Assignment One

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University of Texas *

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3330

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Law

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Apr 3, 2024

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docx

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Yvonne Rosales BLAW 3330.0071 Assignment One Question 1 Civil law defines duties and deals with the rights and duties of individuals among themselves. It is a law concerned with private relations between members of a community. The purpose of civil law is to compensate the injured party and the punishment is typically award money for damages or an order for the defendant to behave in a certain way. The complaint is the initial pleading filed by the plaintiff and the lawsuit begins when the county sheriff serves a summons with a copy of the complaint to the defendant. If the defendant fails to respond, a default judgment can be entered against him or her. The defendant may respond by filing an answer consisting of denials, admissions, defenses, or counterclaims. In a civil case, the burden of proof falls on the plaintiff. Criminal law establishes duties and involves offenses against a whole community. The purpose of criminal law is to punish the wrongdoer. Punishment may be imposing a fine, probation, imprisonment, or death on the guilty party. In a criminal case, the defendant is prosecuted by the government. The two elements that must be present to define an act as a crime are committing a wrongful, overt act and criminal intent. The case will begin when the suspect is arrested, booked, and charged. If the defendant enters a plea of “not guilty,” he must stand trial and the trial will begin with jury selection. In a criminal case, the burden of proof falls on the prosecution to prove criminal guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Question 2 Social egalitarianism is the belief that society should provide all persons with equal goods and services, regardless of their contributions to the society’s overall wealth. Libertarianism is the belief that differences in wealth simply demonstrate distinct levels of skills in the marketplace. Distributive justice considers the needs and rights of all people, yet stresses the equality of opportunity, not of results. All three of these social ethics theories are alike in that they focus on individual rights and obligations. Libertarianism is about the freedom to do as you please, whether that makes you richer or poorer than the other guy. While libertarians believe that taking wealth earned by some and giving it to others is unfair and social egalitarians believe in society providing equality for all, distributive justice stresses more the equality of opportunity. Question 3 Alternative dispute resolution refers to the different non-judicial ways people can resolve disputes without a trial. Various techniques include consensual arbitration, compulsory arbitration, conciliation, mediation, summary jury trial, and mini-trials. Consensual arbitration is when both parties agree to submit to it and compulsory arbitration is required by statute for specific types of disputes. The benefits are that arbitration usually costs less and takes less time than a trial, and the parties may be able to select an arbitrator with expertise in the subject. Even though the decision is binding it may still be subject to limited judicial review. The advantage of conciliation is that the parties may select the conciliator and attempt to help them reach a

Yvonne Rosales BLAW 3330.0071 mutually acceptable agreement by improving communications, explaining issues, and scheduling meetings. The disadvantage of conciliation is that it does not provide a binding decision. Mediation is also a process in which both parties reach a mutual resolution. The advantage is that the mediator may be selected by the two parties and unlike conciliation, may propose possible outcomes for them to consider. The disadvantage is that it does not provide a binding decision. In a mini-trial, attorneys for the two parties make a brief presentation of the case as if at a trial. The advantage is that there is a neutral advisor present as well as representatives from each side. A disadvantage is that mini-trials are non-binding as well as possible disclosure of trial strategies. Lastly, in a summary jury trial, both parties present their cases to a jury in a mock trial. An advantage is that it can foster dispute resolution. Disadvantages include that it is non- binding and discloses case strategy if a negotiation cannot be reached. Question 4 There are three different levels of scrutiny used by the Supreme Court to determine if a specific governmental action satisfies the equal protection guarantee. The three standards of review are the rational relationship test, the intermediate test, and the strict scrutiny test. The rational relationship test is the lowest level of scrutiny and is applied when the court must determine whether a law is rationally related to a legitimate government interest. The court will overturn the governmental action only if clear and convincing evidence shows no reasonable basis justifying the action. The intermediate test is the standard applied to governmental action based on gender, sex, and legitimacy. The strict scrutiny test is the highest level of scrutiny applied by courts and is applied whenever a fundamental right is being challenged by a law. I feel that 3 different types of tests have been developed because it can become precarious to balance the significance of what the government is trying to achieve with the alleged violations. There are some issues, such as racial discrimination, which will capture more public interest and therefore should be subjected to stricter scrutiny. Question 5 Federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over federal criminal prosecutions; admiralty, bankruptcy, antitrust, patent, trademark, and copyright cases; suits against the United States; and cases arising under certain federal statutes that expressly provide for exclusive federal jurisdiction. The two types of concurrent federal jurisdiction are federal question jurisdiction and diversity jurisdiction. The first arises whenever there is a federal question over which federal courts do not have exclusive jurisdiction. The second arises in a civil suit in which there is diversity of citizenship and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. At the bottom of the state court system are the inferior trial courts, which decide the least serious criminal and civil matters. After this, there are trial courts, and appellate courts at the top followed by the State Supreme Court. Federal courts have limited subject matter jurisdiction. State courts have jurisdiction over all matters that the Constitution or the Congress neither denies nor gives exclusively to the federal courts.

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