BLA Chapter 1 (AI Created Flashcards)

Chapter 1 class notes


Article 6- says constitution is the supreme law of the land

  • Meant to govern conflicts between the states

Note: Federal gov. Was only make laws that pertain gov property, or conflict between states- but that has changed a bit now

Constitution- agreement between the people and govt


Branches of gov.


Legislative

Federal: Congress

State: General assembly

- write the laws


Statutory law- written laws passed by a legislature

-statute: when congress/ general assembly get together write the laws and the statue is the product

-can override a veto is there 2/3rds agreement

- laws also can be made by outside regulatory sources, since there are so 

many laws (ex. EPA, FDA)

Administrative law - rule and regulations from an administrative agency

-regulations: different in name and who makes them,

regulatory/specialized agencies get together to write the laws and a

regulation is the product


Note: We vote for people in congress but don't vote for the people in these agencies

  • Appoint experts, or industry insiders

  • This kind of dampens incentive to be as straight with creating these laws, and incentive to find ways to benefit themselves, a way for those to gain expertise and get ahead (job opportunities, by boosting resume)


Executive

Federal: President

State: Governor 

- statues then goes to the exec. branch, either be passed or vetoed

-law: a statue that has been passed by president/governor

“A body of enforceable rules governing relationships among individuals and between individuals and their society.”

  • “they establish rights, duties, and privileges that are consistent with the values and beliefs of a society or its ruling group.”


Judicial

Federal: Court system

State: Court system



Common law- comes from real cases, maybe judges

  • Courts determine what the law means (since status are not always clear/ straightforward)


Early english courts

  •  Chaslers ruled on cases at a local level since the king could not get to them all

  • The law is just what the chansuler says



Appeal- if you lost a court case you can go to court of appeals and try again

  • Out of this comes a statement of opinion, that becomes the new common law

  • Apples court and supreme court is where common law comes from







Panama city case



Commerce clause article 1 section 8

  • Gives congress the right to regulate commerce among several states

  • Interstate (between states), originally interpreted this way

  • Intrastate (within one state)


Wickward v. filburn

  • Got changed to- As long as activity has some sort of effect on interstate commerce then gov can get involved























Chap 1 Book Notes

Link to study set: 


Chapter 1.1

Primary souce of law def: “A source that establishes the law on a particular issue, such as a constitution, a statute, an administrative rule, or a court decision.”


What are four primary sources of law in the United States?

  1. The U.S. Constitution and the constitutions of the various states.


  1. Statutory law—including laws passed by Congress, state legislatures, and local governing bodies.


  1. Regulations created by administrative agencies, such as the federal Food and Drug Administration.


  1. Case law (court decisions)


Secondary source of law def: “A publication that summarizes or interprets the law, such as a legal encyclopedia, a legal treatise, or an article in a law review.”

Examples: 

  • Legal encyclopedias

  • compilations (such as Restatements of the Law, which summarize court

decisions on a particular topic)

  • official comments to statutes

  • treatises

  • articles in law reviews published by law schools

  • articles in other legal journals



Constitutional law def: “The body of law derived from the U.S. Constitution and the constitutions of the various states.”

“deals with the fundamental principles by which the government exercises its authority”


Statuary law edef: “The body of law enacted by legislative bodies (as opposed to constitutional law, administrative law, or case law).


Citation: a reference to a publication in which a legal authority—such as a statute or a court decision—or other source can be found


Ordinance: A regulation enacted by a city or county legislative body that becomes part of that city’s or county’s statutory law.


Note: “A statute is a law that applies to an entire state or country, while an ordinance is a law that applies to a specific local area. Statutes are created by legislative bodies, while ordinances are created by municipal governing authorities.


Uniform laws def: Model laws developed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws for the states to consider enacting into statute.


Administrative law: The body of law created by administrative agencies in order to carry out their duties and responsibilities.

The body of law created by administrative agencies in order to carry out their duties and responsibilities.


Administrative agency:

a federal, state, or local government agency established to perform a specific function.


Enabling legislation: A statute enacted by Congress that authorizes the creation of an administrative agency and specifies the name, composition, purpose, and powers of the agency being created

specifies the name, composition, purpose, and powers of the agency being created



Legislative rules def: “Administrative agency rules that carry the same weight as congressionally enacted statutes.”

