were the different procedures by which a legal claim could be made during much of the history of the English common law. Depending on the court, a plaintiff would purchase a writ in Chancery (or file a bill) which would set i ...
under which the common law had authorized trial by combat would be available in Virginia.


Other former British colonies

The pattern was repeated in many other former British colonies as they gained independence from the United Kingdom.
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
,
Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wa ...
and various Caribbean and African nations have adopted English common law by reception statutes although they do not inevitably continue to copy English common law; later cases can often draw on decisions in other common law jurisdictions. The colony of
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
formally received the English common law in 1828, and each of the other Australian colonies received the common law of New South Wales upon its founding.


See also

* Common law#Propagation... *
Doctrine of reception In the legal theory, reception is chiefly defined as ''the transfer of a legal phenomenon 'of a different legal culture', other area or other period of time 'to a new legal climate'.'' Voluntary reception According to Max Rheinstein term "rece ...


References

{{law Common law Legal history Statutory law