Ch 3 Law and The Legal System

One of the most important aspects of both federal and state constitutional design

Separation of Powers

Separation of Powers is used to:

guard against a concentration of political power, governmental powers and responsibilities are divided among three separate, co-equal branches. "checks and balances"

Courts protect and enforce ....

individual legal rights, determine whether the political branches of government have violated the Constitution, and maintain stability in the law through the application of legal precedent.

The main way the law governs the many kinds of relationships in society is to....

recognize and establish enforceable legal rights and to create the institutions necessary to define and enforce them.

Think of "law" not just as words on a page, but as ...

the many interacting parts that are involved in drafting those words in the first place, and in bringing them to life once they have been enacted as laws.

Consider "law" as a system which entails ..

regularly interacting and independent parts and subparts coming together to form a functional, unified whole.

The Role of Courts

Courts have responsibility to determine what the Constitution means, permits, and prohibits.

The Role of Law

Law's importance in U.S. stems from its primary purpose: to function as the main tool with which we organize ourselves as an advanced, democratic society A society as sprawling and complex as ours needs formal, enforceable rules of law to provide a measure of control.

Federalism

Refers to the allocation of Federal and State legal authority

Federal court system has three tiers

Trial courts Appellate courts Supreme Court

Powers of Federal and State Governments

Under the Constitution, the federal government is one of limited powers, while the states more or less retain all powers not expressly left exclusively to the federal government.

Sources of Law

a body of enforceable written rules found in: -Constitutions -Statues -Regulations -Common law/case law

A legal right denotes ...

a power or privilege that has been guaranteed to an individual under the law, not merely something that is claimed as an interest or something that is a matter of governmental discretion.

Courts are expected to uphold and enforce the constitutional right to ...

due process, which protects individuals from arbitrary and unfair treatment at the hands of government.