... PA 205-01 Unit 1 Assignment * Read case study * Describe the difference between legislation and case law The main difference between legislation and case law is who makes them. Legislation (or statutory) law consists of laws that are passed by the legislature, that is legislative branch of the U.S. government, or other governing agency. Examples of legislation include rule regulations and statutes. Judges can interpret what legislative law signifies if a dispute arises about a particular statute’s meaning. Also, a judge can declare a statute unconstitutional if it conflicts with the U.S. Constitution or state constitution. Case law is court or judge made law. It is also referred to as common law. Case law, on the other hand, is not based in origin by the government or legislature but evolves with new decisions made by a judge or court (Cheeseman & Goldman, 2010). * Answer Questions 1. List a statute from the case study and explain what it prohibits The statute in the case of Texas v. Johnson was Texas Penal Code section 42.09(a)(3). This statute prohibited disorderly conduct by a citizen. The Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute (LII) noted that in this case, Gregory Johnson’s desecration of a venerable object (the U.S. flag) was viewed as disorderly conduct and a direct violation of this Texas statute ("Texas v. Johnson"...
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...& Summary: The article that I am reviewing is “ The Public’s Conditional Response to Supreme Court Decisions” (Johnson & Martin 1998). This article specifically speaks to answer, whether the Court affects public attitudes when it makes decisions or initial rulings on a salient issue or subsequent decisions on the same issue. Johnson allows us to investigate the effect of the Supreme Court on public opinion, which offers the conditional response hypothesis based on the theory of Supreme Court legitimacy, and a micro-level social-psychological theory of attitude formation through his writing. To test this prediction Johnson analyzes public opinion data before and after the Supreme Court ruled in a highly visible abortion case (Roe v. Wade 1973), along with three key capital punishment rulings. (Furman v. Georgia 1972, Gregg v. Georgia 1976 & McCleskey v. Kemp 1987) When the Supreme Court made decisions, the public simply accepted them as legitimate. The reasoning behind this is simply because the Supreme Court is seen as the ultimate arbiter of the law. The model used by both Johnson and Martin (1998) is based upon two different theories. The first, since the public generally views the Court as a highly credible institution, individuals are more likely to clearly elaborate their attitudes toward an issue after a ruling. When the court makes its first major decision on a particular, the structure of public opinion changes in a manner consistent with the structural...
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...Imagine if Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case legalizing abortion throughout the United States, was repealed. Think about the consequences that would go along with reversing Obergefell v. Hodges, the Court case that legalized same-sex marriage across the nation. These two cases, along with so many others that provide such critical rights to United States citizens, could be taken away if Supreme Court justices are given term limits. Fundamental rights could be taken away with term limits because term limits could have the primary effect of creating a Supreme Court composed entirely of republicans. Term limits are a bad idea because judicial rulings would be based more on political ideology than on constitutionality, there is no unanimous theory as to how the transition would work, and the old age decline argument is flawed. One of the main reasons why term limits should not be put in place is because it would increase the likelihood that justices would make decisions based on their own political ideology and less on constitutionality. For example, if the Supreme Court were debating the constitutionality of a law that would repeal Roe v. Wade, a Republican term-limited justice may feel pressured to rule in favor of this stance simply because a majority of the justice’s political...
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...decrease the impact of prejudice United States Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’ Connor once observed “Conscious...
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...Jessica Jones Legl 110/Compare and Contrast Paper November 7, 2011 In August 2011, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided on new guidelines making it easier for defendants to request pre-trial hearings to question the validity of eyewitness identifications. Under the new guidelines, a hearing must be held when a defendant presents evidence that the identification of a suspect by a witness may have been influenced. The influence could be any number of factors including police behavior, level of stress during the event, lighting and length of time between the event and the identification. If the evidence is admitted, the jury must be given an explanation giving details of the factors that could contribute to misidentification. Two articles discuss this decision, “Court Raises Bar for IDs by Witnesses” written by Caitlin Dineen for The Press of Atlantic City (October 8, 2011) and “In New Jersey, Rules Are Changed on Witness IDs” by Benjamin Weiser for The New York Times (August 24, 2011), and offer interesting viewpoints on the issue. This paper will discuss those viewpoints. The Press of Atlantic City article did not go into extensive detail as to what the new ruling entailed, instead, it chose to interview local attorneys to get their views. James Leonard Jr. states, “I think it’s going to be a valuable tool for defense attorneys.” While on the surface this new guideline would appear to make prosecution more difficult, Ocean County executive assistant...
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...various positions that can be taken on this issue can be divided by empirical and moral assumptions to more clearly analyze the particulars of this heated topic. However, the issue focuses in on the basic question; should there be more or less laws governing abortion? Before delving deeper into the history or current debates over an issue like abortion, it is important to look simply at the fact of its existence in the United States. According to studies released in 2005 by the Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH) and The Guttmacher Institute, there were 1.29 million abortions performed in this country. Research by the same group shows that in 1994, approximately half of all pregnancies in the United States were unintended, with only about half of those actually ending in abortion. In comparison to other countries, the U.S. accounted for three percent of worldwide abortions in 1995 (PRCH and Guttmacher). With that said, the political history of abortion has been a turbulent one, and the position that the Supreme Court in particular takes on abortion, obviously greatly influences the issue. One...
