Download Sources of American Law

Sources of American Law
U.S. Government
Chapter 15 Section 1
Name
Dec 1, 2015
• Warm up
• We have laws because _________________
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• Because we have laws _________________
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Key Terms: Select 3
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Law
Constitutional Law
Statute
Ordinance
Statutory Law
Administrative Law
Common Law
Equity
Due Process
Substantive Due Process
Procedural Due Process
Adversary System
Presumed Innocence
Read: Page 423 /424/427
Sources of American Law page 423
Constitutional Law page 424
Legal Principles page 427
Early Systems of Law
Code of Hammurabi
Ten Commandments
Constitutional Law
• States have their own constitutions- they set forth rights
not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.
• State Courts decide cases involving state constitutions
• If state constitutions violate the U.S. Constitution, the
rulings can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court
• Constitutional Law- the branch of law dealing with the
formation, construction, and interpretations of
constitutions.
• Constitutional law cases decide the limits of government’s
power and rights of the individual
• Constitutional law cases may deal with civil law or
criminal law.
Statutory Law
• A Statute is a law written by a legislative branch of
government.
• Statutes passed by city councils are ordinances
• Statutes may limit citizen’s behavior:
• Speed limits, food inspecting rules, minimum age to work etc.
• Statutory Law (“Roman Law”) is based on an approach to
making laws derived from ancient Romans.
• Justinian Code- simplified all the laws into a final Roman
Legal Code.
• Many decisions of Federal Courts deal with statutory law
Administrative Law
• Administrative law spells out the authority and procedures
to be followed by administrative agencies.
• Administrative agencies run government programs and
provide services.
• Ex: Social Security Administration
• Administrative law cases deal with problems of fairness
and due process
• Most administrative agencies regulate people’s behavior or provide/deny
government benefits.
Common Law
• Common law is law made by judges in the process of
resolving individual cases.
• Most important basis of the American legal system
• Decisions are recorded so if there is a similar case, the judges
follow the earlier ruling “precedent”
• In unique cases, judges make their own rulings based on
common sense and prevailing customs.
• Common law in America comes from English common law
Equity
• Equity is a system of rules by which disputes are resolved
on the grounds of fairness.
• Rival to common law
• Equity court could require an action beyond payment of
money or stop a wrong before it occurred.
• In nineteenth century America equity and common law
merged
• Today a single court can administer both systems
Legal System Principles
1. Equal Justice Under the Law: the goal of the American
court system to treat all persons alike.
2. Due Process of Law:
• Substantive due process: shorthand for certain rights given,
some that are specified in the Constitution and some that are
not specified
• Procedural due process: the way a law is administered,
prohibits arbitrary enforcement of the law.
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2.
notice to a person that he/she has done something wrong.
giving the affected person the right to respond or be heard concerning
the accusation of wrongdoing.
Legal System Principles
3. The Adversary System: the courtroom is like an arena in
which lawyers for the opposing sides try to present their
strongest cases.
• Lawyer for each side is generally expected to do all that is
legally permissible to advance the cause of their client.
4. Presumption of Innocence: notion that an accused
person is innocent until proven guilty
• Not mentioned in the Constitution but is in our legal heritage
• Prosecution has burden of proof: unless the prosecution succeeds
in proving the accusation, the court must declare the defendant
not guilty.
Homework Sec. 1 page 428 Tuesday night finish reading
section answer # 1 and 4
#1
#4
Page 426 “The Law And You”
Write/Explain a brief situation (Criminal or Civil) for which you might need a lawyer?
List 5 questions you would ask your attorney regarding your legal problem.
Class of 2015 stop here!!
Page 429 Supreme “Court Cases to Debate”
#1
#2
#3
And answer “You Be The Judge”
Select a Local State Federal or World Current Event that deals with the law and provide the topic and 3 details and
why you selected this current event.
Event__________
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2.
3.
Why you selected this event?