Steps of legislative rulemaking under the APA, referred to as notice-and-comment rulemaking

  1.  Notice is published in the federal register (daily publication for us gov

  2. Comment period where the chevy allows tie for pirates to comment in writing to the proposed rule, the agency thales these notes into consideration for the final version

  3. The final is drafted and published into the federal register


Case law def: “The rules of law announced in court decisions.” “Case law interprets statutes, regulations, and constitutional provisions, and governs all areas not covered by statutory or administrative law.”




Early english courts- background

  • To unify the nation under one rule, early english courts establishing the king's court (curiae regis)

  • This evolved into common law: “a body of general rules that applied throughout the entire English realm”

  • Common law developed out of judges (chanosuers) decisions in the court, basing their decisions off of earlier cases made by other judges, each decision made a new law


What is a precedent?

  • Each law/ decision made served as a legal precedent: a court decision that had authority for deciding cases involving similar legal principles or facts



  • Stare decisis: a common law doctrine under which judges were obligated to follow the precedents established in prior decisions. Two aspects of stare decisis:

  1. A court should not overturn its own precedents unless there is a strong reason to do so

  2. Decisions made by a higher court are binding on lower courts

-this creates stability and attracts more foreign investment, because its public and all on the record and has structure


Binding authority: any source of law that a court must follow when deciding a case (includes constitutions, statues, and regulations)

When might a court depart from precedent?

  • When a precedent is simply incorrect

  • technological/ social changes have rendered the precedent inapplicable


Cases of first impression: courts deciding for cases when no precedent exists


The merging of law and equity

  • A court will normally only grant an equitable remedy only when the remedy at law (monetary damages) is inadequate

The most common equitable remedies

  • TRO temporary resting order (short term order not to do something)

  • Injunction (order not to do something while case is pending, or forever. Or can be an order to do something)


Remedy def: the relief given to an innocent part to enforce a right or compensate for the violation of a right

  • What are you asking the court for

Equity def: breach of law that seeks to supply a remedy when no adequate remedy at law is available


Plaintiff: those bringing lawsuits


Defendant: the one being sued


Issues

  • Specific performance: an order for the defendant to perform what was promised

  • Injunction: directing a part to do or refrain from doing a particular act

  • Rescission: cancellation of the contract


Substantive law: all laws that define, describe, regulate, and create legal rights and obligations


Procedural law: all laws that establish the methods of enforcing the rights established by substantive law



What are some important differences between civil law and criminal law?

Civil law deals with the definition and enforcement of private and public rights (as opposed to criminal matters)

  • Spells out the rights and duties that exist between people and people, and people and gov.

  • Relief when a person rights are violated

Civil law system (different than civil law)- is a legal system based on a written code of laws (derived from roman law), based on codified laws rather than case precedents

  • Ex. france and mexico

  • Statues are the primary source of law

  • Case precedents are non binding


Criminal law is the branch of law that defines and punishes wrongful actions committed against the public

  • deals with wrong committed against society

  • Are proscribed by local, state, or federal gov statutes

  • Criminal defendants are prosecuted by public officials


The key difference between national law and international law is that government authorities can enforce national law. If a nation violates an international law, however, enforcement is up to other countries or international organizations, which may or may not choose to act.



What constitutional clause gives the federal government the power to regulate commercial activities among the states?

Commerce clause: gives Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce.


Federal form of gov.: A system of government in which the states form a union and the sovereign power is divided between the central government and the member states.

Police powers: powers possessed by the states as part of their inherent sovereignty. These powers may be exercised to protect or promote the public order, health, safety, morals, and general welfare.


Case 1.1 Classy Cycles, Inc. v. Panama City Beach

Main prob. -interpretation of the law

Panama city banned scooters, this put classy cycles in a position to go out of business, they failed lawsuit saying they were targeted by the city

  • Basically as long as you can argue a law in for the criteria of health, safety, and welfare, then it can be enacted


Checks and balances

  1. The legislative branch (Congress) can enact a law, but the executive branch (the president) has the constitutional authority to veto that law.


