ABSTRACT
American law is determined mostly by a common law system except for the State of Louisiana which follows a Napoleonic or Civil code. The US has a written constitution which stands above ordinary law; this sets it apart from English law which is somewhat quirky in its lack of a written constitution. Constitutional law is difficult to change and requires a two-thirds vote by each House of Congress, and ratification by three-quarters of the US states. The US legal system is like English law in the way that power is separated into the tri-partite structure through its two separate bodies of congress, its executive and its judiciary. The US codifies law in similar ways to the English legal system. Contemporary US law recognizes the existence of patents, copyright and trademarks. The regulation of trademarks and patents is largely governed by the Lanham Act 1946 and the Trademark Law Revision Act 1988.
