Law test 1 Flashcards
Ad Hoc organization
A meeting not planned in advance but done out of necessity
- Latin meaning “for this purpose only”
Apartheid
A policy founded on the idea of seperating people based on ethnic or racial criteria
Case law
- Also called common law
- Based on precedents
Civil disobedience
- Refusal to obey the demands of a government
- Peaceful
- Does not resort to violent or active opposition
Crown attorney
- Prosecutors
- Represent the Crown
Entrenched in the constitution
- Something is entrenched if the procedure needed to modify it is more demanding than that of ordinary legislation
- The Canadian Charter is Entrenched in Canadas Constitution
Exculpating factor
- Evidence favourable to the defendant
- Tends to aquit the defendant
Intervenor
- Someone who intervenes
- A third party who intervenes in legal proceedings
Lobby group
- Organize to influence the government to change laws
- Ex. Same Sex marriage, Rape and Sexual Assult laws
Metis
People of mixed European and Indigenous ancestery
National Organization
Any organization of legal members that represent a group of people (Ex. National Womens group)
Precedent
- A court rules based off of a previous case that delt with the same or similar issue
Royal Commission
- An Ad Hoc (one time organization) public inquiry into defined issues
- Official government inquiries into matters of national concern
- Used for obtaining advice or to investigate a specific incident
Rule of law
- Fundamental legal principle that society is governed by laws applying equally to all
- No person or government is above the law
Statute law
Secondary Law
- Made by Federal and Provincial Legislatures
- Takes Precedence over Case Law
- Gives lawmaking power to democratically elected representitives
Demographic change
- Changes in law might be a result of demographic changes
- As demographics change (age difference, cultural difference) the laws will change to reflect that
Technological Change
- Change in infastructure that requires a change in law
- New technologies eventually impact behaviour and therefore laws
- Ex. Cell phones, AI, E-cigaretttes
Changes in Values
- Lobby groups organize to influence the government to change laws
- Ex. Same sex marriage
National and International Events
- How laws change in response to large events
- Income tax and War Measures Act during WW1
- ISIS
- Nuclear Arms Deals/Controls
Natural and Human Disasters
- Legal response to natural disasters or climate events
- Global Warming & Arctic Sovereignty
- Global Warming in general
- Genocides
- COVID
Social Media Campaigns
- Cyberbullying
- Privact Issues
- Kids Online Saftey Act (BOOOOO)
Factors influencing possibility of change
Democracy, Respect for Rule of Law and Independent justice system
Democracy
- Allows for peaceful and orderly change
- The people have the power to change their government through elections
- Can have a constitution
- Can challenge laws through the courts that they believe infringe upon their rights
Respect for rule of law
- Must be respect for the rule of law in order for there to be possibility of change
Independent justice system
- Judges function independently without government interference
- Courts are organized in a hierarchical manner
- Court decisions can change the law or the meaning of statute law
Legal Scholarship
- Documents or practices from which norms can be drawn that function as sources for judges to decide on cases
Political Demonstrations
- Action by a mass group or collection of groups in favour of a political cause
Administrative law
- Government actions must be legal
Constitutional Law
- Derived from Common law or written constitution
- Defines the powers of legal branches
- Basic rules on how the country opperates
- Case law and Statute Law defer to Constitutional law
Contract law
A legally binding agreement between two or more persons for a partictular purpose
Convention
A way of doing something that has been accepted for so long that it’s turned into an unwritten rule
Criminal Law
- Law that prohibits criminal acts, conduct and imposes sanctions for unlawful behaviour
Custom
- A way of doing something over time that has evolved into a law
Defendant
- An individual, company or institution being accused in a court
Domestic Law
Also probably technically national law
- Laws and legal systems established within a state to govern events, transactions and people within or with a connection to that state