Law B1 Flashcards
Duty
Obligation to do something, or to refrain
from doing something
Right
Entitlement to do something, to receive
something, or to compel someone else to do
or to refrain from doing something
Remedy
Means by which someone with a right can
either compel compliance with the right’s
corresponding duty, or obtain compensation
for injury caused by noncompliance with
that corresponding duty, or otherwise
vindicate the right
Primary rules
Substantive rules = Rules that forbid or compel something
Secondary rules
Procedural rules = Rules that exist to manage primary rules
Pervasiveness of norms
social norms
religious norms
legal norms
institutional norms
natural law
System of right held to be common to all humans and that derived from nature
through rational reasoning
Positive law
Man-made law = System of right that is defined by statute and common law
hierarchy of legal norms
constitution
treaties
statues
regulations
Fundamental rights
can be found in a country’s constitution or a treaty to which the country
adheres (e. g. Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
Rule of law
Political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws (including lawmakers and leaders)
Interpretivism
View that judges should enforce only those principles that are expressed or
implied by the language of the constitution
Noninterpretivism
View that judges should enforce principles not found in the
Constitution itself, and for which they must go to some outside source
Hard law
Legal obligations that are binding on the parties involved and which can be legally enforced before a court
Soft law
Agreements, principles and declarations that are not legally binding
a rule of law and the rule of law difference
While a rule of law refers to a specific example of a primary or secondary rule of law, the rule of law
describes the constitutional notion that no one is above the law, and everyone – including those
who exercise power – are subject to the law.
power legitimacy and authority definition
Power + Legitimacy = Authority
Power = Ability to compel someone to do something
Legitimacy = Perception of the rightful exercise of power
Authority = Right to compel someone to do something
Main types of authority
Charismatic- (difficult to transfer, unstable and short-lived, based on a charismatic leader)
Traditional- (stable, often based on inheritance, not viewed as fair in a post Enlightenment world)
Legal-rational- (stable, based on the law, bureaucratic)
types of governments
full democracy
flawed democracy
hybrid regime
Authoritarian regimes
Dominant legal systems
civil law
common law
religious law
Government structures in democracies
legislative, executive and judiciary
Private law
Regulation of the relationship between private persons (natural/physical persons
and companies)
Public law
Regulation of the relationship between private persons and the state, or between different organs of the state
Government
Governing body of a state
republic
State in which power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected executive leader rather than a monarch
Representative
Democracy
Population elects
representatives that
elect the president
(e. g. USA)
Federal Republic
Central government
shares power with
states or provinces
(e. g. Germany)
Unitary Republic
One strong central
government
(e. g. France)
Confederation
Combination of
representative
democracy and direct
democracy
(e. g. Switzerland)
Presidential republic
Republic with an
executive presidency
separate from the
legislature
(e. g. USA)
Semi-presidentia
Republic with both an
executive presidency
and a separate head of
government that leads
the rest of the
executive, who is
appointed by the
president and
accountable to the
legislature
(e. g. Weimar Republic)
Parliamentary
Republic with a
ceremonial and non-
executive president,
where a separate
head of government
leads the executive
and is dependent on
the confidence of
the legislature
(e. g. Germany)
can republics be democracies and democracies republics?
All republics are democracies (in form, not in substance), but not all democracies are republics.
Democracies can also be monarchies (e. g. UK).