Comparing American law to the law of your country Grossmont College Writing Contract Law Short Essay
Submit a 400-500 word essay comparing American law to the law of your country of origin on the topic you have chosen. For example, in America, if a person dies without a trust or a will, their property is disbursed in a manner called “intestate” where the court looks at the first level of beneficiaries and divides everything equally. There are also taxes that are incorporated depending on how a person’s estate has been dictated. Compare this with an American who owns property in Mexico. If they have an American will or trust, it can cause significant time delay, tax implications, and challenges with the Mexican legal system as the property is distributed. Alternatively, if there is a will or trust executed pursuant to Mexican law, the system becomes much less of a burden on the beneficiaries.
Submit your paper comparing American law with the law of your native country on the topic of your choice. NOTE: this asks you to compare American law with the law of YOUR country of origin, so the comparison content must be yours. Here is the analytical structure and the conceptual apparatus that makes such a comparison rigorous rather than anecdotal.
CORE SKILL: comparative legal analysis means identifying the DIFFERENT UNDERLYING VALUES that produce different rules — not merely listing that the rules differ.
THE FOUNDATIONAL DISTINCTION TO GROUND ANY COMPARISON: COMMON LAW systems (US, UK, most of the Commonwealth) are built on JUDICIAL PRECEDENT (stare decisis), with law developing case by case and judges playing a creative role; procedure is ADVERSARIAL. CIVIL LAW systems (most of continental Europe, Latin America, much of Africa and Asia) are built on COMPREHENSIVE CODES, with judges applying the code rather than making law, and precedent holding persuasive rather than binding force; procedure is more INQUISITORIAL. Many countries are HYBRID, and many also incorporate customary or religious law (e.g., customary land tenure alongside statutory title, or personal-status law governing family matters). Identifying which family your country belongs to — and where it departs from the model — is the first analytical move.
IF YOUR TOPIC IS INTESTATE SUCCESSION (the example given): US law distributes to a statutorily-defined hierarchy of heirs (spouse, then descendants, then parents, then collaterals) under state law, with each state’s statute differing. THE COMPARATIVE QUESTIONS THAT GENERATE REAL ANALYSIS: Does your country recognize FORCED HEIRSHIP (a fixed reserved portion for children/spouse that the testator CANNOT disinherit — standard in civil law systems and in Islamic law), whereas American law generally protects TESTAMENTARY FREEDOM (with the notable exception of the spousal elective share)? That contrast is deeply revealing — it is the difference between a system that treats property as belonging fundamentally to the FAMILY and one that treats it as belonging to the INDIVIDUAL. Does customary law govern land? Are daughters and sons treated equally? Is there a distinction between matrimonial and ancestral property? Does polygamous marriage complicate succession?
THE ANALYTICAL MOVE THAT EARNS THE GRADE: for each difference, ask WHY. What value does each rule protect — individual autonomy, family solidarity, gender equality, economic efficiency, social stability? Then EVALUATE: which better serves the interests at stake, and at what cost? A comparison that stops at “in America X, in my country Y” is descriptive. A comparison that explains what each system is TRYING TO DO, and what it sacrifices to do it, is analysis.
STRUCTURE (400–500 words is short — be disciplined): brief framing of the topic → the American rule, accurately stated → the rule in your country of origin → the key difference → the underlying value difference → your evaluation. Cite sources for both jurisdictions.
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