Introduction to the Legal System
Three Branches of Law
Legislative
Primary responsibility is to make or enact law. This branch consists of the U.S. Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate).
Powers include declaring war, coining money, regulating interstate and foreign commerce, and necessary and proper clause powers.
Executive
Primary responsibility is to carry out, execute, or administer laws. This branch is headed by the President and includes the Vice President, the Cabinet, and various federal agencies.
Powers include appointing federal judges, ambassadors, and other officers, commanding the armed forces, and negotiating treaties.
Judicial
Primary responsibility is to interpret laws by resolving disputes that arise under them. This branch includes the Supreme Court and lower federal courts.
Powers include judicial review, which allows courts to determine the constitutionality of laws.
Federalism
The fundamental division of governmental power between the federal (national) government and state governments.
This system is designed to prevent the concentration of power in any single entity and allows for diverse policies at the state level while maintaining national unity.
From Where is Federalism Derived?
The U.S. Constitution
Primarily through the 10th Amendment:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."
This amendment reserves powers not explicitly granted to the federal government, nor denied to the states, to the states or the people, establishing a clear line between federal and state authority.
Examples of Exclusive Federal Powers:
Coin money: Only the federal government can issue currency.
Declare war: The power to formally declare war rests solely with Congress.
Regulate interstate commerce: The federal government has authority over trade between states, as distinguished from intrastate commerce (within a single state).
Examples of Exclusive State Powers:
Establishing local governments
Overseeing education systems
Licensing professionals (e.g., doctors, lawyers)
Conducting most elections
Most criminal law enforcement (police powers)
Examples (of Federalism in Practice)
Example 1: Reserved Powers in Taxation
There are certain matters that the federal government cannot dictate to the states.
The federal government cannot dictate state or local tax rates or income tax structures.
This explains why sales tax rates vary significantly from state to state and why some states impose an income tax while others do not (e.g., Florida vs. New York).
Example 2: Federal Supremacy and State Stringency
Where the federal government has jurisdiction and enacts a law, state and local governments must defer to the federal government (Supremacy Clause, Article VI of the Constitution).
The federal government has the authority to establish a minimum wage for the entire country (7.257.25 per hour as of today). No state can set its minimum wage lower than the federal rate.
However, states and local governments can enact laws or regulations that are more stringent than federal requirements if not explicitly preempted by federal law.
This explains why some states have significantly higher minimum wages than what is required under federal law. For example, Ohio’s minimum wage is 10.7010.70 per hour, exceeding the federal floor.
Example 3: Cooperative Federalism (Marble-Cake Federalism)
This model describes a more intertwined and collaborative relationship between national and state governments where responsibilities are mixed and shared, rather than strictly divided.
Medicaid: A health insurance program for low-income individuals. The federal government provides significant funding (often matching funds) but states manage the program and have the authority to set their own eligibility requirements and benefit levels, leading to variations across states.
Highways: The federal government provides funding for states to build and maintain interstate highways. However, it often attaches conditions (known as "strings attached" or "conditions of aid"), such as requiring states to set a specific speed limit or legal drinking age (e.g., 21) in order to receive federal highway funds.
Example 4: COVID-19 Pandemic Response
The US federal structure was on full display here, illustrating both cooperation and tension.
The federal government provided national guidelines, recommended health measures, and offered financial assistance (e.g., CARES Act funding).
However, states had the primary authority to issue their own stay-at-home orders, mask mandates, business closures, and school regulations, resulting in a diverse and sometimes uncoordinated national response.
Sometimes Federal and State Laws Do Apply (Concurrent Powers)
Divorce is primarily a creature of state law, with states setting the grounds, procedures, and property division rules.
However, the federal government has the power to write federal tax laws that address the financial consequences of divorce, such as the tax treatment of alimony (spousal support) or child support payments. This demonstrates how both levels of government can legislate on different aspects of the same subject.
Checks and Balances
Any allocation of governmental powers whereby one branch of government can block, check, or review what another branch wants to do (or has done).
Purpose: To maintain a balance of power among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches so that no one branch can dominate the other two, preventing tyranny.
Legislative checks Executive: Impeachment, overriding presidential vetoes, approving treaties and presidential appointments.
Legislative checks Judicial: Impeachment, approving judicial appointments, proposing constitutional amendments.
Executive checks Legislative: Vetoing legislation, calling special sessions of Congress.
Executive checks Judicial: Appointing federal judges, granting pardons.
Judicial checks Legislative: Declaring laws unconstitutional (judicial review).
Judicial checks Executive: Declaring executive actions unconstitutional.
Judicial Review
The power of a court to determine the constitutionality of a statute, regulation, or other governmental action.
The power of a court to determine the correctness of what a lower court or administrative tribunal has done.
This principle was famously established in the 1803 Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison, solidifying the judiciary's role in interpreting the Constitution.
