CHAPTER 13- LAW AND OUR LEGAL SYSTEM
13.1- LAWS AND SOCIETY
A society is a group of people who share certain customs, practices, and relationships. People in a society agree to live by a common set of rules- a legal code. These rules spell out the ways that members of the group must behave toward one another.
Laws are our society's rules- the system of rules and principles made and enforced by government. Because American society is a democracy, citizens can influence the law through their lawmakers, the officials they elect. By voting and communicating with legislators, citizens play an important role in the legal process.
Why We Need Laws:
The end (purpose) of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. Where there is no law there is no freedom. - John Locke, British philosopher
You and society as a whole benefit from laws in many ways.
Keeping Order
People in a society need order so that they can do the things they want and need to do every day, such as shopping, working, or going to the doctor. Laws give society order. Many laws are designed to maintain order. Many laws are designed to maintain order; for example:
Ensuring Safety
Laws also prevent one person or group such as a business, from acting in a way that harms other people, intentionally or unintentionally. Laws designed to keep you and the rest of society safe include:
Protecting Property
Property is any thing that you own or have the right to possess. Property can also be the right to use that ting. Property can be divided into three general categories:
Protecting Freedoms
Laws protect individual freedoms or rights. The Constitution, amendments, and other laws assure us that the government will not interfere with certain actions. These freedoms give us the right to enjoy being citizens.
Promoting the Common Good
The common good refers to things or services that are beneficial to the community. For example, order, safety, and public health are good for your community. Laws that protect these benefits promote the common good.
No one likes to pay taxes, but taxes help support the common good. the government collects taxes in order to pay for services that help everyone in society. These include:
Laws are our society's rules- the system of rules and principles made and enforced by government. Because American society is a democracy, citizens can influence the law through their lawmakers, the officials they elect. By voting and communicating with legislators, citizens play an important role in the legal process.
Why We Need Laws:
The end (purpose) of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. Where there is no law there is no freedom. - John Locke, British philosopher
You and society as a whole benefit from laws in many ways.
Keeping Order
People in a society need order so that they can do the things they want and need to do every day, such as shopping, working, or going to the doctor. Laws give society order. Many laws are designed to maintain order. Many laws are designed to maintain order; for example:
- Littering Laws keep trash from piling up and creating a health risk.
- Traffic laws allow traffic to flow smoothly for cars and people walking.
- Criminal laws let people know what behavior is not allowed and how it will be punished.
Ensuring Safety
Laws also prevent one person or group such as a business, from acting in a way that harms other people, intentionally or unintentionally. Laws designed to keep you and the rest of society safe include:
- Clean air laws so you won't get sick from pollution.
- Food inspection laws, so you won't get sick from spoiled food
- Laws against assault and battery, murder, and arson, so you and your property are freer from harm.
Protecting Property
Property is any thing that you own or have the right to possess. Property can also be the right to use that ting. Property can be divided into three general categories:
- Something You Can Touch or Feel This category includes most of the things in your room and house, including
- Your game systems, phones, books, clothes
- Your dog, cat, fish, bird, reptile, etc.
- The furniture in your room
- Something You Create- This kind of property includes a story you write- not the paper that you write the words on, but the order and choice of words you used. No one else can copy or claim to own it. This ensures that only you can make money from a story you sell. Examples of property that you create include:
- Song melodies and song lyrics
- Images in a drawing or photograph
- The code of a program, or information you crated and store in your computer files as opposed to the storage devices.
- Keep in mind that some companies require that if you code on a computer they give you that the code belongs to them, regardless if it is programed on company time or on your own.
- Right to Do Something- If you live in an apartment that your family rents you don't own the actual apartment. But you do won the right to live in the apartment for a certain period of time. Other examples of this type of property include:
- The right to walk across someone else's property if it is the only way to get to your house.
- The right of an oil company to drill for oil in a particular place. The company doesn't own the land. They own or lease the right to take the oil out of the ground.
- Different types of laws are written to protect different kinds of property.
Protecting Freedoms
Laws protect individual freedoms or rights. The Constitution, amendments, and other laws assure us that the government will not interfere with certain actions. These freedoms give us the right to enjoy being citizens.
Promoting the Common Good
The common good refers to things or services that are beneficial to the community. For example, order, safety, and public health are good for your community. Laws that protect these benefits promote the common good.
No one likes to pay taxes, but taxes help support the common good. the government collects taxes in order to pay for services that help everyone in society. These include:
- Armies, to protect our safety.
