American Law and Paralegal
What you should know about American Law, especially if you are using paralegal, which means that you are a smart self-litigator!
Here are some basic things about American Law to remember:
The laws from both the federal and state legal systems stem from three primary sources: the Constitution, statutes, and common law.
1. Constitutional laws are relatively small in number, but they are important because they protect rights that we as a society have found to be of fundamental importance.
EXAMPLE:
Freedom of speech, which is one of the civil liberties that guarantees an individual’s right to speech.
Authority: United States Supreme Court
2. Statutes are a written law passed by a legislative body. Those are set rules that determine ruling in specific situations. Your paralegal often uses statutes to determine which judicial branch will enforce the case.
EXAMPLE:
Traffic violation. Divorce. Estate Planning.
Authority: After statutory law is created, the judicial branch of the government interprets and enforces it by applying it to court cases.
3. Common law is a body of unwritten laws based on legal precedents established by the courts. Common law influences the decision-making process in unusual cases where the outcome cannot be determined based on existing statutes or written rules of law.
When there’s not enough written statutes to support the court ruling, American Law will look into the common law.
EXAMPLE:
Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967)
Landmark case in which the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits governments from discriminating against individuals on the basis of race.
Authority: Federal and States Jurisdiction, Supreme Court
