Legal Terms: Chapter One, What is Law? Flashcards
Corrective Justice
Theory of Justice that claims
1. a person has moral responsibility for their actions.
2. the victim must be rectified, compensated or the act must be corrected.
*Most closely related to Deontological Approach where Justice is utilized as an end in itself.
Best suited for Private Law disputes
Critical Legal Studies
Theory which states that the law is necessarily intertwined with social issues, particularly stating that the law has inherent social biases.
Ex: Critical Race Theory, Feminist Juridprudence, etc.
Critical Race Theory
Law Theory that focuses on race-based inequities. Offshoot of Critical Legal Studies (CLS)
Deontological
Theories that focus on what is morally right or wrong.
Claims that there are certain moral rights that are universal because they are objectively good.
We have a duty to uphold these standards.
Distributive Justice
Theory of Justice concerned with the distribution of goods and entitlements amongst members of a society.
Distribution of a States’s bounty (wealth, property and honours) amongst those of merit.
All should be distributed equally unless one if of greater merit.
Best suited for Public Law matters
Domestic Law
The Law of a particular State or Society.
Ethics
Standards of right and wrong in human behaviour.
Applies to specific groups (professions)
Feminist Theories of Law
Theories concerning the legal, social and economic rights of and improving opportunities for women.
Instrumentalist
Theories that focus on something “Justice or Law as a means to an end”.
Justice as an instrument.
Focus on something such as “to end poverty” to create a “safer community”,
Jurisprudence
Philosophy of Law.
Theories that describe, criticize and explain law.
Normative Jurisprudence
Concerned with the rightness or wrongness of the law based on the conceptions of justice and morality.
Evaluative opposed to explanatory.
Focuses on what the law IS.
Example: restrictions on freedom, obligations to obey the law, and the grounds for punishment.
Analytic Jurisprudence
Philosophical approach to law that draws on the resources of modern analytical philosophy to try to understand the nature of what law IS not what it OUGHT to be.
Law and Society
Legal Study that looks at law from a social, interdisciplinary perspective.
Legal Positivism
Theory that the only valid source of law is the principles, rules and regulations expressly enacted by the institutions or persons within a society that have the power to enact them.
Man made-rules (commands) are positive law
All commands are valid and enforceable.
Legal Realism
View Law as human intervention. Laws can be flawed,
Encourages the study of other non-legal fields such as history and economics to better understand the legal system.
Law should be seen as an instrument to further desired social objectives.
Marxist Theories of Law
Based on writings of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and advocates of communist policies.
Concerned with the distribution of wealth and class structure in a society. (compatible with distributive theory)
Military Law
Constitutionally separate and self-contained system regulating Canadian Forces.
Governs armed forces during conflict and peace home and abroad.
Has public and private law aspects, as well as international public law.
Morality
System of values or principles concerning what is right or wrong in human behaviour.
Can be viewed in a normative or a descriptive light.
Natural Law
Theory that states there is a law source higher than man-made law (in which man made law should comply)
According to natural law theory, all people have inherent rights, conferred not by act of legislation but by “God, nature, or reason.”
Positive Law
Man-made Law. In opposition to higher law (natural law)
Tends to be more analytic
Evaluates laws and systems without placing value judgments.
Practice Norms
Ethical standards and legal skills that legal practitioners must follow and process to deliver legal services effectively.
Private Law
Governs relations between persons.
Ex: Torts, Contracts, Property, Family, Company, Equity, Succession, Labour and Employment, Insurance.
Procedural Law
Law relating to the process in which core rights and obligations are determined and enforced.
Rules of court, comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil, lawsuit, criminal or administrative proceedings.
Part of Positive Law branch (man-made)
Public International Law
Law relating to international treaties and customs, inter-state relationships and relationships between states and non-nationals.
Laws of war, sea, human rights, environmental law
Public Law
Governs relationships between persons and the state, and between the various organs of the state.
Ex: Constitutional, Criminal, Administrative, Aboriginal, Immigration, Tax.
Retributive Justice
Theory based on the “lex talions” branch of retaliation.
Perceived need for punishment and compensation of victims.
Most relevent to Criminal Law
Rule of Law
Legal concept that states everyone is equal before the law and that power should not be used arbitrarily.
Sociology of Law
Sociological study that looks at law from a broadly social, interdisciplinary perspective.
Substantive Laws
Laws that deal with core rights and obligations regulating behaviour.
Part of Positive Law branch (man-made)
The Law
A system of enforceable rules that governs the relationship between the individual members of a society and between those members and the society itself
Utilitarianism
Ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes.
Wishes to produce the greatest good for the greatest number.
Constitutional Law
Branch of public law regulating functions of the different entities of the State.
Criminal Law
Part of public law regulating criminal behavior.
Concerned with punishing those who commit crimes
Administrative Law
Deals with relationships between government agencies and persons
Branch of Public Law.
Aboriginal Law
Branch of Public Law
Involving concerns and issues relating to Indigenous people.
Immigration Law
Public Law branch.
Involves regulating the process of immigration in Canada.
Tax Law
Public Law sector
Concerns various forms of government taxation.
Torts
Broad range of civil wrongs not covered by other areas.
Private/Civil Law sector.
civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the act.
The accused had a duty, in most personal injury cases, to act in a way that did not cause you to become injured.
The accused committed a breach of that duty.
An injury occurred to you.
The breach of duty was the proximate cause of your injury.
Contracts Law
Private/Civil Law sector
Governs making and binding legal agreements.
Property Laws
Private/Civil Law sector.
Regulates ownership and use of personal and intellectual property.
Equity Laws
Its general purpose is to provide a remedy for situations where the law is not flexible enough for the usual court system to deliver a fair resolution to a case.
Private/Civil Law sector.
Company Laws
Private/Civil Law
Relates to corporations and their structure and dealings.
Family Law
Civil/Private Law sector.
Defines rights and obligations within family relationships.
Evidence Laws
Governs admissibility and use of evidence in court proceedings.
Civil/Private Law sector.
Insurance Law
Insurance law is the practice of law surrounding insurance, including insurance policies and claims.
Private/Civil Law sector.
Succession Laws
Concerns wills and estates, and the transmission of property on death.
Civil/Private Law.
