Abstract: We quantitatively analyze the use of legal authorities (cases, statutes, legal literature) in eighty representative opinions of the English and German apex courts in contract cases in the years 1880-1889 and 2007-2016. We find differences only in degree not kind even in the 1880s, yet no subsequent convergence. Most opinions of the Reichsgericht already cited precedent in the 1880s, albeit less than the House of Lords, which in turn cited fewer statutes. By the 2000s, the German judges cited precedent as frequently as the English. However, the Germans did and do engage less closely with precedent than the English. Moreover, a new gap has developed with respect to the use of scholarly literature, which only the Bundesgerichtshof engages extensively.