Malcolm Rutherford wrote: >I don't think the common law was entirely >spontaneous, as the central government of the >time was involved in the effort to have >local courts adopt a common set of rules. On reading this discussion, I am somewhat confused as to what definition of "sponteneity" is being used. The complex system of common law courts are hardly a "spontaneous" phenomenon, by any definition of that term that I can locate. John C. Medaille