THE AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM
Terms
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- COURTS
- institutions that sit as neutral third parties to resolve conflicts according to the law.
- COMMON LAW TRADITION
- a legal system based on the accumulated rulings of judges over time, applied uniformly - judge-made law.
- PRECEDENT
- a previous decision or ruling that, in common law tradition, is binding on subsequent decisions.
- CIVIL LAW TRADITION
- a legal system based on a detailed, comprehensive legal code, usually created by the legislature.
- SUBSTANTIVE LAW
- law whose content, or substance, defines what we can or cannot do.
- PROCEDURAL LAW
- law that establishes how laws are applied and enforced - how legal proceeding take place.
- PROCEDURAL DUE PROCESS
- procedural laws that protect the rights of individuals who must deal with the legal system.
- CRIMINAL LAW
- law prohibiting behavior the government has determined is harmful to society; a violation of a criminal law is called a crime.
- CIVIL LAW
- law regulating interactions between individuals; a violation of a civil law is called a tort.
- CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
- law stated in the Constitution and the body of judicial decisions about the meaning of the the Constitution handed down in the courts.
- STATUTORY LAW
- law passed by a state or the federal legislature.
- ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
- law established by the bureaucracy, on behalf of Congress.
- EXECUTIVE ORDER
- a clarification of congressional policy issued by the president and having the full force of law.
- JUDICIAL REVIEW
- the power of the courts to determine the constitutionality of laws.
- JURISDICTION
- a court's authority to hear certain cases.
- ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
- the authority of a court to hear a case first.
- APPELLATE JURISDICTION
- the authority of a court to review decisions made by lower courts.
- APPEAL
- a rehearing of a case because the losing party in the original trial argues that a point of law was not applied properly
- SENATORIAL COURTESY
- the tradition of granting senior senators of the president's party considerable power over federal judicial appointments in their home states.
- STRICT CONSTRUCTIONISM
- a judicial approach holding that the Constitution should be read literally with the framers' intentions uppermost in mind.
- JUDICIAL INTERPRETIVISM
- a judicial approach holding that the Constitution is a living document and that judges should interpret it according to changing times and values.
- WRIT OF CERTIORARI
- formal request by the U.S. Supreme Court to call up the lower court case it decides to hear on appeal.
- RULE OF FOUR
- requirement that four Supreme Court justices must agree to grant a case certiorari in order for the case to be heard.
- SOLICITOR GENERAL
- the Justice Department officer who argues the government's cases before the Supreme Court.
- AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF
- a "friend of the court" document filed by interested parties to encourage the court to grant or deny certiorari or to urge it to decide a case in a particular way.
- JUDICAL ACTIVISM
- view that the courts should be lawmaking, policymaking bodies.
- JUCIDICAL RESTRAINT
- vies that the courts should reject any active lawmaking functions and stick to judicial interpretations of the past.
- OPINION
- written decision of the court that states the judgment of the majority.
- CONCURRING OPINIONS
- documents written by justices expressing agreement with the majority ruling but describing different or additional reasons for the ruling.
- DISSENTING OPINIONS
- docuements written by justices expressing disagreement with the majority ruling.