Unit 1: Heritage Flashcards
What is the Law?
Law can maybe defined as a system of rules created by the government which seeks to protect members in society and uphold a certain standard of conduct.
Laws are made from set of rules, and they inform all of us on how to behave (code of conduct).
Today, our laws help to resolve disputes, provide protection, and stability within society.
Police, courts, and the threat of punishment (prison) enforce the law.
What are rules?
Are a set of guidelines that are followed to monitor behaviour. A prime example of rule makers are parents, teachers, schools, and companies.
Almost everything we do is governed by some set of rules. There are rules for games, for social clubs, for sports, for students at school, for employees in the workplace, and rules in our homes (parents).
What are customs?
Even the most ancient societies formulated rules known as customs - these customs helped to maintain social harmony for individuals living with others in society to reduce conflicts between them.
Law serves as an instrument
Each law has a purpose.
Laws should embody the collective values of society.
Laws (should) promote equality, fairness, justice, and liberty.
Laws help to ensure a safe and peaceful society.
Laws are frequently revised to reflect changes in society (to meet the needs and attitudes of the citizens.
Laws are used to regulate social functions e.g. pension, welfare, fair trial, unemployment insurance, political rights.
Laws resolve disputes
No one should be allowed to take the law into their own hands (vigilante justice).
An informed society must resolve disputes peacefully if not anger, aggression and violence (revenge) will break out.
An example is when a father of a 9 year old boy saw his son getting sexually assaulted by the babysitter, so the father beat up the babysitter very badly in Florida.
Laws protect the individual
Criminal law is a body of rules that defines conduct that is prohibited by the government (nation state).
Each person must be protected if they are threatened or harmed, the safety and security of the public most not be overlooked.
Criminal acts are to be considered harmful to society as a whole such as physical/sexual assault, murder, robbery, identity thief, organized crime, and terrorism.
If there is no way to enforce laws then laws are useless.
Law provides order
Order helps to manage the organization of society.
Order helps to keep values, people, and the government stable.
Governments maintain order by implementing laws, having a police force, creating a judicial system and establishing prisons.
Rules (laws) are needed to regulate social and commercial relationships.
A society without laws would consist of anarchy, chaos, confusion, disorder, defiance, and violence.
The Conservative Party leader (Pierre Poilievre) called out Justin Trudeau saying that when someone steals a car, they are just put under house arrest. However, he said that they should be in jail as you commit a crime, you have to serve the time.
What are the five functions of law?
- Establish rules of conduct
- Provide a system of enforcement
- Protect Rights and Freedoms
- Protect Society
- Resolve Disputes peacefully
Are people generally bad?
This answer is debatable.
For example, at Cardinal Ambrozic last year, we did a Terry Fox food drive, which is a good thing.
One case is when 5 NHL players raped and sexual assaulted a women, which is a bad thing.
Another case is a young mother doing some grocery shopping and brings her buggy to her car and puts her kids safely in the car.
A 13 year old boy opens the driver seat and took off with the car. This case is an example of a bad thing.
Why do laws change?
Laws change because of the attitudes, values, morals, ethics, etc. of the people as time progresses.
One example is in 2005 when Canada allowed same sex marriage.
Another example is in 2018 when Canada allowed marijuana.
A third example is in 1950 a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Loving when they were arrested because of their interracial marriage in the United States.
Differences between rules and laws
The main difference between rules and laws is the consequences associated with breaking them.
Laws are the legal version of rules.
When you are a child, a parent sets rules to be followed, whereas in society, the government set laws to be followed.
Laws are enforced by a higher governmental office, usually the police and the Crown Prosecutor’s office.
Laws are written in a specific code - Criminal Code of Canada - so that they can be interpreted as needed.
How are laws changed?
Laws must be passed through due process in order to take effect.
A law starts off as a bill, and must go through a series of checks, balances, and votes to become a law (act).
How does Rules vs Laws help?
Rules help us to learn how to prepare for living in society.
Young people must learn that there are rules about hitting, stealing, lying, and being wasteful.
Teenagers must be held accountable for these rules to become law abiding citizens.
Laws are not meant to set teaching boundaries, but are there to be enforced, and are punishable by imprisonment and even death (in some countries) if they are broken.
What is due process?
