Page "Common law" Paragraph 87

The U. S. state of California has a system based on common law, but it has codified the law in the manner of the civil law jurisdictions.

The reason for the enactment of the codes in California in the 19th century was to replace a pre-existing system based on Spanish civil law with a system based on common law, similar to that in most other states.

California and a number of other Western states, however, have retained the concept of community property derived from civil law.

The California courts have treated portions of the codes as an extension of the common-law tradition, subject to judicial development in the same manner as judge-made common law.

( Most notably, in the case Li v. Yellow Cab Co., 13 Cal. 3d 804 ( 1975 ), the California Supreme Court adopted the principle of comparative negligence in the face of a California Civil Code provision codifying the traditional common-law doctrine of contributory negligence.