Emily's notes: The Law

Question 1

What is law?

Answer 1

All the rules of conduct established by the authority or custom of a nation

Question 2

What are some other definitions of law?

Answer 2

• Any social norm
• Any organized or ritualized method of settling disputes
• Rules of human conduct with appropriate sanctions
• Social engineering (i.e., attemtps to order the way people behave).
• “Those wide restraints that make men free.”
• A system of rules that governs society

Question 3

What are the six sources of law?

Answer 3

• Common law
• Law of equity
• Statutory law
• Administrative law
• Constitutional law
• International law

Question 4

What is common law?

Answer 4

The common law: the judge-made law; precedent; discovered law.

Question 5

What does Stare decisis mean?

Answer 5

Let the decision stand

Question 6

Under common law a court may do three things. These are….

Answer 6

• Modify the precedent
• Distinguish the precedent
• Overrule the precedent

Question 7

What is the law of equity?

Answer 7

The law of equity: judge-made law focused on outcomes that are fair and equitable

Question 8

What is statutory law?

Answer 8

law made my legislative bodies that are case by case sort of laws rather than big issues

Question 9

What is an example of statutory law?

Answer 9

Example: Laws that prohibit people from killing people, driving above speed limits on certain roads

Question 10

What is administrative law?

Answer 10

Administrative law: rules, regulations and guidelines promulgated by duly established administrative agencies

Question 11

What is constitutional law?

Answer 11

Constitutional law: the constitutions of the 50 states, the territories, local charters and the U.S. Constitution

Question 12

What is the fundamental basis for the Constitution?

Answer 12

• Belief in a higher law
  o For most religious people it is probably God
  o Right vs. Wrong regardless of established law

Question 13

What is international law?

Answer 13

International law: Treaties and other covenants

• Means of settling disputes
• System of justice: social engineering

Question 14

What are the rights enunciated in the First Amendment?

Answer 14

• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of the press
• Freedom of religion
• Freedom to assemble
• Right to petition the government

Question 15

What are the values of the First Amendment?

Answer 15

• It protects an extension of the thought process
• It adds stability to society
• It allows fuller participation in government
• It encourages the search for truth and knowledge

Question 16

What happened after the American Revolution ended?

Answer 16

The Articles of Confederation were adopted

Question 17

What happened in 1785?

Answer 17

Representatives from Virginia and Maryland meet at Mt. Vernon

Question 18

What happened in 1786?

Answer 18

• 1786: Conference to discuss vesting with Congress all regulations regarding commerce. Only 5 out of the 13 states sent delegates

Question 19

What happened may 1787?

Answer 19

Constitutional Convention begins in Philly. Rhode Island did not send a delegate. Each state had only one vote.

Question 20

What happened Sept 17, 1787?

Answer 20

The convention ends. They produce an entirely new document from the Articles of Confederation: The American Constitution.

o 42 delegates present – 3 refused to sign Constitution despite plea from Franklin
 George Mason, the delegate from Virginia, didn’t sign the document because there was no bill of rights

Question 21

What are the seven articles of the Constitution?

Answer 21

• Article I: Powers of Congress
• Article II: Powers of the President
• Article III: Powers of the judiciary
• Article IV: State powers; extradition; admission of new states; guarantee of republican form of government for each state and protection from invasion
• Article V: Amending the Constitution; only if ¾ vote of the states
• Article VI: The Constitution is the supreme law of the land; oaths of office; religious tests not allowed
• Article VII: The Constitution is ratified upon a vote of nine states

Question 22

Explain James Madison’s involvement with the Bill of Rights

Answer 22

• Originally didn’t think we needed a Bill of Rights

- During presidential campaign he changed his mind and proposed a bill of rights to gain support from Virginia

Question 23

What were Madison’s early provisions with the Bill of Rights?

Answer 23

o“The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.”

o“No State shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or the freedom of the press, or the trial by jury in criminal cases.”