Introduction to Law: General Concepts and Legal Foundations

Vocabulary flashcards covering the introductory concepts of law, branches of law, sources of law, legal systems, and the Nuremberg Principles.

Law (General Definition)

Enforceable rules of conduct imposed by the public authority structuring civil society, aimed at the organisation of just behaviour in a society.

Four Types of Substantive Law

The four main types of substantive legal rules: permission, prohibition, obligation, and organizational rules.

Mandatory Rules of Law

Rules of law that purport to apply irrespective of the law chosen by the parties to govern their contractual relations.

Default Rules of Law

Rules of law that serve as "gap fillers" and can be overridden by a legally effective agreement between contracting parties.

Public Policy Rules (ordre public)

A mandatory body of principles underpinning the operation of legal systems in each state, reflecting social, moral, and economic values that unite a society and change over time.

Mandatory Protective Rules

Mandatory rules designed to protect the economically weaker party to a contract, from which parties may only deviate by separate agreement once a conflict has arisen.

Sources of Law

The four places where rules of law are found: legislation, jurisprudence (case law), legal doctrine, and customary law.

Legislation Sensu Stricto

Legislation in the strict sense, referring specifically to an Act of Parliament.

Legislation Sensu Lato

Legislation in the broad sense, encompassing treaties, the Constitution, Acts, Presidential or Royal Decrees, governmental decisions, and European regulations or directives.

Jurisprudence (Case Law)

The interpretation and application of a general rule of law by a judge or court of law to an individual situation.

Jurisprudence in Continental European Law

Judicial rulings that have no binding precedent or formal authority (unlike Common Law) and are binding solely between the litigating parties.

Legal Doctrine

The systematic, analytically evaluative exposition of the substance of law (private, criminal, public, etc.) that takes questions from legal practice and examines them in a general, profound manner.

Customary Law

Unwritten law intrinsic to the life and customs of indigenous peoples and local communities, possessing limited actual importance in modern legal systems.

Legal Principles of Law

Mostly unwritten principles derived from existing legal elements, existing either with statutory support (e.g., the principle of "good faith") or without statutory support (e.g., the reasonableness principle).

Civil Law System

A legal system derived directly from Roman Law, characterized by laws that are codified in writing rather than determined by judicial opinions.

Common Law System

A legal system primarily based on judicial precedent, opinions of judges, and historical customs.

Public Law

The branch of law governing relationships between individuals and the government, matters of direct concern to society, and relationships between governmental institutions (e.g., constitutional, administrative, tax, criminal, and procedural law).

Private Law

The branch of law governing relationships between private individual parties rather than between individuals and the State, encompassing civil law and commercial law.

Commercial Law

The body of law governing the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and businesses engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales (business law).

Three Values of 'Just' Behaviour

The balance of three essential legal values: Justice (moral conviction), Opportuneness (effectiveness), and Legal certainty ('foreseeability').

Nuremberg Principle I

Any person who commits an act that constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment.

Nuremberg Principle II

The fact that internal domestic law does not impose a penalty for an act constituting an international crime does not relieve the actor from responsibility under international law.

Nuremberg Principle III

The fact that a person who committed an international crime acted as Head of State or a responsible government official does not relieve them from international responsibility.

Nuremberg Principle IV

Acting pursuant to an order of one's government or a superior does not relieve a person from international responsibility, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to them.

Nuremberg Principle V

Any person charged with a crime under international law has the right to a fair trial on the facts and law.

Crimes Against Peace (Nuremberg Principle VI(a))

The planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, or participation in a common conspiracy to accomplish such acts.

War Crimes (Nuremberg Principle VI(b))

Violations of the laws or customs of war, including murder, ill-treatment, deportation to slave labor of civilians or prisoners of war, killing of hostages, plunder, and wanton devastation not justified by military necessity.

Crimes Against Humanity (Nuremberg Principle VI(c))

Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds.

Nuremberg Principle VII

Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principle VI is a crime under international law.