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83 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back

Constitution

A relatively permanent document or group of documents which set out the fundamental principles that determine the powers and duties of a jurisdiction's government and the rights of the people of the jurisdiction

Statutes

Laws enacted by the legislative branch of a government

Administrative regulations

Rules or orders adopted by agencies within the executive branch of government

Treaties and international agreements

Formal agreements between two or more countries

Case Law

Law created by a jurisdiction's court and found in the courts' written decisions

Legislative branch

consists of one or more legislative bodies that are responsible for enacting laws to govern the applicable jurisdiction

executive branch

c/o a number of agencies or ministries that are responsible for administering, enforcing, or carrying out the jurisdiction's laws

judicial branch

c/o a system of courts that are responsible for applying and interpreting the jurisdictions laws

Parliamentary democracies

parliament (legislative branch) has ultimate authority for making all laws

Governmental organization

typically configured to carry out at least 3 functions: Creating the laws; Administering and enforcing the laws; and settling disputes that arise w/in the jurisdiction

Creating the laws

Nations establish some type of legislative body, often referred to as a legislature or parliament

Administering and enforcing the laws

Nations est. a system of administrative agencies, often referred to as departments or ministries

Settling disputes that arise within the jurisdiction

Nations typically establish a court system and many nations promote alternative dispute resolution methods

Examples of Federal Systems of Government

Argentina - union of 23 provinces and a fed district




Brazil - union of 26 states and fed district




Canada - federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories




Germany union of 16 states




India - union of 28 states and 7 territories




Indonesion - union of 30 provinces . 2 special regions and a district court




Malaysia, Mexico, S. Africa

Statutory law

legislative enactments that create a body of law

Congress

Senate and House of Reps of the Federal government combined

State Legislature

State Senate and State House of Reps combined

code

all of the laws enacted by each legislative body and are compiled and organized into a collection of laws;


definition 2: a comprehensive written statement of rules that embody the general principles of law tht apply in a given civil law jurisdiction.

U.S. code

In the U.S. all of the compiled federal statutes

State code

laws enacted by a given state

Example of a sub-divided federal code

IRC (Internal Revenue Code)

Example of a sub-divided state code

State insurance code

Examples of federal administrative agencies

Dept of the Treasury


Dept of Justice


Securities and Exchange Commission

Examples of State administrative agencies

Office of the Secretary of State


Office of the Attorney General

Dept of the Treasury

The federal agency that has primary responsibility for administering federal banking and tax laws

Dept of Justice (DOJ)

The federal agency that is responsible for enforcing federal criminal law, representing the United States in federal cases, and providing legal advice to other federal officials and departments

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

The federal agency that administers federal laws governing securities and the investment industry

Office of the Secretary of State

A state agency that is responsible for licensing corporations and businesses

Office of the Attorney General

A state agency that is authroized to enforce the state's criminal laws, represent the state in all legal matters, and provide legal advice to the governor and other state administrative officials

Regulations

rules or orders that are issued by admin agencies and that have the same force and effect as statutes

Administrative law

made up of regulations

Administrative code

filed and compiled administrative laws

State Insurance Deparment

responsible for enforcing the state insurance code and ensuring that insurance companies conducting business w/in the state, comply with all state insurance laws

Treaty

a legally binding agreement entered into by two or more nations which agree to abide by the terms of the treaty

Civil Law system

A legal system based on the Roman legal system in which the laws are codified into written codes enacted by the legislature

Civil Code

contains the general principles of law that apply to relationships between people that arise through birth, adoption, marriage, death, contracts, and personal liability

Commercial code

regulates commercial transactions and business organizations

Islamic Legal System

the law is set out in the book of scripture known as the Qur'an which include elements of civil law, common law, and Islamic law

Customary Law system

members of a community have accepted local customs as binding on the community's members

Decision making procedures for Common Law

court first looks to the applicable written law-statues and regulations;




If no statues or regulations apply, then the court applies the doctrine of stare decisis by following precedents, unless strong reasons justify a departure from precedent;




If no precedents apply, then the court applies general principles of the common law

