Sociology of Law

What is substantive law

law that is administered by the courts

What is procedural law

the rules and how they are enforced

What is public law?

sets the rules for the individuals and society

What is private law?

sets the rules between individuals

What is private laws verdict determined off of

the balance of probabilities

What law was used in Canada before conferderation?

Law that was brought in from England

What was important about the police act of Canada

It gave jurisdiction to police in provinces

What type of criminal code does quebec use

Civil Napoleonic code

What are some principal functions of the law according to sociologists

Social control, dispute settlement and social change

What does social control refer to regarding the law

rules of conduct, use of sanctions, officials that interpret and enforce the law

What does dispute settlement refer to regarding the law

type of court or judge that handles disputes

What does social change refer to regarding the law

How the law can lead to social change and alter peoples perspectives of behaviours that used to be illegal and now aren’t

What does the consensus approach of rule making cover?

Law represent the agreement of most people in society that certain acts should be stopped by criminal law

What does the consensus approach of rule making enforce

People that break the law are lesser people

What does the consensus approach of rule making maintain

social control and social cohesion

What does the Conflict approach of Rule making cover?

Laws are passed by members of a ruling class in order to maintain their privileged position by keeping the common people under control

What type of class does the conflict approach to rule making benefit

people in power/ruling class

What does the social problems perspective state

Crime is a manifestation of social problems

What does the social responsibility perspective state

Crime is an individual responsibility

What theory states: “The greater punishment, the more the individual will learn their lesson” ?

Social responsibility perspective

What are the roles of sociologists in the study of law

Understanding social processes and describing and explaining social phenomena, criticizing social systems and process, and praxis

What is Praxis

when you take something theoretical and find the answers and do nothing about it

What are the social contexts of a crime

crime is a social event, construction and embraces the concept of social relativity

What are max Webers 3 features of the law

external pressure to comply, pressure is coercive, people enforce law coercively under authority of the state

What donald blacks 4 styles of social control that are represented by law 

penal, compensatory, Therapeutic, conciliatory

What does penal refer to in donald blacks social control

a person has done something that breaks the law so they are subject to condemnation and punishment

what does compensatory refer to in donald blacks social control

Victim owes restitution

What does therapeutic refer to in donald blacks social control

Deviant needs help

What does conciliatory refer to in Donald blacks social control

conflict needs to be resolved

What are Mores

Universally followed behaviour

What are folkways

ordinary customs and conventions

What idea does Hammurabi’s code state

Lex talionis

what does Lex talionis mean

eye for an eye

What laws did hammurabi’s code include

theft, property ownership, sexual relationships, interpersonal violence

What laws did the mosaic code of the Israelites prohibit

murder, theft, perjury, adultery

what was the foundation of the judo Christian moral teaching

mosaic code of the Israelites

What was the early roman law derived from

12 tables

what did the early roman law focus on

basic roman republic

What did the rules of the early roman law regulate

family, religion, economic life

what were the Justinian code

Second set of roman laws

What was the significance of the Justinian code

emperor Justinian made the justice system and it was available to everyone regardless of wealth

What have we taken from the Justinian code that is used in our legal system current day

innocent until proven guilty

What came from the dark ages that we use now

the trial of oath helping brought about what we use as modern day juries and witnesses

What was significant from the Norman conquest

replacement of local tribunals with royal administrators

What were other names for royal administrators

circuit judges/ travelling judges

What is common law

law applied to all subjects of the land without regard for geographic or social differences

Who was the first person to apply common law

King Henry II

how were aboriginal laws passed down

Orally

What was important about the great binding law

aboriginal law where everything was written down and created a legal system of rights and freedoms

What does due process mean

Every dispute will be settled by a peaceful means in courts before appointed judges

What is the romano germanic system

civil law

how does the civil law system work

Law exists first and then cases would come up and cases would be based on the law