Due process is the legal requirement that the state must respect all legal rights that are owed to the person.
Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual person from it.
When a government harms a person without following the exact course of the law, this constitutes a due process violation, which offends the rule of law.
What does due process include?
Under due process, every accused gets an advanced notice of trial, and an opportunity to be present, to be heard, and to defend them-self.
Includes the right to:
1. legal counsel
2. confront and cross examine the witnesses
3. refuse self-incriminating testimony
4. have a crime proven by proof beyond a reasonably doubt.
What is the separation of powers and how does it relate to the rule of law?
The separation of powers requires that the three arms government are separate, and perform separate functions.
The legislative are the parliament who create the law.
The executive who administers the law
The judiciary who make judgement on the law.
The separation of powers ensures that all arms of government function under law.
Rule of Law
Every society has some sort of law.
Usually, these laws are created by the government of the people who in lived in a country.
For a society to be safe and orderly, it is important that everyone, regardless of their social statues or position, follow the laws made by the government.
The Rule of Law is the legal principle that law should govern a nation, as opposed to being governed by decisions of individual government officials.
The Rule of Law is fundamental in maintaining a free, democratic, and fair society.
What are the 5 underlying principles in understanding what the Rule of Law means to Canadian citizens?
1) The Rule of Law applies to everyone equally in Canada: regardless of their gender, economic status, social status, or background. No one is “above the law.”
2) Laws are made for the benefit of all members of society, not for the sole benefit of a few in positions of power.
3) The laws of Canada are necessary to ensure a safe and orderly society where individuals have freedom (personal privacy) from unnecessary restraint but also responsibility for the maintenance of the democratic system and the rights of others.
4) Laws must be changed in a lawful and orderly manner by elected representatives of our country (Due Process).
5) Every citizen of Canada is guaranteed fundamental justice. We have the right to fair and impartial legal hearings even if we break the law. These hearings must acknowledge the legal rights guaranteed to us in the Charter of Rights & Freedoms.
What are the 3 important parts of the Magna Carta?
1) Recognizes that law is necessary in an orderly society.
2) That the law applies equally to everyone including the highest officials in the country.
3) A person’s legal rights will not be taken away except in accordance with the law.
What is a social movement?
Social movements are purposeful, organized groups striving to work toward a common goal of fighting against injustice.
These groups might be attempting to create change (Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ, Freedom Convoy, Climate change, Occupy Wall Street, Arab Spring).
What is social change?
Social change builds community-based responses (wanting something better) that address underlying, social problems on an individual, institutional, community, national, and/or international level.
Social change can change attitudes, behaviors, laws, policies, and institutions to better reflect values of fairness, diversity, inclusion, and opportunity.
What is social justice?
Social justice seeks to create equal political, economic, and social rights for all people.
Social justice is often connected (equated) with the concepts of human rights and equality.
What is social service?
Social services are organized efforts and/or services that help to improve and advance social well-being.
Types of protests
There are two types of protest: Direct Action and Passive Action.
Examples of Passive Action are displaying signs, distributing flyers, petitions, passive picketing, and soap-boxing.
Examples of Direct Action are strikes, occupations, lockdowns, disruptive picketing, boycotts, sit-ins, and demonstrations.
All can be violent or non-violent.
A protest is an umbrella term for many different forms of expression of opposition.
Typically takes the form of either passively or directly (active).
Passive Action, Passive Protest or Civil Disobedience is appealing for change within a system.
It means that a message is being conveyed and gains attention, without disturbing a system.
Direct Action is not seeking an appeal from a system but defying it.
Direct Action seeks to refute a system’s power and act on the changes, instead of appealing for them.
For a movement to be fully effective, both types are usually needed but even, so movements typically become defined by whichever is used the most.
Sit In
Remaining in one place, and refusing to leave.
Soapboxing
A raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject.
Marching
Walking from one place to another with signs.
Boycotting
When a person won’t do business with a company or country.
Legal Action
Bringing an individual or institution to fight an issue legally.
Striking
Workers refuse to go on the job.
Breaking the Law (Civil Disobedience)
Doing something illegal. The refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form or political protest.
Popular theories of law
Natural law & Positive law
Classifications of Law
Domestic law & International law
Divisions of Law
Substantive law & Procedural law
