Midterm Flashcards
What is law
it is a subset of rules and is differentiated in the formalities of documents and enforcement
What do sanctions mean?
that you are subject to punishment
What are physical laws?
Laws of nature in physics, chemistry, and biology
What is an example of a physical law?
Law of gravity
What are normative laws?
Normative laws are laws that govern human conduct, these laws are made by humans
What is an example of a normative law?
Law: you shouldn’t steal
however, there is no law saying you physically cannot steal
What is the difference between normative laws and normative rules?
The difference is in the way in which they were created
LAWS: They have formalized sanctions and are created by societal institutions (governments)
RULES: individuals’ beliefs about what is appropriate behavior
Are laws neutral?
No, they are created by the political/philosophical values of the law maker
How are judges appointed?
By political parties
What is the product that politicians create?
Laws are the product politicians create
Why aren’t laws value-neutral?
The laws are created by politicians, the laws created follow their values
the laws followed their political stance
What are the two parts to the legislature?
Legislative assembly and the monarch
What is the legislative assembly consist of?
Elected politicians
What does the monarch consist of?
King Charles III, the governor general (federal), and the lieutenant governer (provincial)
What does the monarch do?
Approves bills from the legislative assembly
What are the three different schools of jurisprudence?
Natural law
legal positivism
Legal realism
What is the natural law school of jurisprudence trying to answer?
“What should the law be?”
What does old school natural law state?
It states that the natural law should be based on eternal fundamental truths inspired by god
What does deistic natural law believe?
that it rests not on devine inspiration, but on the assumption that rational people who apply their inheritabilities of reason and logic to their perception of the world will arrive at basic principles of justice
Where do most contemporary laws come from?
Deistic natural law
What is legal positivism concerned with?
It is only concerned with “What is the law?”
Who is the founder of positivism?
August Compt - the founder of sociology
What is legal realism concerned with?
It is concerned with “Why is the law what it is?”
What do laws provide?
They provide consistency and guidelines for individuals to follow
Essentially regulating society
What is the liberal capitalist view of a just society?
Market economy - driven by trading, buying, and selling. No government intervention in exchange (or limited)
Private property - everyone is better off because things for the average person are good
What is marxism (NDP)?
Believe in equality of condition - no one gets more than the other
Private property and the market mechanism are tools of the economic working class
What did jeremy bentham believe?
principal of utility - the greatest happiness of the greatest number (modern utilitarianism)
What were the problems with jeremy benthams belief?
It is based on maximizing happiness - but how do you measure happiness… it is very subjective
What is social engineering? (Roscoe Pound)
Scientific study of peoples needs and expectations and of prevailing values, more rational adjustments of the rights given to competing interests could be made to improve the lot of society
Does the law influence the development of society or is it a reflection of changing values in society?
Changes in law affect societies values
Example: drinking, smoking
Can scientific method be used to improve the quality of law-making or are scientific methods neutral instruments to be used by social groups?
Scientific methods often misused, abused, misinterpreted
If scientific methods can be effective in exposing societys ills is there a danger that they will destroy the myths upon which society depends on?
Sentencing and the probability of conviction are mich higher for minorities
Scientific study can destroy the myths
What is substantive law?
the rights and duties which person has in society, which may be enforced through the court process. it is concerned with liabilities
What is public law?
concerned with the conduct of government and with relations with government on one side and private persons on the other.
Divided into criminal, constitutional, administrative laws
What is procedural law?
the process through which liabilities can be enforeced
What is private law?
A branch of law that deals with the relations between individuals or institutions rather than relations between these and the government
People can go to court and have their rights decided by private law –> these rules are the basis for contract law, tort law, property law, and civil law
What is civil law?
Civil law is the same thing as private law
What does civil law rely on?
It relies on law code - a systematic collection of interrelated articles
What does common law rely on?
Precedent cases
What is the role of judges in court cases?
judges determine facts and apply legal principals
Who is the mediator appointed by in a disagreement?
They are appointed by the statue or by agreement - and can only suggest a solution
What can conciliation do?
Get the parties talking but cant suggest anything
Who is the plaintiff?
The person who is suing
What is a ratio decidendi?
a term that refers to the key point of reasoning in a case that drives the final judgement