Each country`s legal system has its own sources of law, but for systems that enact constitutions, constitutions are the most fundamental sources of law. [1] A constitution is a charter that establishes the government and the rules by which the government must function. [7] sourcesofamericanlaw.lawbooks.cali.org/chapter/administrative-regulations/ In this paper, we will examine the four main sources of law at the state and federal levels. These four sources of law are the U.S. Constitution, federal and state laws, bylaws, and case law. An old proverb of the law says that the law does not deal with trivialities or unimportant matters (Latin de minimis non curat lex). All the injustices you experience in life will not be a reason to take legal action. If you got up for a Saturday night date and feel embarrassed or humiliated, you can`t get anything back in court in the U.S. because there`s no cause of action (no basis in substantive law) you can use in your claim. If you are engaged and your future spouse is exempt from the marriage ceremony, some states provide a legal basis for legal action. The “violation of the promise of marriage” is recognized in several states, but most states have abolished this cause of action either by court order or by law. Whether a runaway bride or groom justifies a valid cause of action in court depends on whether the state`s courts recognize and still enforce that disappearing cause of action. Beyond the court`s decision, when you look at the court`s reasoning, you are most likely to understand which facts were most important to the court and which theories (law schools) each trial or appellate judge believes.
Because judges don`t always agree on the original principles (i.e., they join different law schools), there are many divided opinions in appellate judgments and in every term of the U.S. Supreme Court. But suppose an employer fired an employee for not committing perjury (lying on the witness stand in a court case); The employer wanted the employee to cover up the company`s criminal or unethical act. Suppose that, as in the previous cases, there are no applicable laws and no employment contract. Courts based on a finding or precedent that “employers may terminate employees for any reason or no reason” could rule against an employee seeking termination compensation because he or she told the truth on the witness stand. Or it could make an exception to the general rule, such as: “Employers can generally fire employees for any reason or no reason without incurring legal liability; However, employers are held legally liable if they terminate an employee who refuses to lie on behalf of the employer in legal proceedings. “Whether the U.S. remains a supporter of free trade and continues to participate as a leader in the WTO will ultimately depend on whether citizens elect leaders who support the process. For example, if Ross Perot had been elected in 1992, NAFTA would have been politically (and legally) dead during his mandate. There are many sources of law in the United States today. The most important are (1) constitutions – both at the state and federal levels, (2) government laws and regulations, and (3) court decisions. In addition, the heads of the executive (the president and individual governors) can issue executive decrees that have legal effect.
No matter how wrong a person`s actions may seem to you, the only injustices you can correct in court are those that may be related to one or more pleas in a complaint is a legal basis on which a claim is based. The legal basis may be a constitutional law, a law, a regulation or a prior judicial decision that sets a precedent to be followed. Positive law is replete with case law, treaties, laws, regulations and constitutional provisions that can be transformed into causes of action. If you have an agreement with Harold Hill that he will buy seventy-six paper clips from you and not pay for them after delivery, you`ll probably feel treated unfairly, but a court will only respond positively to your complaint if you can prove that his conduct gives you a cause of action based on some part of your state`s contract law. This case would give you a cause of action under the laws of most states; To the extent that Harold Hill had no legal excuse recognized by the contract law of the state concerned – such as his lack of legal competence, the fact that he was under eighteen years of age, that he was drunk at the time of the agreement, or his claim that the instruments were trumpets rather than trombones, or that they were delivered too late to be useful to him – You might expect compensation for his breach of your agreement with him. Over the course of two centuries, the legal system of the United States has become a model for other nations of the world that are trying to make various laws. In this presentation, we discussed the four sources of law that interact, overlap, and work together to create a robust set of legal guidelines. In international legal systems, sources of law include formal contractual agreements between nation-states.
(agreements between states or countries) and customary international law (usually consisting of judicial decisions of national judicial systems when parties from two or more nations are involved in a dispute). Constitutions, laws, regulations, treaties and court decisions may provide a legal basis in positive law. You may believe that you have been wronged, but in order for you to have an enforceable right in court, you must have something in the positive law that you can indicate that supports a cause of action against the defendant you have chosen. There are various sources of law in the U.S. legal system. The Constitution of the United States is fundamental; American law and common law must not conflict with its provisions. Congress creates the legal law (with the signature of the president), and the courts will interpret the constitutional law and the law. Where there is no constitutional or statutory law, the courts work in the common law domain. The same applies to the law in the fifty states, each of which also has a constitution or a fundamental law. Federal and state legislation, also known as statutory law, is the second important source of law in our legal system. Suppose a court has to decide whether an employer can fire an employee without cause.
Suppose there were no laws that applied to the facts: there was no contract between the employer and the employee, but the employee had worked for the employer for many years, and now a younger person was replacing him. The court should decide, without prior guidelines, whether the employee has raised a “cause of action” against the employer. If the court decides that the case is not legally enforceable, it will dismiss the claim. Future courts would then treat similar cases in the same way. In this lawsuit, the court could find that employers can fire employees for any reason or no reason. This rule could be applied in the future if similar cases occurred. [2] University of Idaho School of Law, “Sources of Law,” www.uidaho.edu/~/media/UIdaho-Responsive/Files/law/library/legal-research/guides/sources-law.ashx. The U.S. Congress enacts federal laws and those laws apply in all 50 states. An example of federal legislation is the Clean Air Act, a federal law that regulates air emissions from stationary and mobile pollution sources.
This law is a federal law and applies as such to all stationary and mobile sources of air pollution in all states of the country. ConstitutionsThe founding documents of the legal system of each nation-state. are the basis for other laws of a state or nation and form the legislative, executive and legal framework of the country. Among the nations of the world, the United States has the oldest constitution still in use. It is difficult to change, which is why there were only seventeen changes after the first ten in 1789; Two-thirds of the House of Representatives and Senate must pass amendments, and three-quarters of states must approve them. At the local level, counties and municipal corporations or municipalities may be empowered under a state constitution to issue or issue ordinances. Examples of ordinances include local building codes, zoning laws and misdemeanors, or violations such as skateboarding or jaywalking. Many of the most unusual laws that make headlines from time to time are local ordinances.