Lesson 1: Legal Aspects of Real Estate Flashcards
community property law
the system that governs how married people own property in California (and in eight other states).
civil law system
used in France, Germany, Mexico, Japan, and many other countries, places the duty of creating the law squarely on the shoulders of the legislature.
In the civil law system, when judges decide cases, their decisions have less effect on the decisions of later judges, and they do not build a large body of case law.
common law system
judges follow rules or decisions made by judges in earlier, similar cases. in doing so, they create a body of law, known as case law, that the district from the statues passed by legislature
equitable remedies
injunction, specific performance, rescission
injunction
a court order prohibiting someone from performing an act, or commanding the performance of an act.
specific performance
a legal remedy for breach of contract where a court orders the breaching party to perform the contract as agreed
rescission
when a contract is terminated and both parties are restored to their original positions
plaintiff
the person who is suing
defendant
the person who is being sued
litigants
Both the plaintiff and the defendant
criminal law
A legislative body decides what conduct will be considered a crime and passes criminal statutes.
The government (rather than a private party) brings a criminal suit against a defendant, and the penalties may include incarceration, fines, community service, or restitution.
tort law
the duty to take reasonable care to avoid injuring others or damaging their property.
contract law
If one party breaches a valid contract by failing to make good on her promise, the other party can sue for compensation or ask the court to make the breaching party do what she promised to.
conversion
the misappropriation of property
tort
Failure to exercise reasonable care is called negligence. If a person’s negligence causes an injury, he has committed a tort.
property law
governs the use and transfer of real and personal property
standard of proof
the degree to which a jury must be convinced of a plaintiff’s or prosecutor’s case in order to decide against the defendant.
state action requirement
constitution protects civil rights against violations by the government, not against violations by private individuals or entities.
order
an order is a brief statement of the court’s decision.
opinion
An opinion is a detailed, written explanation of how the court reached its decision.
case law
Case law is made up of rules that are taken from judicial opinions.
stare decisis
The doctrine of stare decisis holds that a court should decide cases by applying rules established in earlier cases, or precedents.
precedent
An earlier case similar to the case that’s being decided is a precedent.
A binding precedent is one that a lower court is required to follow, because it was decided by a higher court in the same jurisdiction.
dissent
A dissent is an opinion written by judges who disagree with the majority.
A dissent has no value as a precedent.