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...(parliament) is the supreme law-maker, and responsible for making the law. The executive (administration) administers laws made by parliament, and the judiciary, or courts, enforce and interpret the laws. As a result, the powers and functions of each branch are supposedly separate, allowing no single entity to establish complete authority, while each remain interdependent on one another. This ensures that there are checks and balances on authority, placing limits on what each institution can do, guaranteeing the prevention of absolutism or corruption and certifying the protection of individual rights. However, under the Westminster System, this separation is not in complete operation. In reality, the legislature and executive are not entirely separated. As the ministers, government departments and agencies are elected from, and consequently accountable to the parliament, there is a significant amount of interconnection between the two branches. This embodies the doctrine of responsible government; a system of government that exemplifies parliamentary accountability. Conversely, there is a more distinct separation of the judiciary from the legislative and executive institutions. Part Two The doctrine of precedent dictates that a court is bound to follow previous decisions made by higher courts in the same hierarchy. It is critical to be aware of the court hierarchy in order to understand the operation of precedent, as a precedent is only binding if it was made by a court in...
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...various positions that can be taken on this issue can be divided by empirical and moral assumptions to more clearly analyze the particulars of this heated topic. However, the issue focuses in on the basic question; should there be more or less laws governing abortion? Before delving deeper into the history or current debates over an issue like abortion, it is important to look simply at the fact of its existence in the United States. According to studies released in 2005 by the Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH) and The Guttmacher Institute, there were 1.29 million abortions performed in this country. Research by the same group shows that in 1994, approximately half of all pregnancies in the United States were unintended, with only about half of those actually ending in abortion. In comparison to other countries, the U.S. accounted for three percent of worldwide abortions in 1995 (PRCH and Guttmacher). With that said, the political history of abortion has been a turbulent one, and the position that the Supreme Court in particular takes on abortion, obviously greatly influences the issue. One...
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...NATIONAL UNIVERSITY «ODESSA LAW ACADEMY» Department of International Law and International Relations TERM PAPER In Legal Philosophy on topic: «Judicial Precedent» By the 1st year student of the 1st group Of the Faculty of International Legal Relations Supervisor: Prof. National scale ___________ Number of points ______ Assessment ECTS _______ Commission members: ___________ _______________________ ___________ _______________________ ___________ _______________________ ODESSA 2014 THEME: Judicial Precedent PLAN INTRODUCTION …………………………………..…………………………… 3CHAPTER 1. Judicial Precedent: generals 1.1. Definition of judicial precedent ………………………………….…... 51.2. The doctrine of stare decisis ……..………………………….……..… 61.3. Ratio decidendi and Obiter dictum …..………………………….....… 7CHAPTER 2. Types of precedent2.1. Verticality ……………………………………………………………. 102.2. Horizontality ………………………………………………………… 112.3. Binding precedent …………………………………………….……... 122.4. Persuasive precedent ………………………………………………… 15 CHAPTER 3. Avoiding precedent 3.1. Distinguishing …………………..……………………………………. 19 3.2. Overruling ……………………………………………………………. 19 3.3. Reversing ……………………………………………………………... 20 3.4. Per incuriam…………………………………………………………… 20 CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………... 22LITERATURE …………………………………………………………………... 25 | INTRODUCTION At the present stage of development of Ukraine in the framework of the democratic process, there are the emergence...
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...The “Hosanna-Tabor” Case in the US Supreme Court Introduction “Evangelical Lutheran Church and School Hosanna-Tabor v. Commission for Equal Employment Opportunities-CIOE” is a famous case decided in January 2012 by the United States Supreme Court. It addressed the right to religious freedom and the establishment clause, the "ministerial exception" and the limits of state intervention in the internal affairs of a church. Arguably, "Hosanna-Tabor" is the most important case on religious freedom to reach the Supreme Court in the last 20 years. A case in which the Supreme Court established a milestone in the understanding of cases involving labor relations and religions institutions. More specifically on the scope of the term "ministerial exception" as well as the "establishment clause and free exercise", brought by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Analysis of the Decision The Supreme Court reviews, in this case, an argument between the interpretation of the constitutional provision in the Americans with Disabilities Act, which protects people with disabilities in hiring and against dismissal without cause. The issues raised are as follows: Can a disabled person to be fired from his or hers job, even if the employer is a religious organization? What is the limit and the scope of the "ministerial exception" and the "free exercise clause", especially when there is a conflict with other values? More specifically, what was discussed was whether...
