American Legal System

A system of enforceable rules adopted by a controlling body to govern the conduct of a society

Forms of action depended on issuance of writs; very technical = loss bc of lack of compliance w/rules

Established by king to provide for more fair handling of cases; staffed by high ranking clergy; could decide based on priniples of fairness rather than on technical rules

4-volume set of law books brought from England which comprised usual law library

Laws under which the American government operated from the Revolutionary War until the Constitutional Convention in 1787;
each state elected delegates to Congress; Congress elected president from among themselves; no enforcement power; no $ to support army or government;

Wrote on natural laws; Declaration of Independence and US Constitution strongly influenced by his theories

Executive
legislative
judicial

10 amendment to Constitution dealing w rights of individual:
(now the soul of constitutional law)

School of thought/method of reasoning concerning purpose of law and how it should operate:
natural law; legal positivism; sociological jurisprudence; legal realism

Emphasizes the individual's right to make personal choices as long as those choices do not interfere with another's right to make personal choices
freedom of choice is a birthright

Emphasizes the insitutional rule of law; distinguishes law from morality; follows the rules unless there is an exception set out in the rule, even if result is unjust
hard cases make bad law

Promotes society's values as a measuring stick for right and wrong; evaluates a legal rule by looking at its social effect; if bad change it or get rid of it; seen as a tool for social engineering, but moves too slowly to respond to needed social change (Roscoe Pound was an advocate)

Determines what reasonable people would do in a given situation and then sanctions that conduct; gives great weight to economic analysis (Brandeis brief) to show effect of legal rule; cdoctrine of economic waste (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Karl Lewellyn)

Civil or criminal;

American civil law based upon common law principles and classified according to 1) the basis of the right or duty, whether in contract or tort; and 2) the type of remedy sought, whether legal or equitable

Substantive or procedural

legal rules which focus on the rights & duties of individuals in relation to each other;

civil law sanctions are remedial; grant a remedy (provide relief) to enforce a right