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Paralegal > Intro to Paralegalism Ch 6 > Flashcards

Intro to Paralegalism Ch 6 Flashcards

1
Q

Federalism

A

the division of powers between the federal government and the state governments

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2
Q

Legislative Branch

A

the branch that makes or enacts laws

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3
Q

Executive Branch

A

the branch that carries out, executes, or administers laws

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4
Q

Judicial Branch

A

the branch that interprets laws by resolving disputes that arise under them

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5
Q

Checks and Balances

A

an allocation of powers whereby one branch of government can block, check, or review another branch in order to maintain a balance of power between the three branches so that no one can dominate the other two

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6
Q

Judicial Review

A

the power of a court to determine the constitutionality of a statute or law; or to determine the correctness of what a lower court has done

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7
Q

Law

A

an authoritative rule written and enforced by one or more government bodies

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8
Q

Primary Authority

A

a law written by one of the three branches of government (ex: constitutions, statutes, opinions, administrative regulations)

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9
Q

Secondary Authority

A

a nonlaw that summarizes, describes, or explains the law but is not the law itself (ex: legal encyclopedias, legal treatises, opinions of the attorney general)

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10
Q

Opinions of the Attorney General

A

formal legal advice given by the chief law officer of the government to another government official or agency

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11
Q

Ten Main Categories of Primary Authority

A

1) Opinion
2) Statute
3) Constitution
4) Administrative Regulation
5) Administrative Decision
6) Charter
7) Ordinance
8) Court Rule
9) Executive Order
10) Treaty

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12
Q

Opinion

A

a court’s written explanation of how it applied the law to the facts to resolve a legal dispute

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13
Q

Statute

A

a law passed by state or federal legislature that declares, commands, or prohibits something

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14
Q

Constitution

A

the fundamental law that creates the branches of government, allocates power among them, and defines some basic rights of individuals

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15
Q

Administrative Regulation

A

a law written by an administrative agency designed to explain or carry out the statutes, executive orders, or other regulations that govern the agency

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16
Q

Administrative Decision

A

an administrative agency’s resolution of a controversy, following a hearing, involving the application of the regulations, statutes, or executive orders that govern the agency

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17
Q

Charter

A

the fundamental law of a municipality or other local unit of government authorizing it to perform designated governmental functions

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18
Q

Ordiance

A

a law passed by the local legislature that declares, commands, or prohibits something

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19
Q

Court Rule

A

a procedural law that governs the mechanics of litigation before a particular court

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20
Q

Executive Order

A

a law issued by the chief executive pursuant to specific statutory authority or to the executive’s inherent authority to direct the operation of governmental agencies

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21
Q

Treaty

A

a formal agreement between two or more nations

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22
Q

Supremacy Clause

A

the clause in the U.S. Constitution (art. VI, cl. 2) that states if there is conflict between a state law and a valid federal law, federal law controls

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23
Q

Indigent

A

poor; cannot afford something such as a private attorney or filing fees

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24
Q

Common Law

A

law derived from court opinions; judge made law in the absence of controlling statutory law or other higher law

