Abstract
One of the great virtues of the common law is its dynamic nature that makes it adaptable to the requirements of society at the time of its application in court. There is not a rule of the common law in force today that has not evolved from some earlier rule of common law, gradually in some instances, more suddenly in others, leaving the common law of today when compared with the common law of centuries ago as different as day is from night. The nature of the common law requires that each time a rule of law is applied it be carefully scrutinized to make sure that the conditions and needs of the times have not so changed as to make further application of it the instrument of injustice. Dean Pound posed the problem admirably in his Interpretations of Legal History (1922) when he stated, "Law must be stable, and yet it cannot stand still."
Recommended Citation
Thomas J. Cavuto,
Choice of Law: The Abandonment of Lex Loci Delicti--Should Virginia Follow the Trend?,
13
U. Rich. L. Rev.
133
(1978).
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview/vol13/iss1/6