  1. The executive branch is responsible for foreign affairs, but treaties with foreign governments require the advice and consent of the Senate.


  1. Congress determines the jurisdiction of the federal courts, and the president appoints federal judges, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The judicial branch has the power to hold actions of the other two branches unconstitutional.


Supremacy clause: the constitution is the supreme law of the land

Preemption: federal law takes superiority over conflicting state or local laws

  • Sometimes federal gov can attempt to preempt, which is a way for congress of exercise executive power


What is the Bill of Rights? What freedoms does the bill of rights guarantee?

  • The bill of rights is the first 10 amendments to the constitution

  1. guarantees the freedoms of religion, speech, and the press and the rights to assemble peaceably and to petition the government.

  • Does not apply to defamatory speech

  • Does not apply to speech that violates criminal law (threatening or obscene)

-establishment clause: prohibits the government from establishing a state-sponsored religion, or passing laws that promote religion or show a preference for one religion over another.


  1. guarantees the right to keep and bear arms.


  1. prohibits, in peacetime, the lodging of soldiers in any house without the owner’s consent.


  1. prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures of persons or property.


  1. guarantees the rights to indictment (formal accusation) by a grand jury, to due process of law, and to fair payment when private property is taken for public use. The Fifth Amendment also prohibits compulsory self-incrimination and double jeopardy (prosecution for the same crime twice).


  1. guarantees the accused in a criminal case the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury and with counsel. Accused defendants have the right to cross-examine witnesses against them and to solicit testimony from witnesses in their favor.


Procedure due process

  • any government decision to take life, liberty, or property must be made fairly

  • the government must give a person proper notice and an opportunity to be heard

  • must use fair procedures in determining whether individuals will be subjected to punishment or have some burden imposed on them


Substantive due process

  • focuses on the content of the legislation rather than the fairness of the procedures

  • limits what the government may do in its legislative and executive capacities

  • legislation must be fair and reasonable in content and must further a legitimate governmental objective

  • Fundamental rights include interstate travel, privacy, voting, marriage and family, and all First Amendment rights.


  1. guarantees the right to a trial by jury in a civil (noncriminal) case involving at least twenty dollars.


  1. prohibits excessive bail and fines, as well as cruel and unusual punishment.


  1. establishes that the people have rights in addition to those specified in the Constitution.


  1. establishes that those powers neither delegated to the federal government nor denied to the states are reserved for the states.



Chap 1 Quiz Questions

Q: Common law rules develop from

Ans: principles underlying judges’ decisions in actual controversies


Q: Stare decisis is best defined as

Ans: a doctrine under which judges follow established precedents


Q: Each court has a jurisdiction. Jurisdiction is best defined as

Ans: the area in which a court has the power to apply the law


Q: Jaime and Kay enter into a contract for the sale of a bicycle, but Kay later refuses to deliver the goods. Jaime asks a court to order Kay to perform as promised. Ordering a party to perform what was promised is

Ans:  an equitable remedy



Q: Georgia enacts a law requiring all businesses in the state to donate 10 percent of their profits to Protestant churches that provide certain services to persons whose income is below the poverty level. Price-Lo Stores files a suit to block the law’s enforcement. The court would likely hold that this law violates

Ans:  the establishment clause


Q: John, a law enforcement official, monitors Kelsey’s Internet activities—e-mail and website visits—to gain access to her personal financial data and student information, despite there being no connection between that information and any suspected crimes. This may violate Kelsey’s rights to

Ans: privacy


Q:If a provision in the Florida state constitution conflicts with a provision in the U.S. Constitution

Ans:  the U.S. Constitution takes precedence


Q: The North Carolina state legislature, and the U.S. Congress, vote on and enact laws. These laws constitute

Ans: statutory law


Q: Beth is a victim of Carl’s violation of a criminal law. Although Beth herself is the only victim, the State prosecutes the case in the State's name, because criminal law is con­cerned with

Ans:  wrongs committed against the public as a whole


Q: A Rhode Island state statute imposes a prison term, without a trial, on all street vendors who operate in certain areas. A court would likely hold this statute to be

Ans: unconstitutional under the due process clause