The System of Merit in Common Law:

Origins, evolution, and the current state of affairs

Abstract

This chapter discusses the origins and evolution of the merit system application in the United States of America. It focuses on the tension between the pursuit of efficiency through the technical competence of the bureaucracy and the accountability of its electoral policy and its nominees. The authors begin by describing the system of spoils that prevailed in the United States during much of the nineteenth century, highlighting the patterns that prevail in their critique and their replacement by the merit system embodied in the Pendleton Act. The
evolution of the system throughout the twentieth century is then described, identifying the great challenges and the changes that led to its modernisation. The chapter concludes with an identification of current prevailing features of the merit system.