What does roman ius civile mean

civil law

where was roman ius civile used

only in rome

what does jus gentium mean

the law of all nations

what are main objectives of the socialist legal system

nations security, maintaining social economic system and education

What is the Canadian charter of freedoms enforced by

supreme court

what are the 3 main questions asked in a charter case

was the rights violated by government? is the right covered by a charter? is the violation within reasonable limits?

what are the criteria to be considered a reasonable limit of violation

must be important enough to justify overidding a constitutional right, must be reasonably and logically connected to the objective for which it was enacted, right must be limited as little as possible, more severe the limitation, the more important the objective must be.

what sections are legal and equality rights 

S7 - S12

What did the magna carta establish

no one was above the law, not even the king

what is the importance of habeus corpus

anyone that gets detained must be in front of a court at a reasonable time

how does formal codified law emerge according to the evolution of the legal system

emerges when informal controls are no longer adequate to maintain order, law needs to become more complex as society progresses

informal social control is adequate in societies that are what?

small, isolated, homogenous and have little division of labour

formal social control is adequate in societies that are what?

large and modern, hetergenous, complex, high division of labour

what is jurisprudence

study of law

what does analytical jurisprudence focus on

what is law

what does normative jurisprudence focus on

what is the purpose of law

what does legal positivism study law as

an observable fact

What did donald black argue about law (modern postivism)

that it can be explained scientifically, like social geometry with a moral or political interpretation

what variables shape the social space

stratification, morphology, culture, organization, and social control

what does stratification refer to 

social class/ class difference

what does morphology refer to

patterns of social relationships

what does culture refer to

shared beliefs and values

what does organization refer to

group size and structure

what does social control refer to

ways society enforces norms

what is the goal modern positivism

value-neutral, quantitative theory predicting when and how much law will occur

What is libertairnism

the government should have a limited impact and should only take action in preventing harm, property, contracts, and national defense

what does libertarianism oppose

paternalism, moral legislation, redistribution of wealth

what is critical theory

challenges truths that are taken for granted in society

how do critical theorist see the law

law reflects and reinforces the dominant ideologies

what does critical theory empahsize

emancipation, freeing people from domination by exposing how power operates through institutions.

what is the core idea of the conflict and Marxist approaches

law reflects and maintains the interests of the ruling economic class

what is a critique of the marxist and conflict approaches

it is too simplistic and it ignores the complexity of social interaction and other sources of ineqaulity

what is the criterial legal studies approach

 A radical movement that argues law is not neutral or objective, but deeply political and shaped by social power relations.

what are the core beliefs of the criterial legal studies approach

law is a social construct, legal reasoning is indeterminable, and no purely legal answers exist

what does antiformalism refer to

rejects the idea that law follows strict logical principals

what does trashing refer to

exposing the contradictions in establishing legal doctrines

what does uptopian refrom refer to 

reimagines what law could be in a more just society

how does critical legal studies view the law

views the law as a mask of legitimacy that hides injustice

what are conservative feminism main ideas

accepts traditional gender roles and seeks minor adjustment instead of radical change

what are the main ideas of liberal feminism

advocation of equal opportunity for women within existing systems and removing legal and institutional barriers to equality

what are the main ideas of radical feminism

patriarchy is the root of oppression, focuses on violence against women and sexual subordination 

what does Catherine Mackinnon state about feminism

law should reflect womens realities, not male norms

what are socialist feminism main ideas

integration of marxism and feminism, explains oppression as a dual systems that is capitalism and patriarchy, and looks at the gendered division of labour and economic inequality

what are the main ideas of feminism and violence against women (VAW)

male domination is reinforced by patriarchal authority and socialization

what did criminology ignore about feminism

violence against women until feminist movements started

What amendments to the criminal code regarding VAW took place

rape shield law, dropped required for corroboration, publication bans to protect victim, and police are required to lay domestic assault charges

What did Bill C-49 clarrfy

consent laws in sexual assault, victims sexual past inadmissable

Where did Critical Race theory emerge from

Bell, Freeman, Delgado