Christina Harrington
LS308 Law & Society
Unit 3 Assignment

Professor Jeffrey Gulley
February 24, 2015 Family of Law | Countries where type of law is dominant | Characteristics | How Disputes are Settled | How Cases are Handled. | Common Law | Great Britain | * Reliance on case law make precedence * Adversary system * Jury plays a more prominent role * Judicial Review | * Trial by jury * Legal representation is provided to assure equal protection under the law * Sentences are based upon guidelines | * Cases are tried before Magistrate and jurors * Tried under an indictment or summary conviction * The Crown bears the responsibility for proof beyond a reasonable doubt * Magistrates referees the proceedings | Civil Law | France | * Rely on written detailed codes of law * Judges have less power than those in Common Law * Judges only interpret the legal codes * Judges are expected to follow a series of decisions that agree on the interpretation of a code provision * Judges are restricted by the provisions of the written law | * All crimes are brought before the instructing judge prior to court hearings * The judge controls the coordination of the investigation including gathering facts, preparing it for trial and questioning witnesses * The judge rules on the case based upon the codified laws. | * Cases are brought by the public prosecutor’s office to the instructing judge prior to any court hearing * Instructing judge’s mission is to search for the “manifestation of truth” * Delits, that include theft are offences that are tried by three magistrates * Sentencing is determined by the Penal Code. | Theocratic Law | Saudi Arabia | * Religious law or a system of law heavily dependent on religious beliefs | * There are no jury trials * Courts observe few formalities mostly ignoring the 2001 criminal