1998/01/01 by Stuart Banner · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #American Constitutional Law and Politics #Evolving Legal Systems and Governance #Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies
paper · doi:10.2307/744320
openalex publication_date 1998/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Nineteenth-century American judges and lawyers often claimed that Christianity was part of the common law. From Kent and Story in the early part of the century, to Cooley and Tiedeman toward the end, the maxim that “Christianity is part and parcel of the common law” (or some variant thereof) was heard so often that later commentators could refer to it as a matter “decided over and over again,” one which “[t]ext writers have reiterated and courts have affirmed.” The maxim even received an endorsement of sorts from the Supreme Court, which in 1844 affirmed that “the Christian religion is part of the common law of Pennsylvania.”