The court system, also known as the judiciary, is a structure that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. As such, there are multiple divisions and even more types of cases. The classifications of cases that are typically seen within the courts are: debt, contract, property, corporate, torts, criminal, public law, and family and estates. Over the years, different types of cases have appeared before the court, some most often than others. In Herbert M. Kritzer, Paul Brace, Melinda Gann Hall, and Brent T. Boya’s research, they looked to study the trends of case type over time. Within the article, “The Business of State Supreme Courts, Revisited”, the composition of cases from the 1870s is characterized as a focus of lawsuits
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Whenever a law is made, a new community of criminals are formed along with it. For instance, a prior activity like smoking in a public place was legal, but once a law is formulated, such activities are illegal and individuals who perform them are now considered criminal. An additional contributing factor to the criminal lawsuit increase is the inclusion of other races of people. It is factual to point out that incarceration rates went upward after African Americans were freed from slavery. Other factors point to the politically-driven, “war on drugs” and the “war on gangs”, as both have led to higher rates of arrest and criminal charges. With each of these facets considered, criminal cases were always are par to accelerate.
As it was explained prior, family and estate cases were a surprising decline since there were significant changes that included the divorce law. The natural assumption to make is that this type of suit should increase dramatically as it would appear that divorce is commonplace. However, since divorce has become such a common practice, the courts have implemented “go-arounds” to prevent having to draw out each case. Instead such matters are reduced to quick decisions based on situations, rather than a traditional case where there are defenses …show more content…
Kritzer, Paul Brace, Melinda Gann Hall, and Brent T. Boya’s research reveals the evolution of court business from the 1870s to the late 1990s. The initial patterns suggest that the American world of law transitioned from one where debt collection and property mattered heavily, into a system that deals with criminality, torts, and contracts. From the historical aspect it is precise in transitional pattern. In the 1870s there was no influx of public business, rather the main form of capital was land as there was an abundance of it. Now, flashing forward to the modern era where all land is property of some individual, more laws are made, and public entities are in abundance, economic activity is the driving factor. Thus, criminal cases are number one, there is still a consistent number of torts, and there is a significant increase in contract cases. In sum, the business of courts changed as the society did around
Whenever a law is made, a new community of criminals are formed along with it. For instance, a prior activity like smoking in a public place was legal, but once a law is formulated, such activities are illegal and individuals who perform them are now considered criminal. An additional contributing factor to the criminal lawsuit increase is the inclusion of other races of people. It is factual to point out that incarceration rates went upward after African Americans were freed from slavery. Other factors point to the politically-driven, “war on drugs” and the “war on gangs”, as both have led to higher rates of arrest and criminal charges. With each of these facets considered, criminal cases were always are par to accelerate.
As it was explained prior, family and estate cases were a surprising decline since there were significant changes that included the divorce law. The natural assumption to make is that this type of suit should increase dramatically as it would appear that divorce is commonplace. However, since divorce has become such a common practice, the courts have implemented “go-arounds” to prevent having to draw out each case. Instead such matters are reduced to quick decisions based on situations, rather than a traditional case where there are defenses …show more content…
Kritzer, Paul Brace, Melinda Gann Hall, and Brent T. Boya’s research reveals the evolution of court business from the 1870s to the late 1990s. The initial patterns suggest that the American world of law transitioned from one where debt collection and property mattered heavily, into a system that deals with criminality, torts, and contracts. From the historical aspect it is precise in transitional pattern. In the 1870s there was no influx of public business, rather the main form of capital was land as there was an abundance of it. Now, flashing forward to the modern era where all land is property of some individual, more laws are made, and public entities are in abundance, economic activity is the driving factor. Thus, criminal cases are number one, there is still a consistent number of torts, and there is a significant increase in contract cases. In sum, the business of courts changed as the society did around