98 .написать аннотацию по этому тексту. common law systems. for example, in a breach (breaking) of contract claim, a person had to seek specific performance (an order forcing the other party to do something) in court of equity, and damages (monetary compensation for his loss) in a common law court. in l873, the two systems were unified, and nowadays a lawyer can pursue common law and equitable claims in the same court. although courts continually have to find ways of interpreting existing common law for new cases, legislation has become the most important source of new law. when the government feels that existing common law, equity or statutes are in need of revision or clarification, it passes new legislation. in this way courts avoid the obligation to follow precedent. parliament passes hundreds of new laws every year on matters that need to be regulated more precisely than the common law has been able to do and on matters that never arose when the common law was developed. for example, modern society has produced crimes such as business fraud and computer theft which require complex and precise definitions. some modern legislation is so precise and comprehensive it is rather like a code in the continental system. the spread of common law in the world is due both to the once widespread influence of britain in the world and the growth of its former colony, the united states. although judges in one common law country cannot directly support their decisions by cases from another, it is permissible, for a judge to note such evidence in giving an explanation. nevertheless political divergence has produced legal divergence from england. unified federal law is only a small part of american law. most of it is produced by individual states and reflects various traditions. the state of louisiana, for example, has a roman civil form of law which derives from its days as a french colony. california has a case law tradition, but its laws are codified as extensively as many continental systems.