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25
at common law
referring to all the case law and statutory law in England and in the American colonies before the Revolution
26
Common-Law System
places a greater emphasis on case law (U.S. and England)
27
Civil-Law System
places a greater emphasis on statutory or code law (Louisiana, Continental Europe, Latin America)
28
Civil
pertaining to the state or its citizens; noncriminal; nonmilitary
29
Precedent
a prior opinion or decision covering similar facts or issues in a latter case that can be used as a standard or guide
30
Stare Decisis
"stand by things decided" | courts should decide similar cases in the same way unless there is good reason for the court to do otherwise
31
Cause of Action
a legally acceptable reason for bringing a suit
32
Derogation
a partial repeal or abolishment of a law
33
Consieration
something of value that is exchanged between the parties
34
Enacted Law
a law written by a deliberative body
35
Prospective
governing future events
36
Equity
justice administered according to fairness in a particular case, as contrasted with the strictly formalize rules
37
Remedy
the means by which a right is enforced or the violation of a right is prevented, compensated for, or otherwise redressed
38
Damages
1) money claimed by a person to compensate for the harm caused by an alleged wrongdoer 2) an award of money paid by the wrongdoer to compensate the person who has been harmed
39
Equitable
fair; just | pertaining to any remedy available in an action in equity
40
Specific Performance
a remedy for breach of contract that forces the wrongdoing party to complete the contract as promised
41
Injunction
a remedy that orders a person or organization to do or to refrain from doing something
42
Constitutional Court
a court that derives its jurisdiction from a provision of the constitution
43
Legislative Courts
a court created by the legislature
44
Adjudicate
to resolve or decide by judicial process
45
Adversarial
involving conflict and an adversary
46
Adversary System
a method of resolving a legal dispute whereby the parties argue their conflicting claims before an impartial decision maker
47
Inquisitorial System
a method of resolving a legal dispute in which the judge has a more active role in questioning the witnesses and in conducting the trial
48
Record
the official collection of all the trial pleadings, exhibits, orders, and word-for-word testimony that were part of the trial
49
Court of Record
a court that is required to maintain a record of the proceedings before it, including a word-for-word account of what occurred
50
trial de novo
a new trial conducted as if a prior one had not occurred
51
International Law
the legal principles an laws governing relations between nations
52
Jurisdiction
1) the power of a court to resolve a legal dispute | 2) the geographic area over which a particular court has authority
53
Territorial Jurisdiction
the geographic boundaries within which a court has the power to act
54
Personal Jurisdiction
a court's power over a person to adjudicate his or her personal rights
55
Subject-Matter Jurisdiction (and the classifications)
the court's power to resolve a particular type of legal dispute and to grant a particular type of relief; there are six classifications: Limited, General, Exclusive, Concurrent, Original, Appellate
56
Limited Jurisdiction
the power of a court to hear only certain kinds of cases (ex: a criminal court cannot take a noncriminal case)
57
General Jurisdiction
the power of a court to hear any kind of civil or criminal case, with certain exceptions (ex: U.S. district court)
58
Exclusive Jurisdiction
the power of a court to hear a particular kid of case, to the exclusion of other courts (ex: juvenile court)
59
Concurrent Jurisdiction
the power of more than one type of court to hear a particular kind of case (ex: a family court and a county court may have jurisdiction to enforce a child-support order)
60
Original Jurisdiction
court of first instance; the power of a court to be the first to hear a case before it is reviewed by another type of court
61
Appellate Jurisddiction
the power of a court to review an correct the decisions of a lower tribunal
62
Review
the power of a court to examine the correctness of what a lower tribunal has one
63
Ruling
the conclusion or outcome of a decision made by a court or administrative agency
64
Certiorari (cert)
an order (or writ) by a higher court that a lower court send up the record of a case because the higher court has decided to use its discretion to review that case
65
Writ
a written court order to do or refrain from doing an act
66
Inferior Courts
1) a trial court of limited or special jurisdiction | 2) any court that is subordinate to the court of final resort
67
Appellate Briefs
a document that a party files with an appellate court in which the party presents arguments on why the appellate court should affirm, reverse, vacate, or otherwise modify what a lower court has done
68
Panels
a group of judges, usually three, who decide a case on behalf of or with a larger number of judges
69
en banc
"on the bench" | by the entire court
70
Court of Final Resort
the highest court within a judicial system
71
U.S. District Court
the main trial court in the federal judicial system with subject-matter jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases
72
Diversity of Citizenship
the disputing parties are citizens of different states and the amount in controversy exceeds $75K; this diversity gives subject-matter jurisdiction to a U.S. district court
73
U.S. Court of Appeals
the major intermediate appellate court in the federal court system
74
U.S. Supreme Court
the court of final resort in the federal court system
75
Administrative Agency (and the main types
a governmental body other than a court or legislature, that carries out the statutes of the legislature, the executive orders of the chief executive, and its own regulations three main types: Executive Department Agency, Independent Regulatory Agency, and Quasi-Independent Agency
76
Enabling Statute
the statute that allows an administrative agency to carry out specified delegated powers
77
Executive Department Agency
an administrative agency that exists within the executive branch of government, often at the cabinet level
78
Cause
a legally sufficient reason to do something, sometimes referred to as 'just cause', 'good cause'
79
Independent Regulatory Agency
an administrative agency that regulates an aspect of society; often exists outside the executive branch
80
Quasi-Independent Agency
an administrative agency that has characteristics of both an executive department agency and an independent regulatory agency
81
Government Coporation
a government-owned entity that is a mixture of a business corporation and a government agency created to serve a predominantly business function in the public interest
82
Quasi-Legislation
an administrative regulation enacted by an administrative agency that some characteristics of the legislation enacted by the legislature
83
Quasi-Adjudication
an administrative decision written by an administrative agency that has some characteristics of an opinion written by a court
84
Administrative-Law Judge (ALJ)
a government officer who presides over a hearing at an administrative agency; hearing examiner
85
Exhaust Administrative Remedies
to go through all dispute-solving avenues that are available in an administrative agency before asking a court to review what the agency did
86
Administrative Procedure Act (APA)
the statute that governs procedures before federal administrative agencies
87
Bill
a proposed statute
88
Bicameral
having two chambers in the legislature
89
Unicameral
having one chamber in the legislature
90
Legislative History
hearings, debates, amendments, committee reports, and all other events that occur in the legislature before a bill is enacted into a statute, along with any changes that are made after the statute is enacted
91
Transcript
a word-for-word account of what was said
92
Markup
the process by which a legislative committee puts a bill in its final form
93
Committee Report
a summary of a bill and a statement by the committee of the reasons for and against its enactment by the legistature
94
Engrossed Bill
the version of a bill passed by one of the chambers of the legislature after incorporating amendments or other changes
95
Conference Committee
a temporary committee consisting of members of both chambers of the legislature that seeks to reach a compromise on two versions of the same bill each chamber passed
96
Enrolled Bill
a bill that is ready to be sent to the chief executive after both chambers of the legislature have passed it
97
Veto
a rejection by the chief executive of a bill passed by the legislature
98
Override
to approve a bill over the veto of the chief executive
99
Pocket Veto
the chief executive's 'silent' rejection of a bill by not acting on it within 10 days of receiving it if the legislature adjourns during this period
100
Stages for a Bill to become a Statute
1) bill is proposed by being introduced into one of the chambers of the legislature 2) a committee of each chamber gives the bill initial consideration, if approved by committee it moves on 3) all members of each chamber are given the opportunity to debate and vote on the bill, if approved by both chambers it moves on 4) a conference committee is formed with members of both chambers to reconcile differences 5) goes back to both full chambers for a debate and vote by all members, if approved by both chambers it moves on 6) the chief executive signs or vetoes the bill

Paralegal (3 decks)

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