...“I plead the 5th” is a statement that most people only hear on television crime dramas, but it remains many Americans’ only knowledge of the 5th Amendment to the Constitution. It receives far less attention then the fierce political debates that rage around the 1st or 2nd Amendments. The common impression of the amendment is that it only exists to protect criminals from prosecution.1 Yet the protections it provides apply to all citizens of the United States and remain just as important now as when the founding fathers wrote the amendment 226 years ago.2 It is also one of the most directly relevant to Army officers in their roles as commanders or appointed investigating officers. The 5th Amendment’s historical foundation and the fundamental rights it guarantees continue to be critical to the freedoms Americans enjoy in the modern world. The full text of the 5th amendment reads “No person shall be held to answer for a...
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...for later judges deciding similar cases. The English common law can be divided into cases decided by the law courts, equity courts, and merchant courts. Under a common-law system, disputes are settled through an adversarial exchange of arguments and evidence. Both parties present their cases before a neutral fact finder, either a judge or a jury. The judge or jury evaluates the evidence, applies the appropriate law to the facts, and renders a judgment in favor of one of the parties. Following the decision, either party may appeal the decision to a higher court. Appellate courts in a common-law system may review only findings of law, not determinations of fact. What are the sources of American law? American law was established through the English system of law and the holy bible. The first settlers to America came from England so they adopted the English Law system. This was the foundation from which American judges developed a common law in America. America also uses biblical laws such as murder, steal, etc. It’s the foundation of America. Lately I believe America has drifted away from this source. Nonetheless America still has a strong biblical foundation. What is the importance of precedent to the judicial decision-making process? Judicial precedent refers to a process in which decisions in legal cases are used to set a standard for cases thereafter. Lower courts are supposed to be bound by the decisions made in superior courts. Not following the prior standards is...
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...Earl Barnes DeVry University Professor Kent 10/29/14 Orientation to the Legal Department The following report is intended to be used as a reference and introduction for employees who have had no prior experience in dealing with the legal department and have no knowledge of the law and legal concepts our company must deal with. As a new manager in this department I want you all to feel free for to come to me with any questions you may have as we all work towards becoming more efficient and aware of our company’s legal aspects and obligations. In order to fully understand the role laws play into our environment I will describe some basic laws and their purpose in business and how they apply to what we do here and how we do business nationally. American Law Before we get to deep into law in America it is necessary to understand how it came about and what it stands for. American Law is based on English Law because they were the founders of the original colonies but today modern law derives from constitutions, treaties and federal statutes (Cheeseman). Constitutions are the fundamental laws our nation is made of, treaties are the agreements we hold with other nations and states and federal statutes are laws enacted by legislatures for governing the people. These make up the material body of law here in America. It is important to note that the Constitution of the United States of America is what we are governed by. Three separate branches make up our government...
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...The United States has a democratic government which is governed by laws that are introduced by public officials. The United States has a legal system that has three branches to have a division between federal and state law. The three branches of government are legislative, executive, and judiciary which all play a role in the legal system and the creation of laws. The branches of government were put into place to create a system of checks and balances. The branches work together because no single branch of government can act freely based on its own will. The laws and practices of the United States were created based on the foundations of English common law. Also there are many factors that lawmakers must consider and acknowledge before writing laws to be reviewed and executed. The legislative branch was established by Article I of the constitution and consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The constitution gives this branch the authority to pass legislation and send it to the President to be signed, the bill must pass in the Senate and the House with majority vote. Although, the President can veto the bill it can be overridden by passing the bill again through the House and the Senate with at least a two thirds majority vote in favor. The executive branch includes the President of the United States who acts as the head of state and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The executive branch is the branch of government that governs the law enforcement...
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...History of the U.S. Criminal Court System CJA/491 Amy Miller 5-27-2013 Professor Angela Bradrick Introduction This paper will examine the historic development of the American courts. It will define common law heritage and discuss the evolution of American law. It will also discuss, compare, and contrast the evolution of the United States courts, including state vs. federal, and trial vs. appellate courts. Common Law Heritage and the Evolution of American Law Back in the time of medieval England, common law heritage was established. Because of the unwritten laws of this time, judges used customs and societal norms to determine what laws were sufficient for what crimes. These were considered judge made laws. Judges would decide cases by using past rulings and sentencing to determine current similar cases; this was called stare decisis (Meyer & Grant, 2003). It was important for judges to use this procedure, making it a less difficult to prosecute each case independently. According to Meyer and Grant (2003), common law was un-codified, meaning these were unwritten laws. As stated earlier, judges used previous verdicts to identify what forms of prosecution and sentencing of law-breaking acts would be implemented in current cases. Codified laws, or written laws were also defined by pre-existing customs, but they were written statutes in which society could familiarize with and recognize as a law. The changes came about, when the common laws were codified...
