From: johnl@iecc.com   
      
   >I can't recall having seen any citations of English cases after 1776,   
   >and I'm pretty sure I'd remember that because I'd recall questioning the   
   >legal authority of such a precedent.   
      
   In the 1800s the Court cited English law all the time.  See, for   
   example, the patent case Pennock & Sellers v. Dialogue - 27 U.S. 1   
   (1829), where Justice Story discussed the Statute of Monopolies as the   
   legislative antecedent of US patent law, and cites Wood v. Zimmer, 1   
   Holt's N.P. 58.   
      
   You can find a copy of the case here:   
      
   http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/27/1/case.html   
      
   I see from googling around that Jefferson hated the idea of using   
   English law as US precedent, but as so often happened, the country   
   went in a different direction.   
      
   R's,   
   John   
   --   
   Regards,   
   John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",   
   Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. http://jl.ly   
      
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