Decision making procedures for Civil Law

court first looks to the applicable code;




if no code applies, then the court applies the general principles of law set out in the applicable code;




although not bound to follow precedents, the court will be influenced by its own prior decisions and decisions of higher courts on similar issues

Criminal Law

law that defines certain acts of crimes and provide specific punishments for each crime

Civil Laws

laws that are concerned with private--that is, nongovernmental --rights and remedies

Public law

refers to those areas of the law that affect the public interest and that govern relationships between the government and nongovernmental parties

Private law

refers to those areas of the law that primarily involve disputes between nongovernmental parties

Civil litigation

a judicial process by which private parties go to court to enforce a legal right or to obtain a remedy for a civil wrong

cause of action

a set of facts that gives a person the right to judicial relief

Elements for a cause of action

1. one person has a legal right


2. another person has a legal duty to observe that right


3. the second person breaches her legal duty


4. the first person suffers a loss or injury as a result of that breach

contract

a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties; the agreement consists of a promise or a set of promises

breach of contract

the failure of a party to perform a contractual obligation

tort

a private wrong--other than a breach of contract---for which the law provides a remedy to the wronged party

person

a natural person or an entity, such as a corporation, that the law recognizes as having legal rights and duties

Procedural stages

1. pleading stage


2. discovery stage


3. trial stage

affirmative defense

an allegation of facts that constitute a defense to the plaintiff's claim

Discovery

a process in which the parties to a civil lawsuit gather information that is relevant to the lawsuit so that they can prepare to present their respective cases at trial

contempt of court

any act that hinders the court in administering justice or that lessens the authority and dignity of the court

Prima facie case

is evidence that is sufficient to prove the elements of a party's case and that entitles the party to judicial relief unless the opposing party presents evidence to the contrary

preponderance of the evidence

the decision as to an issue of fact must be supported by the greater weight of the evidence

presumption

a rule of law under which a fact is assumed to be true because another fact or set of facts was proven

conclusive presumption

a presumption that cannot be refuted

rebuttable presumption

a presumption that can be disproven but that stands until adequate evidence is presented to the contrary

conflict of laws

the area of the law that determines which substantive laws apply to each issue in a case when the laws of more than one jurisdiction are involved in the action

judgment

an official decision of a court that resolves a dispute and determines the rights and obligations of the parties to the action

Res judicata

meaning that a matter has been decided

Delicts

intentional faults that damage another person

Quasi-delicts

unintentional faults that damage another person

intentional torts

a private wrong committed by a person who intended to do something that the law declares a wrong

Examples of intentional torts

assault, battery, defamation (libel), fraudulent misrepresentation, inducing a breach of contract, and trespassing to land

Negligence

a private wrong committed by a person who failed to exercise the legally required degree of care

contributory negligence

a plaintiff's own negligence that contributes to his loss

comparative negligence

allows a plaintiff who was contributorily negligent to recover from the defendant, but the amount of that recovery is reduced in proportion to the plaintiff's fault

assumption of the risk

an affirmative defense that totally bars a plaintiff's claim when the plaintiff understood the nature of the risk presented by the defendants conduct and voluntarily incurred that risk

strict liability

liability without regard for whether the defendant was at fault

legal remedies

primarily involved the payment of money damages to injured parties

equitable remedies

remedies developed by the equity courts to provide new remedies to legal remedies where the courts were not bound by rigid procedures and were given discretionary power to base their decisions on moral rights and concepts of justice

liquidated damages

a sum of money that the parties to a contract have specified in their agreement as the amount of damages to be recovered by a party if the other party breaches the contract

Prospective damages

damages that have not occurred at the time of the trial of a case but that are reasonably likely to occur as a result of the defendant's conduct

statutory damages

damages that are awarded under the provisions of a statute rather than under the common law rules governing damages for civil wrongs

remote damages

damages for losses that the defendant could not reasonably have anticipated resulting from a given set of facts (generally not awarded)

speculative damages

damages that may occur in the future as a result of the defendants actions (not commonly awarded)

injuction

a court order that prohibits a party from committing a specific act

declaratory judgment

a judicial statement that declares or denies the parties legal rights but does not include specific relief or any means to enforce those rights.

alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods

any nonjudicial method of resolving civil disputes