Wathen PLS225-001 Outline Weeks 1 & 2 by Alex Wathen

Natural Law v. Legal Positivism

jaw92002 — 2024-01-29 21:57:04 UTC

Natural Law: This is based on a belief of universal law and morality that pervades over man-made law. It's rooted in ethics and sometimes divinity. It assumes that law is inherently connected to morality and "what is right".

Legal Positivism: This is conversely based on the idea that law is an extension of human endeavors and social contracts and is sperate from morality. It is rooted in legislature and statutes, and believes that even if laws are amoral they should still be followed since the law and morality should be separate (though the laws can be changed later to better reflect the ethics of the people).

Common Law v. Civil Law

jaw92002 — 2024-01-29 22:01:22 UTC

Common: This form of law is developed through the courts and court decisions. It is based on Precedent (Stare Decisis), Jurisprudence, and Judicial Philosophy. In the U.S. our Common law is based on English Common Law.

Civil: This form of law is based specifically on written laws made by lawmakers. This style of lawmaking dates back to Ancient Babylon with the Law Code of Hammurabi.

Federalism

jaw92002 — 2024-01-29 22:04:36 UTC

Definition: A single political system combining both central (U.S. Government) and regional (State Government), in which power is shared each level of government has its own powers and responsibilities and operate independently.

Purpose: to distribute power to regional systems like States and limit power given to the central system like the U.S. Government, in order to ensure power is equally distributed and States keep their independence while still being linked by the Federal Government.

Separation of Powers

jaw92002 — 2024-01-29 22:08:01 UTC

Definition: the process of setting up checks and balances between different levels of government to make sure no one branch has too much power.

Purpose: To make sure the branches of our government (Legislative, Executive, and Judicial) have the ability to impose checks upon each other and make sure no one branch becomes too powerful.

Supremacy Clause

jaw92002 — 2024-01-29 22:10:45 UTC

Definition: A rule stating the Federal Law of the U.S. Constitution stands above conflicting State laws to preserve order. It can be found in Article 5, Clause 2.

Branches of Government

jaw92002 — 2024-01-29 22:17:39 UTC

Legislative: The branch responsible for lawmaking, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. This branch makes up Congress.

Executive: The branch responsible for implementing and enforcing laws. It is headed by the President but also includes the Vice President, and the President's Cabinet.

Judicial: The branch responsible for interpreting laws. It is led by the Supreme Court of the United States (whose Justices are appointed for life), but also includes Fed and State Courts.

Primary Legal Sources

jaw92002 — 2024-01-29 22:23:53 UTC

Definition: Documents that establish the law. Acting as the foundation for other legal interpretations and decisions

Examples:

The U.S. Constitution / establishes the government and grants rights to citizens
Statutes / Laws enacted by legislative bodies that are most of our primary legal sources
Case Law / Opinions that interpret the law in specific situations. This establishes precedent for future legal cases

Secondary Legal Sources

jaw92002 — 2024-01-29 22:29:47 UTC

Definition: Materials that are not the original sources of law but instead analyze them and discuss them to provide commentary and explanations/summaries.

Examples:

Legal Encyclopedias: provides overviews of legal topics, like the encyclopedia, "American Jurisprudence"
Legal Journals: Scholarly resources that analyze legal issues and documents. Journals are made up of multiple articles
Treatises: systematic writings on specialized areas of law, they are usually written by legal experts for other experts and researchers

Plain English Movement

jaw92002 — 2024-01-29 22:33:31 UTC

Definition: A recent movement for legal writings to be written using more basic and easy-to-read English instead of the commonly used legal speak and Latin terms. This is to make legal documents more accessible to those not in the profession so they may better understand law and the legal process.