I'm curious if someone can explain how the English common law system originated and then developed into the coherent body of law present at the time of U.S. independence? How did these early common law courts function? How much influence did the English monarch have over these courts? Were there other precedent-based legal systems that served as a basis for English common law or was it an original development?
If you want a book on this topic, I wholeheartedly recommend Frederic Maitland's 'History of the Common Law'. I read much of it for a research paper; I might have botched the name because I only referred to it as Maitland while I was writing. Google will help you if the name is wrong.
Maitland focuses on England, but America uses English common law. He starts with the late Romans. It's honestly quite an exciting read.
Source: used Maitland as a source in a ~15-page research paper on England's legal system in the Middle Ages. My paper focused on inheritance law but the book's two volumes cover just about everything.