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Sources of Law: Administrative, Constitutional
The tenets of law can be classified into three broad categories:
- Substantiative and procedural
- Public and private
- Federal and state
Defining and creating or regulating legal rights is the substance of law, while procedural law establishes the means for enforcing those rights. Private law governs individuals and legal entities in their relationships with one another, while public law governs the authority and control of the government in its relationships to individuals and groups. When there is a disagreement, federal law overrides state law.
The basic functions or purposes of law are:
- Social regulation
- Dispute resolution
- Distribution, innovation and social change
In short, law regulates human interaction; the allocation of resources; and prevents and settles disputes.
Law relies primarily on deduction and logic and stresses on procedure and precedent. In the social context, the formal decisions are public, reviewed and are justified in writing. More often than not, there are three parties involved – two adversaries and an impartial adjudicator.
There are four sources of law in the United States.
- Constitutional law Outline: Constitutional law regulates the relationships between the government and citizens.
- Statutory law : Laws passed by the congress or state legislatures are called statutory laws.
- Regulatory law or administrative law : Administrative law regulates the state’s relations and its institutions relations with individual citizens.
- Case law : Case law refers to the court decisions based on the interpretations of statutes. It comprises the written opinions or decisions of judges who passed the verdict in a particular case and the reasoning behind it. This includes citations to pertinent statutes and other cases (precedents).
The usual types of court actions are:
- Criminal
- Civil
- Legislative
- Property
- Contract
- Tort
Criminal law is made of the laws themselves and the criminal procedure law. The laws define criminal conduct and how it is punished. Criminal procedures are used to prosecute a crime. Civil law concerns actions and events that involve individual citizens. While the government plays a vital role in criminal and administrative law, civil law emphasizes the actions of individual citizens. The same activity may cause both criminal and civil liabilities.
Civil law has various branches like contract law, marriage/divorce/custody law, probate/real estate law, and torts. Torts are civil suits for injury that lead to a compensation for harm or injury. Everyday matters become matters of law when some perceived or unperceived injurious event occurs or there is a grievance or claim of one party against another. This may lead to a dispute or denied claim. Parties approach lawyers and filings are made. Trials are conducted and may lead to appeals in the court.
The United States court structure has parallel federal and state courts, each having three levels. Court cases follow a general process if they are appealed – trial court to appellate court to the court of last resort.
State Court System
State District Court --> State Court of Appeals --> State Supreme Court
Federal Court System
U.S District Court --> Federal Court of Appeals --> U.S Supreme Court
Trial court
At the trial court level, a judge or jury hears disputes and the facts are determined. These facts remain constant throughout any subsequent appeals processes. The judge may also make determinations pertaining to the issues of law and apply them to the facts of the case presented. The rulings of the judge on the law however, can be appealed to a higher court.
Appellate court
The function of the appellate court is to review the decisions of trial courts on the issues of law. The appellate court ensures that the trial court did not make a mistake. The appellate court decides whether the trial court’s judgment should be affirmed, reversed or modified. Decisions of the appellate court develop law through the creation of precedents.
Precedence
In the United States, courts are required abide by the decision of the other courts in similar cases. When a higher court applies the law to a specific set of facts, this decision controls decisions in similar cases in that and other courts. If the court does not follow the precedent, it must explain why that precedent does not apply or control in the particular case. Lower courts cannot go against precedents set by higher courts.
The Supreme Court in a jurisdiction, either state or federal, is the court of last resort. The Supreme Court only deals with a few cases that are important in terms of determining the purpose of the law. The Supreme Court does not retry the facts in the case, but determines if the law has been correctly applied, particularly concerning important principles of law. The decisions of the Supreme Court are binding on all lower courts in its jurisdiction.
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