- Social Security, to help people who cannot work.
- Public Parks, to give children a safe place to play.
- Universities, to help educate people
- Hospitals, to provide healthcare.
13.2- LAWS, MORALS, AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
A person who leads a moral life lives according to certain standards of right and wrong. Within a society, some beliefs about helpful and harmful behavior are shared by almost everyone, including:
Acts of civil disobedience are peaceful and nonviolent. They never include rioting or hurting anyone in anyway.
Characteristics of Good Laws:
Is a law that promotes public safety always a helpful law? What's the difference between a "good" law and a "bad" law? Good laws share four basic qualities.
Good laws are:
Fair:
If a teacher catches two students cheating on a test, he or she should treat both students the same way. One function of the law is to ensure that people are treated fairly and those who commit the same crime receive the same punishment.
However treating everyone the same way all the time may not always be fair either. Sometimes a punishment needs to reflect differences in the ages of people involved or their circumstances. A law may purposely treat two people who commit the same act differently. In these cases, different treatment makes the situation more fair.
Example: In most states, when a child or minor- someone without the legal rights of an adult- and an adult commit the same crime, they receive different punishments. Society assumes that adults and children are different in their abilities to understand and take responsibility for their actions.
Reasonable:
A law that is reasonable makes sense. A reasonable law isn't absurd or impossible for people to follow.
Example: A law says "Pedestrians cannot use the sidewalk" is not reasonable because it makes absolutely no sense. Sidewalks are designed specifically for the safety and convenience of pedestrians, or walkers. A law that orders "No person may breathe air," is absurd as well as unreasonable.
Understandable:
In order to follow a law, you have to understand it. Laws must include the information people need to understand exactly what they must or must not do.
Example: Suppose your town as a law that says "All cyclists must wear a helmet that provides adequate protection." This law has a good purpose- to protect people who ride bicycles from head injuries. But the law is not understandable. What is adequate protection in a helmet? Does the helmet have a certain shape? Is it made of a certain material? These questions leave too much uncertainty in the law. People don't know how to follow the law, and officials don't know how to enforce it.
Enforceable:
An unenforceable law is a rule that most citizens won't follow or that police cannot make people obey. Law enforcement officials can't enforce- make people obey- laws that many people consider unreasonable or unfair, or do not believe will help society.
Example: A law that says "Every Citizen must eat at least three servings of fresh vegetables every day" would be unenforceable. Eating vegetables is good for everyone, but how could such a law be enforced? Imagine what violations of privacy would be required to enforce it.
- Murder is harmful to society
- Charity is helpful
- Stealing is harmful
- Respecting one's elders is helpful
- Capital punishment: Executing people found guilty of murder is a form of punishment in some states, but many people believe it is wrong to kill for any reason, regardless of the crime.
- War: Our country has fought in wars, but some people believe war is always wrong.
Acts of civil disobedience are peaceful and nonviolent. They never include rioting or hurting anyone in anyway.
Characteristics of Good Laws:
Is a law that promotes public safety always a helpful law? What's the difference between a "good" law and a "bad" law? Good laws share four basic qualities.
Good laws are:
- Fair
- Reasonable
- Understandable
- Enforceable
Fair:
If a teacher catches two students cheating on a test, he or she should treat both students the same way. One function of the law is to ensure that people are treated fairly and those who commit the same crime receive the same punishment.
However treating everyone the same way all the time may not always be fair either. Sometimes a punishment needs to reflect differences in the ages of people involved or their circumstances. A law may purposely treat two people who commit the same act differently. In these cases, different treatment makes the situation more fair.
Example: In most states, when a child or minor- someone without the legal rights of an adult- and an adult commit the same crime, they receive different punishments. Society assumes that adults and children are different in their abilities to understand and take responsibility for their actions.
Reasonable:
A law that is reasonable makes sense. A reasonable law isn't absurd or impossible for people to follow.
Example: A law says "Pedestrians cannot use the sidewalk" is not reasonable because it makes absolutely no sense. Sidewalks are designed specifically for the safety and convenience of pedestrians, or walkers. A law that orders "No person may breathe air," is absurd as well as unreasonable.
Understandable:
In order to follow a law, you have to understand it. Laws must include the information people need to understand exactly what they must or must not do.
Example: Suppose your town as a law that says "All cyclists must wear a helmet that provides adequate protection." This law has a good purpose- to protect people who ride bicycles from head injuries. But the law is not understandable. What is adequate protection in a helmet? Does the helmet have a certain shape? Is it made of a certain material? These questions leave too much uncertainty in the law. People don't know how to follow the law, and officials don't know how to enforce it.
