United States and China
I. Legal System
The United States criminal legal system is based on the British Common Law system. Common law refers to those laws that are created and imposed by judges in the absence of specific a specific code or applicable statute defining the law (LaFave, 2000). Accordingly, during the early years of the nation when a judge was faced with a criminal activity that was not covered by a statute, he would use precedent, or refer to the decisions of similar cases, for guidance. Absent statute and precedent, the judge would simple use his best legal, professional and personal judgment to make ...
