[palani]

William the Conqueror could not defeat London although he was successful in the rest of England. London was permitted to keep their own system of law and as they were all shopkeepers they opted for the Law Merchant or private commercial code. I have heard it said that to this day the queen of England will not venture into some areas of London without her guard. For all I know though she might not venture anywhere in England without her guard, so this point might not be of any value.

The relationship of London to the rest of England is possibly the same as the relationship of Washington DC to the rest of the U.S. When you refer to the U.K. you are most probably in fact referring to an entity that you are not familiar with.

If you remember the movie Waterworld the earth was covered with water (maritime law) and there was a single spot of dry land (common law) that everyone was searching for. In the movie the dry land was shown as a tropical paradise. In reality it is located on Sark Island in the Guernsey chain of channel islands, as this is the only common law left in existence.

I would think that the book Adventures in Legal Land would be as appropriate in the U.K. as it is here.