Enforceable:
An unenforceable law is a rule that most citizens won't follow or that police cannot make people obey. Law enforcement officials can't enforce- make people obey- laws that many people consider unreasonable or unfair, or do not believe will help society.
Example: A law that says "Every Citizen must eat at least three servings of fresh vegetables every day" would be unenforceable. Eating vegetables is good for everyone, but how could such a law be enforced? Imagine what violations of privacy would be required to enforce it.
13.3- TYPES OF LAW
Laws can be divided into categories: criminal, civil, constitutional, and administrative
Criminal Law
Criminal laws are written by Congress and state legislators, and make certain behaviors illegal and punishable by fines and, possibly, imprisonment. The government's attorney must show that the person accused of the crime acted illegally and intended to act as he or she did. If the prosecution cannot prove guilt, the accused person is presumed to be innocent.
Criminal laws have three characteristics that distinguish them from other types of laws:
Civil Law
A civil case is a noncriminal lawsuit, usually involving a dispute about relationships or provide property: Civil laws are established by federal, state, and city governments and include cases dealing with such matters as:
Civil law and criminal law sometime prohibit the same behavior. This means that a person may face civil and criminal charges for the same crime. The governments can charge the lawbreaker with the crime, and the person hurt can ask a court to command the lawbreaker to pay for the damages.
Criminal Law
Criminal laws are written by Congress and state legislators, and make certain behaviors illegal and punishable by fines and, possibly, imprisonment. The government's attorney must show that the person accused of the crime acted illegally and intended to act as he or she did. If the prosecution cannot prove guilt, the accused person is presumed to be innocent.
Criminal laws have three characteristics that distinguish them from other types of laws:
- Impact on Society the person's actions are so serious that they affect not just the victim, but society as a whole. The government considers the crime to be a threat to society's order and safety.
- Government Enforcement: Because of the impact on society, the government enforces the law. Groups involved in enforcement include:
- Police
- FBI
- Government lawyers, or prosecutors who try to prove in court that the accused person is guilty.
- Prison guards who make sure that criminals stay in jail.
- Serious Punishment People convicted of these crimes are punished by losing some or all of their freedoms. Punishments range from fines, community service, or required classes to imprisonment or worse for very serious crimes.
Civil Law
A civil case is a noncriminal lawsuit, usually involving a dispute about relationships or provide property: Civil laws are established by federal, state, and city governments and include cases dealing with such matters as:
- Divorce
- Wills and inheritance
- Broken contracts
- Accidents and injuries
- Limited Impact: The person's actions affect only the person or group injured. Civil laws are designed to help the specific person or group inured when the rules are broken.
- Individual Enforcement: The main enforcers of civil laws are the individuals themselves and their lawyers. These people try to work out a solution to the problem or disagreement. A judge only gets involved if one or both parties ask for help in resolving the dispute.
- Penalties: Civil laws are not punishable by imprisonment. A person who breaks a civil law is usually required to pay for the damage caused by his or her actions. A judge can also issue an injunction, which prevents someone from committing damaging behavior.
Civil law and criminal law sometime prohibit the same behavior. This means that a person may face civil and criminal charges for the same crime. The governments can charge the lawbreaker with the crime, and the person hurt can ask a court to command the lawbreaker to pay for the damages.
Constitutional Law:
The United States Constitution is the foundation for all laws passed by federal, state, and local governments. the Constitution ensures:
Balance of Power
The US Constitution makes sure the three branches of government share power in the lawmaking and enforcing process.
Division of Power
The Constitution also divides the power to govern between the federal government and the states.
Individual Rights
The most important job of the Constitution is to protect individual rights. the Bill of Rights and the other amendments to the Constitution identify specific rights that apply to all American citizens. These rights limit the power of the federal and state governments to control the citizens they govern. The ensure:
Administrative Law:
Lawmakers set up administrative agencies to help people understand what laws mean and how to carry them out.
Administrative laws are laws, rules and decisions written by administrative agencies. Violation of these rules can result in criminal or civil prosecution.
Example: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an administrative agency that enforces the complicated rules that govern the stock market.
The United States Constitution is the foundation for all laws passed by federal, state, and local governments. the Constitution ensures:
- A balance of power among the branches of government
- A division of power between state and federal governments
- Protection of individual rights.
Balance of Power
The US Constitution makes sure the three branches of government share power in the lawmaking and enforcing process.
