Roman contributions paved a path for the american legal system. how did it do this? specifically, how has ancient rome affected the american legal system?

Hello!

The first elaborated law code was Roman. The romans build an Empire based on the advances in the legal system. The separation of public and private law, for example, can be seen in the US system.  The common law developed by the roman is oficially used by the courts, like we can see by the terms: "habeas corpus, stare decisis". 

Hugs!