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...Regarding the purposes of the American jury system, the Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago catalog an impressive list of aims, objectives, and principles that an assembled panel of jurors are to realize in practice and embody in theory. Thematically, some purposes are primarily concerned with immediate, practical outcomes, e.g., achieving fair and impartial justice, assessing evidence, and determining guilt/liability or innocence. Others tend to emphasize the philosophical and theoretical reasons for the existence and use of the trial by jury system, e.g., fighting corruption, giving the people a voice in government, improving the efficiency of the legal system, and serving as a proxy “school” for popular education in democratic principles.1 It is said that the system of trial by jury is “...older than the Republic itself.”2 As a cultural and political institution, the jury is perceived as a bedrock of constitutional government, a veritable “bulwark of democracy.” The essence of the trial system is guaranteed and provided for by way of the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 14th amendments and is purported as being indicative and representative of the American system of political organization, that is, a system of government where power is derived from the popular consent of the governed. As these things go, the very existence of criticism leveled at the trial by jury system generally, and the supposed purposes to which this system serves particularly, is evidence that in a variety of...
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...Managements Natasha Martin American InterContinental University Abstract In this paper I have chosen the differences in cultures with United States of America and China. In the Western civilization, business is often about the fundamentals when dealing with the idea of marketing. These are usually six different fundamentals such as, strategy for sound marketing, research for professional marketing, development for a world-class product, prices’ that are effective, motivation for promotion, and distribution that is appropriate. With a focus on the basic, makes for a successful outcome in competitive marketing. Even so, when business collides with Western (America) and China, differences in culture can become a problem. This becomes an issue that is more than just fundamentals. For a worldwide view, factors have to be considered in order to be successful. This factor would be culture. Cultural views and expectations are crucial in business. Westerner marketers have to come with the knowledge of awareness to the background of the culture, and in which the world they live in. This is the ability that can affect business ethics. USA and China have different ethical behaviors in the way they conduct business. The USA foundation of ethics is based on the origins of Puritan’s. They tend to be based on a foundation of traditional Judeo-Christian and Western socio theological laws and principles (Iseberg, S. 1999). This system is biblical in ethics and morality...
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...Entrepreneurship As for entrepreneurship and entrepreneur, there neither is a legal framework in place as how to use them, nor is it defined as a legal term. Various authors and institutions tried to tackle that uncertainty by describing entrepreneurship, some of those illustrations are shown in the following paragraphs. Arcs, & Audretsch (2010: 2-5) provide the reader with an overview of multifarious definitions of entrepreneurship, which can be found in the scientific literature and which are provided by several institutions. For example they refer to the Academy of Management(AM), an international organisation, which operates in over 106 countries and has 18000 members. This organisation defines entrepreneurship very wide. They perceive entrepreneurship in connection with many other fields; two of the many themes the AM deals with are for example the ecological impact and management succession. On the other hand it is important to note the Academy’s entrepreneurship division exclusively handles small businesses, family businesses and new businesses, which means it excludes entrepreneurship in major non-family business....
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...been the system of trial by jury. For many years, many people tried to show that this system came from a group of indigenous in England back to the beginning of the times of Alfred the Great and the Anglo-Saxon times. This origin was completely disproved by Maintland and Pollock in the wonderful history of the early English Law, where they trace the origin of the system of trial by jury to the era of the Franks, presented by William the Conqueror for their own benefits and not with the idea to give an improvement to the legislation of England. There are also many people who attribute its real origin in the judicial system chosen by the praetor in Roman law to establish the facts which it had established a law applicable to the event. However, the origin of the system of trial by jury was not very important at that time, or even before the late eighteenth century, when it took the most important part in the administration of Justice for the first time, a position that still holds today and has become primary and essential part in the American judicial system. Although it had its origins and first applications in England, gives the impression that its current role in the administration of the law was fully developed during the colonial period in America. The American Judicial System has its roots in English common law, these was developed during the emigration of Angles, Saxons and other Europeans to Britain. At that time it was established a legal system that was...
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...Hyman’s, Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink, goes back in time to post-war America just after World War I to give a historical timeline of how America’s credit system evolved over time. Hyman gives a very detailed account of the events since the early 1900’s till today of how the credit system changed into a profitable business. Hyman answers the question of how America’s credit system became profitable. He explains that from the beginning even the “petty loans to workers had become one of American capitalism’s most significant products”. The history of loans and credit dates back in time, however, these were normally personal loans or stores that provided credit to local customers. One of the very first loan shops started out in the back of a shop in the late 1800’s and eventually “became, by the 1920’s, the most widespread small loan company in the United States, the Household Finance Company”. At this time, however, there were no policies governing the dealings with these “loan sharks” and usurious rates were charged because of the risk involved in loaning money. Many people struggled during the post-war era and needed money just to survive, but had no alternatives. Hyman explains that...
