I'm not an expert in UK law but I'm pretty sure that the variation in laws between one US state and another are much bigger than the variation between the four constituent UK countries.
There's actually quite a substantial difference between Scots law versus English and Welsh law in particular! Even disregarding substantial divergence in legislation, Scots law is a mixed civil/common law system, versus the common law system of England and Wales. I'm no US legal expert, but I'd imagine the differences are roughly on par to those found between US states. My understanding is that it's similar to the sort of difference you'd see between Louisiana's system and other states'.
TIL. I'd ask now what the difference is between a barrister and a solicitor, but I'm not sure that's a thing an American is even capable of understanding.
At the simplest level it’s really just the lawyers who operate in the court (barristers) versus those who operate outwith it (solicitors). It’s a bit more complex and couched in tradition but that’s the gist of it. It’s actually from the same etymology as the “Bar” in the US, as in “admission to the bar” or “the bar association”. It represents a person who has “passed the bar” in the courtroom, separating spectators from participants. It’s just that the setup is a little different, with most solicitors not having a right of audience in the court.
Another difference in Scots law - no barristers but “advocates” instead.
Ah, I misunderstood. The thing is, although I believe the US government is more decentralized than your typical European government, and you're right that the various states have very different laws, the Federal government is still extremely powerful, and Federal law covers every subject that you can think of. Since the spectrum of political opinion represented is so wide, this means that any decision the Federal government makes will upset a lot of people. There basically never is a compromise decision that everyone feels at least OK about.