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...To: Employment Law Students From: Dan Ginsberg Subject: Reading Cases Date: April 14, 2015 Background: The authors of the textbook (Bennett-Alexander and Hartman) include legal cases to provide some real life situations to help in understanding the legal principles explained in the text. Here are some things to keep in mind when you read and study these cases: 1. Laws are created by the legislature (also known as statutory laws). The cases you will be reading are summaries of judicial opinions made by appeals courts either by a state judge or by a Federal judge. Once a decision is rendered by a judge, it becomes a part of the “common law”, and can be followed, modified, or rejected by another judge, who thus creates an update to the common law. 2. The cases you read are snapshots in time, based on the facts of each case. While general principles can and should be understood, it is not always clear what the value of the case is to the understanding of the law. Sometimes, the conclusions reached by the judge, don’t make a lot of sense…. But, don’t get hung up over that, since you need many case studies to understand what the real law is. And, even if you understand the law, a new and more important decision can be rendered, which throws out the old common law, and replaces it with new common law. Or, in some cases, the legislature will pass a new law that renders the latest court decision meaningless, and the checks and balances of government are demonstrated...
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...This legal study will examine the meaning of voluntariness for the rule of confessions under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The premise of voluntariness for confessions defines the right of individuals to not be coerced into giving a statement that may incriminate them after being arrested and/or being interrogated by the police. In the framework of Canadian case law, it is important to understand the necessity of an “operating mind” as the foundation of a voluntary confession, which must not be exploited or manipulated by police during an arrest. Law enforcement must follow the rules of confession in order maintain the voluntarism of the person being arrested or detained:. The case R v. Oickle (2000) of the Canadian Supreme Court defines the voluntariness of the confession that law...
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...Professor Tracy Herman August 10, 2014 Federalism is the political system for local units of government (regional, provincial, state, and municipal). The units are secure and are a national government in making decisions on some government matters. Since the American federalism began 200 years ago, it has endured remarkable changes. Today, all governments -- federal, state and local -- play a greater role in the lives of their citizens, expectations about what kind of services and rights people want from government have changed, and relations among the federal, state and local governments have become infinitely more complex (Meyer, 2007). The 1st change that has evolved is Civil Rights. According, to the Supreme Court, 1993-1996 overview past debates and on how to remedy past crimination and equalize opportunities for African Americans, Hispanics and other minority groups. In a number of closely divided rulings, the Court limited efforts to create majority-minority congressional districts to help elect more blacks and Hispanics to Congress. It also adopted a stricter test against the use of racial preferences in awarding government contracts. In addition, the Court sent lower federal court judges a strong signal to move more quickly to get out of school desegregation cases and restore schools to local control. The dispute over racial redistricting stemmed from efforts by civil rights groups, minority lawmakers and the federal government after the 1990 census to use the federal...
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...Certificate of Education 2014 SUPERVISOR TO ATTACH PROCESSING LABEL HERE Letter STUDENT NUMBER LEGAL STUDIES Written examination Tuesday 11 November 2014 Reading time: 3.00 pm to 3.15 pm (15 minutes) Writing time: 3.15 pm to 5.15 pm (2 hours) QUESTION AND ANSWER BOOK Structure of book Number of questions Number of questions to be answered 13 13 Number of marks 70 • Students are permitted to bring into the examination room: pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers, sharpeners and rulers. • Students are NOT permitted to bring into the examination room: blank sheets of paper and/or white out liquid/tape. • No calculator is allowed in this examination. Materials supplied • Question and answer book of 18 pages. • Additional space is available at the end of the book if you need extra paper to complete an answer. Instructions • Write your student number in the space provided above on this page. • You should make use of stimulus material where it is included. However, it is not intended that this material will provide you with all the information to fully answer the question. • All written responses must be in English. Students are NOT permitted to bring mobile phones and/or any other unauthorised electronic devices into the examination room. © VICTORIAN CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY 2014 2014 LEGAL STUDIES EXAM 2 Instructions Answer all questions in the spaces provided. Question 1 (2 marks) Outline one effect...
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...constitution * To investigate the awareness of the main source of law to the public * To assess the supremacy of the written constitution Methodology During this study, the researcher decided to utilize a series of qualitative approach. The researcher seeks to acquire secondary information via internet sites, books, the constitution, articles and cases as well as statutes. This slant was chosen by the researcher because the various types of secondary information will form a very precise and foolproof study. The topic chosen can be very broad and so the researcher tries to present accurate information. The supremacy of the constitution may be one which is elaborate and compound so people of simple knowledge will find it difficult to give honest answers and information and may focus on what they strongly feel, believe or even heard. For this reason, the researcher decides that she will not use a questionnaire to collect information which is quantitative. A questionnaire is mainly used to gather a broad range of information from various unspecified people; however, the researcher sees no need to collect data in this form because it is more sociological as it deals with feelings and personal perspectives. Also the questionnaire is very time consuming and not sufficient enough for this study. In addition, no interview was done because the secondary data was proven to be most resourceful and quite adequate so the researcher did not think it was necessary to conduct...
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