- The Legislative Branch: Congress is responsible for writing federal laws.
- The Executive Branch: Which includes the President- is responsible for enforcing the laws.
- The Judicial Branch: Which includes the federal courts, explains how laws should be understood and makes sure that laws don't violate the Constitution.
Division of Power
The Constitution also divides the power to govern between the federal government and the states.
- The Federal Government: writes and enforces laws that apply to everyone living in the United States.
- State Governments: write and enforce laws that affect people living in or visiting their states. People in a particular state have to follow both federal and state laws.
- Negotiating treaties with foreign nations
- Coining money
- Raising an army, except with permission from Congress
Individual Rights
The most important job of the Constitution is to protect individual rights. the Bill of Rights and the other amendments to the Constitution identify specific rights that apply to all American citizens. These rights limit the power of the federal and state governments to control the citizens they govern. The ensure:
- The right to say and believe what you want
- The right to practice any kind of religion
- The right to form groups with whomever you want.
Administrative Law:
Lawmakers set up administrative agencies to help people understand what laws mean and how to carry them out.
Administrative laws are laws, rules and decisions written by administrative agencies. Violation of these rules can result in criminal or civil prosecution.
Example: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an administrative agency that enforces the complicated rules that govern the stock market.
13.4- SOURCES OF AMERICAN LAW
People have organized themselves into societies for thousands of years. Many societies developed legal codes, or a "rule book," that have ultimately impacted the laws of the United States.
Ancient Systems:
Some of our most important laws are based on laws and moral codes created by ancient civilizations. The best known of the ancient codes is probably the Ten Commandments, the ten laws given in the Bible followed by the Nation of Israel. Some of these rules such as "do not steal" and "do not commit murder," are now part of our own legal code.
Hammurabi, who lived nearly 4,000 years ago, was a King of Babylonia, an empire that existed in what is presently the Middle East. The Code of Hammurabi was one of the first known, written, legal codes. It regulated the relationships among his subjects in all areas of life, from murder to inheritance laws to personal injury. The United States today has many laws similar to provision of the Code, although the punishments exacted under the Code were far more severe than they are in America today.
Laws against theft
Laws against Kidnapping
Division of Property from a Marriage between the Couple
Roman Law:
Ancient Rome's republican form of government influenced the founders of the United States. Rome also influenced our system of laws. Rome's written law code governed almost every aspect of life. The sixth-century Roman emperor Justinian created the Justinian Code. This code has shaped laws developed in the United States and Europe.
English Law:
British judges have relied for centuries on precedents- decisions made in previous cases- from English common law to decide how the law applied to more recent disputes. Most American laws, whether delivered by a judge or a legislature, are based on traditional English rules of common law.
Ancient Systems:
Some of our most important laws are based on laws and moral codes created by ancient civilizations. The best known of the ancient codes is probably the Ten Commandments, the ten laws given in the Bible followed by the Nation of Israel. Some of these rules such as "do not steal" and "do not commit murder," are now part of our own legal code.
Hammurabi, who lived nearly 4,000 years ago, was a King of Babylonia, an empire that existed in what is presently the Middle East. The Code of Hammurabi was one of the first known, written, legal codes. It regulated the relationships among his subjects in all areas of life, from murder to inheritance laws to personal injury. The United States today has many laws similar to provision of the Code, although the punishments exacted under the Code were far more severe than they are in America today.
Laws against theft
- If anyone is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.
- If anyone steal cattle or sheep or a donkey, or a pig or a goat, of it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold therefore; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay, he shall be put to death.
Laws against Kidnapping
- If anyone steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.
Division of Property from a Marriage between the Couple
- If a man wish to separate from... his wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that wife her dowry and part of the field, garden, and property so that she can rear her children.
Roman Law:
Ancient Rome's republican form of government influenced the founders of the United States. Rome also influenced our system of laws. Rome's written law code governed almost every aspect of life. The sixth-century Roman emperor Justinian created the Justinian Code. This code has shaped laws developed in the United States and Europe.
English Law:
British judges have relied for centuries on precedents- decisions made in previous cases- from English common law to decide how the law applied to more recent disputes. Most American laws, whether delivered by a judge or a legislature, are based on traditional English rules of common law.
13.5- BASIC RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Although the Constitution lists your rights as a citizen, it is not specific about your responsibilities as a citizen, including:
- Obeying federal, state, and local laws
- Paying taxes.
- Going to school until a certain age.
- Voting