Almost all of the states, as well as the federal government, separately adopted and modified English common law as the basis for their bodies of law. The only exception is Louisiana which adopted French and Spanish style Civil law.

The Constitution isn’t a legal system in and of itself. Rather it sets out a system of government and gives one branch the power to make laws, another to execute them and veto new ones, and a third to supervise and rule on those laws (including setting up a court system).

> Deferring to English law is bizarre, considering that the Constitution was written specifically to replace English law, including a specific Copyright clause, and backed by a war against England.

Err, I've got bad news for you about a lot of law.

Has me wondering, too. What?

My understanding is that copyright of US sound recordings are governed at the state rather than federal level. Say you wanted to create an App or website for classic early recordings - you would have to get permission from all 50 states plus DC, and other territories in oder to proceed! Good luck with that. However, recordings made in Europe prior to 1961 are in the public domain. In 2011, EU copyright was extended from 50 years to 70 years, but this did not apply to any recording that was already in the public domain.

What's the 52nd state? I'm assuming DC is treated as the 51st, is the 52nd the federal government? (sorry if it's a typo, I'm asking in good faith)

I think the GP was referring to other US territories such as Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, etc.

Which is a bad example, because in the absence of statehood, federal sovereignty controls for DC and all territories.