pember textbook image

TVR 31200
Government & Media

Sources of Law

Pember & Calvert Ch. 1

American Legal System Primer

Basic vocabulary: you should know what each of these terms mean.

  • Precedent
  • Stare decisis
  • Judicial decree
  • Statute
  • Statutory construction
  • Appellant/Appellee
  • Appellate Court
  • Writ of certiorari
  • Oral argument
  • Majority opinion
  • Concurring opinion
  • Dissenting opinion
  • Per curiam opinion
  • En banc
  • De novo
  • Pleading

What is Law?

Sources of Law:  you should be able to explain each of the five areas of law and understand the differences between them

  1. Common Law
  2. Equity Law
  3. Statutory Law
    1. Comparisons between Statutory and Common Law
  4. Administrative Law
  5. Constitutional Law
    1. Constitutional Amendments
    2. Power of judicial review
    3. Relationship of federal constitution and other laws

When is something unconstitutional?

Criminal v. Civil Law - understand the differences in who the parties are, the implications of being found liable v. guilty, the burden of proof, etc.

Criminal Law vocabulary

  • Criminal prosecution
  • Grand Jury Indictment
  • Pretrial hearing
  • Arraignment

Civil Law vocabulary

  • Plaintiff
  • Defendant
  • Pleading or civil complaint
  • Demurrer
  • Appellant
  • Appellee/respondent

Damages: be sure to understand each kind of damages that might be awarded in a civil case

  • General Damages
  • Special Damages
  • Punitive Damages
  • Presumed Damages

Court Structure : a put a couple images online for you to see how the federal and state court structure looks.

  • Trial Court
  • Appellate Court

State Court Structure

  • New York State Court system

Federal Court Structure-

  • District Court - 94 of them
  • Circuit Court of Appeals- 13 of them
  • SCOTUS

Federal Judges: can you identify who are the federal district judges serving Tompkins County?  Can you identify the names of the judges serving our circuit (federal appellate court)?

SCOTUS Justices:

  • Breyer
  • Ginsburg
  • Thomas
  • Sotomayor
  • Kennedy
  • Scalia
  • Alito
  • Kagan
  • Roberts (chief justice)

How do cases proceed before the SCOTUS?

  • Granting Certiorari
  • Majority Opinion or Opinion of the Court
  • Dissenting Opinion
  • Concurring Opinion
  • Per Curium Opinion
  • Memorandum/Order

Judicial Review

Understanding legal case citations.

Contact:Dr. C.
URL- http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/ncornwell/305/305SourcesOfLaw.html
Revised- May 31, 2011