Primary and Secondary Authority
Primary authority: A law created by one of the three branches of government; these are binding sources of law.
Examples:
Constitution: The supreme law of the land, establishing the framework of government and fundamental rights.
Statute: Laws enacted by legislative bodies (Congress, state legislatures).
Court opinion: Judicial decisions that interpret laws and establish precedents.
Administrative regulations: Rules and orders issued by administrative agencies to implement and enforce statutes.
Secondary authority: A non-law that summarizes, describes, or explains the law; these are non-binding but persuasive sources.
Examples:
Legal encyclopedias: Comprehensive compilations of legal topics (e.g., Corpus Juris Secundum, American Jurisprudence 2d).
Legal treatises: Scholarly books that provide in-depth analysis of specific areas of law.
Law review articles, legal dictionaries.
Common Law
Judge-made law developed over centuries in the absence of controlling statutory authority or other higher law.
Originating from the English legal system, it evolves through judicial decisions and the application of precedent to new factual situations.
Characteristics of the Judicial System
Common Law System
At its broadest level, simply means case law as opposed to statutory law, where judicial precedents are a primary source of law.
Civil Law System
A legal system (predominant in continental Europe and many other parts of the world) with a greater emphasis on comprehensive, codified statutes and legislative enactments than on judicial cases. Judges primarily apply the code rather than creating law through precedent.
Precedent
A legal principle or rule created by a court decision that provides an example or authority for judges deciding subsequent cases with similar facts or issues. It promotes consistency and predictability.
Stare Decisis ("Stand on things decided")
The legal principle under which courts should decide similar cases in the same way unless there is good reason for the court to do otherwise. This doctrine ensures stability, fairness, and predictability in the legal system by relying on past judicial decisions.
Judicial System - Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
The power of a court to hear and decide a case or to act in a certain matter.
Adjudicate: The process of using the court system to make a formal judgment or decision, thereby resolving disputes.
Personal Jurisdiction (in personam): A court’s power over a specific person or entity involved in a legal dispute. This typically requires a connection between the person and the forum state (e.g., residency, minimum contacts, consent, or physical presence through service of process).
In Rem Jurisdiction: A court’s power over a specific piece of property (real or personal) located within its geographical borders, regardless of who owns it.
Subject Matter Jurisdiction
Appellate Jurisdiction: The authority of a court to review decisions made by lower courts or administrative bodies.
Limited Jurisdiction: Courts that can only hear specific types of cases (e.g., family courts, probate courts, traffic courts, bankruptcy courts, small claims courts).
General Jurisdiction: Courts that can hear a wide variety of cases, encompassing almost any type of legal dispute not specifically assigned to limited jurisdiction courts (e.g., state trial courts).
Original Jurisdiction: The authority of a court to hear a case for the first time, to conduct a trial, and to receive evidence.
Concurrent Jurisdiction: When both federal and state courts (or sometimes multiple courts within the same system) have the authority to hear the same type of case, allowing litigants to choose which court to file in.
Executive Branch Structure
Executive Department Agencies: Cabinet-level departments (e.g., Department of Justice, Department of Defense) that advise the President and carry out specific functions.
Independent Regulatory Agencies: Agencies that operate more independently from the President (e.g., Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Communications Commission (FCC)), often with heads appointed for fixed terms.
Administrative Agency Functions
Executive: Carries out laws passed by Congress, implementing the details of legislation.
Rulemaking (Quasi-Legislative): Agencies write detailed rules and regulations to implement the broader statutes enacted by the legislative branch. These rules have the force of law.
Dispute Resolution (Quasi-Adjudication): Agencies resolve disputes that arise under the laws and regulations they administer, often through administrative hearings conducted by administrative law judges.
Legislative Process (How a Bill Becomes a Law)
House of Representatives
Senate
Together, they are known as Congress.
Legislative Process:
Proposal: A bill is introduced by a member of the House or Senate. Revenue bills must originate in the House.
Committee Consideration: The bill is assigned to a relevant committee, where it is studied, debated, amended, or can be killed. Most bills die in committee.
Floor Debate (Chamber 1): If a committee approves the bill, it is debated by the full House or Senate, potentially amended further, and then voted upon.
Referral to Other Chamber: If passed by one chamber, the bill is sent to the other chamber for consideration, where it goes through similar committee and floor processes.
Conference Committee: If the House and Senate pass different versions of a bill, a conference committee composed of members from both chambers meets to resolve the differences and create a single compromise bill.
Floor Debate (Chamber 2 - Conference Version): The identical compromise bill (from the conference committee) is sent back to both the House and Senate for a final vote without further amendment.
Response of Chief Executive: If passed by both chambers, the bill is sent to the President, who can:
Sign it into law.
Veto it (can be overridden by a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate).
Allow it to become law without signature (if Congress is in session for 10 days).
Pocket veto it (if Congress adjourns before the 10-day period expires and the President does not sign it).