Overview of the American Legal System

The complexity of the United States legal system reflects the diversity of the public it serves. Over centuries of immigration different cultures have brought old world legal customs that eventually intermixed to become the legal system under which the country now operates. While much of the influence in Law can be credited to the British Common Law system there are some defining characteristics, which are uniquely American. One of these is public prosecution, which originated in 1704 in Connecticut and was later adopted by the other colonies and, after the Revolution, the States. (Jacoby 3) These practices lead to the development of district attorneys, though this was not their original title. A district attorney is the criminal

Common law is formed on the basis that courts will make decisions based on past judgments (Letwin, 2011). Cases with similar circumstances will be ruled in the saw way. In most cases the common law will combine with statutory and constitutional law in order to make decisions. Common law bases on the fact that court cases will be primarily ruled on precedent (Aspen Publishers, 2010). The common law is crucial to understanding almost all important

The courts play a huge role in the criminal justice system. The dual court system of the United States (U.S.) was established through the U.S. constitution. The court systems have a multiple purposes and elements of court. Federal and state court system is what makes up the dual court system of the U.S. Today the U.S. court system is what it is today because of previous legal codes, common law, and the precedent it played in the past. Making the U.S. court system a vital role in the criminal justice system..

Courts are established social, political, and judicial institutions necessary for the manifestation of justice and the maintenance of law and order. The courts are part of the judicial branch of government, as outlined in Article III of the United States Constitution. Courts are the arenas in which the law is tried and applied. Judges are the presiding officers of the court. The United States Supreme Court is the most fundamental court because has "the authority to decide the constitutionality of federal laws and resolve other disputes over them," (United States Courts, 2012). This is true even though even though the court does not expressly enforce that law; enforcement is the province of the executive branch.

American law comprises of many levels of modified and unmodified but the most important is the USA constitution and the federal government of the United States. Constitution is meant that it sets up the boundaries of other laws such as federal laws as an act of congress while case law originates from the federal judiciary. The states of the American are plenty sovereign each with its constitution. American laws especially contract, tort, property, criminal, and family law experienced by the majority of citizens on a day-to-day basis) consists primarily of state law, which can and does vary greatly from one state to the next. The common law system of English law which was there at the revolutionary time brought the federal and state law of today. American law is now derived from five major sources which are constitutional law, statutory law, treaties, administrative

In what ways is the indigenous justice paradigm in conflict with the principles of the traditional, adversarial American criminal justice system? In what ways do the principles of Native American justice complement more mainstream correctional initiatives?

Historically, common law emphasized the importance of judicial decisions rather than utilizing the structure of codes, legal rules, and statutes as courts do today. In the past, judges documented and issued their decisions which were later circulated from one court to another and became known as common law. In cases where parties disagreed, common law court would look at previous decisions made in related cases and incorporate those decisions into the current case (Siegel, et al., 2011). If similar disputes had been resolved in the previous case, the court would utilize the same perspective to resolve their current case. This became known as precedent and like common law, continues to be utilized in today’s court system (Siegel, et al., 2011).

Common law is the system of laws, which originated and were developed in England, that are “based on court decisions, on the doctrines implicit in those decisions, and on customs and usages rather than on codified written laws” (Melvin, 2011). In other words, common law is law that is made by judges not by the legislature. It is law that is based on court precedent and it evolves over time. Statutory law, which is also referred to as statute law “is written law established by enactments

The Federal court system is different series of congressional mandates that have enlarged the federal judicial infrastructure to follow the U.S. Constitution. The State court system, each state has its own court system that pertains to the state laws and follow the constitution. The United States Supreme Court has two main functions that help set the foundation for the courts. The first function is to express, interpret, and to put forward every attachment brought before in proper cases. The second function of the Supreme Court is that it has the power to inspect federal, state, and executive actions to view if it follows the United States Constitution. Each court system has it owns functions but they all have the same thing in common and that is to follow the United States

The last primary source of law is Case Law. Case law is laws created from former cases or existing laws (Sources of Law, 2017). Case law is rules created from court decisions. Case law, also be known as precedent or common law, is the body of prior judicial decisions that guide judges deciding issues before them. Depending on the relationship between the deciding court and the precedent, case law may be binding or merely persuasive (U.S. Case Law n.d.). An example of this law would be a civil suit. Case law is rules based on court decisions.

The United States court system is the institution were all the legal disputes in the american society are carryed out and resolved. However, one single court is not enough to resolve every single dispute in society and that is why the court system is made up of two different courts, the federal courts and the state courts. Moreover, the federal and state courts are made up of several divisions made to handle legal disputes differently depending on its seriousness. For example, the state court is made up of trial courts of limited jurisdiction and probate courts were cases and disputes originate and then move up to trial courts of general jurisdiction, intermediate apellate courts, and courts of last resort respectively depending on the case.In contrast, the federal court consists of district courts, territorial coutrs, tax court, court of international trade, claims court, court of veterans appeals, an courts of military review which then move on to courts of appeals respectively and may ultimately end up in the United States supreme court. In addition, cases from state court may also appeal into the federal court system but not the other way around.

As mentioned in the text “Law is a body of rules established by government officials that bind government, individuals, and nongovernment organization.” These rules were established to maintain stability and justice. The five sources of law are common law, constitutional law, legislation, executive orders and administrative law. Common law is judge made and is grounded in tradition and previous judicial decisions, instead of in written laws. It was a tradition beginning in England as the United States had former ties to England, they were influenced by it. Constitutional law is the body of law that comes out of the courts in cases involving the interpretation of the constitution. The highest court is the Supreme Court.

Common law - that part of the English law not embodied in legislation. It consists of rules of law based on common custom and usage and on judicial court decisions. English common law became the basis of law in the USA and many other English-speaking countries.

The common law system was established in England by the Normans and became known as “common law” as the old unwritten laws of England. Courtiers following a common law system are typically those that were former British colonies or protectorates, including the United States. Common system law is not always based on a written constitution or codified laws. The judges can create their own rules in the absence of appropriate written law. They also can adapt these rules to suit the circumstances of different cases and keep up to date with changes in society. Judicial decisions are binding, so decisions of the highest court can generally only be overturned by the same court or through legislation. Common law system includes also extensive freedom

Legal systems can be split between civil law and common law systems. The term "civil law" referring to a legal system should not be confused with "civil law" as a group of legal subjects distinct from criminal or public law. A third type of legal system—accepted by some countries without separation of church and state—is religious law, based on scriptures. The specific system that a country is ruled by is often determined by its history, connections with other countries, or its adherence to international standards. The sources that jurisdictions adopt as authoritatively binding are the defining features of any legal system. Yet classification is a matter of form