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...right to due process by law is afforded to every American as of the pivotal ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment on July 9, 1868. This amendment guaranteed every American equal and impartial treatment within the justice system. However, within the flawed institution that is the United States justice system, race is undeniably a pivotal factor in the outcome of the legal process. From the disproportionate rates of police stops to the severity of prosecutions and even the likelihood of facing the death penalty, race has evident and extensive influence. The deep-rooted prejudices held against minorities within the American justice system stand in direct opposition to the fundamental respect for human rights that is vital in the maintenance of democracy. Prejudice...
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...taxes have always been in the top five in every election, but recently immigration has been a leading issue. In fact during his announcement, Donald trump was very outspoken about Mexican illegal immigrants and during the first GOP debate, he added that he is openly confronting the severity of the immigration problem that “others won’t publicly acknowledge.” On the immigration issue, Senator Ted Cruz has taken active measures reform the legal immigration system and uphold the rule of law. As for taxes, Cruz believes that major tax reform, is the most important fiscal issue facing the U.S. He believes that the most important tax reform would be to get rid of the IRS. Donald trump has a more liberal tax that slashes taxes for the poor and levies higher taxes on the rich. By April 15, Americans will pay about 2.1 trillion dollars in combined federal taxes. The average American pays an income tax rate of 10.1 percent, although that varies depending on their income. Taxes fund the services provided by the government. The current federal tax system consists of five types of taxes; personal income taxes; social income taxes, which employee and employers pay into social security, Medicare, and unemployment compensation; corporate income taxes; estate and gift taxes; and excise taxes, which...
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...failed. For example in 2005 the real identification (ID) act was mandating that all states would be required to enforce requirements for state-issued drivers’ licenses. In 2006 many of the states started looking into the cost associated with the new real ID act. Many states were not happy with the cost associated with the new act and did not want to enforce it. On, “September 21, 2006, the National Governors Association, National Conference of State Legislatures, and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators released a report that judged the cost to the states of implementing REAL ID to be more than $11 billion over five years.” (Stock, 2007). As the states began to implement the new lice sensing rules legal immigrants started to have difficulty in obtaining new or renewed licenses. In New Hampshire a class action was filled by immigrants. The immigrants won the class action against the Department of Motor vehicles Another was the US Visitor system, “an integrated, automated entry-exit security system introduced in January 2004 aimed at tracking the arrival and...
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...Interim and Final Reports of the Joint Committee of the American Bar Association and the American Medical Association on Narcotic Drugs. INTERIM REPORT For the last half-century public authorities in the United States have been wrestling with the problem of controlling addiction to narcotic drugs. Since the twenties, legislation and enforcement policies have aimed at total repression, with criminal sanctions of notable severity attaching to every transaction connected with the non-medical use of drugs. Drug-law enforcement has become a major police activity of federal, state and local governments; the threat of long imprisonment, even of death penalties, hangs over not only the smuggler and the peddler, but the addict-victim of the illicit traffic. Addiction to narcotic substances has been recognized as a health problem for a long time and in many different countries. It has also in our times and in our national community, emerged as a criminal law problem of distressing magnitude and persistency. The fields of medicine and law are thus equally affected, and the Joint Committee which offers this report has undertaken its assignment with enthusiasm at the prospect of uniting its parent organizations in a common effort centered in an area where the concerns of each overlap and largely coincide. If the Joint Committee can contribute something towards mutual enlightenment and ultimate agreement between the medical and legal professions regarding the drug problem, it may clear the...
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...American Criminal Court System Kabie Goss CJA/224 July 14, 2014 Samyra Hicks American Criminal Court System When thinking about the American Criminal Court System, there is a lot to think about. Most cases are not just opened and closed in one day like they are on television, and there are different courts to handle different situations. In this paper I will be describing what a court is and its purpose, as well as defining what the dual court system is. I will also describe the role that early codes, common law, and precedent played in the development of courts. Lastly, I will identify the role of the courts in criminal justice today. Court and its Purpose Merriam-Webster defines a court in three different ways, but they all seem to intertwine. The first definition is; “a formal legal meeting in which evidence about crimes, disagreements, etc., is presented to a judge and often a jury so that decisions can be made according to the law.” The second being, “a place where legal cases are heard.” The third definition states, “An official group of people (such as a judge and jury) who listen to evidence and make decisions about legal cases.” There are many different types of courts at the local, state, and federal level. Courts can hear both civil and criminal cases. The purpose of the court is to settle legal disputes whether civil or criminal, through a legal process, while protecting the rights and liberties of everyone involved, and to administer justice...
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