Law in Our Society

Law in our Society

Mr. Attebery Vista Murrieta High School

Law in our Society

Laws are rules that help communities maintain order and that protect the rights of individuals. These rules tell people what is right and wrong behavior. Ideas of right and wrong are based on the moral and ethical beliefs of the community. Because not everyone’s idea of right and wrong is the same, the people of the community choose leaders who make the laws for the group. In our democratic form of government, the majority decides who will be chosen. It is the job of the lawmakers to uphold the will of the majority while protecting the rights of the minority. Ideally, laws are fair to all people and clear enough to be understood by the average citizen. In reality, not all laws meet there requirements. That is why the government has built in safeguards. For instance, an unfair law can be overturned.

Laws are made at every level of community: local, state, and federal (national). Values and needs vary from community to community and from time period to time period. Therefore, laws are different in different communities and also change over time.

Why do we have laws? Why can’t people decide for themselves how they should act? You can probably answer these questions yourself. If each person decided for himself or herself what was right and wrong behavior, there would be chaos. Without law, a customer could just take an item from the store without paying for it. People would be able to drive at any speed they wanted and on whichever side of the road they wanted. Government leaders could throw people in jail without cause. Banks and other lending institutions would be able to charge as much interest on a loan as they wanted. As you can see, we need laws for our protection. We also need laws to guide us in our actions.

Kinds of Laws

In your life, you will have to follow the laws of your local community, your state, and the nation. These laws have many sources and are enacted for many purposes. The sources of law include constitutions, statues, court decisions, and administrative regulations. Laws are made for the purpose of handling disputes between individuals and of dealing with criminal activities.

Constitutional Law: Constitutions are legal documents that explain the powers and limits of government and list the freedoms and rights of the people. The United States has a national constitution, and each state has a constitution that is modeled on the national one.

Statutory Law: A law that is enacted by a legislative, or lawmaking, body is a statue. Our national lawmaking body is the U.S. Congress. Laws passed by Congress apply to the entire country. State legislatures enact state laws, and local legislative bodies, such as city councils, make local laws. Statues can be changed or repealed if they are out of date or become unnecessary.

Court Decisions: Starting in the eleventh century in England, the king or queen chose judges to resolve disputes between neighbors and to punish people who had done harm. From the judges’ decisions, a series of rules based on general custom was developed. This body of law based on judges’ decisions is called common law. Other judges then applied the rules to cases they were deciding, modifying the rules as they saw fit to reflect the changing values of people over time. Prevent too much uncertainty and unfairness, however, judgments made in earlier cases were written down. These cases established a precedent. It was accepted that unless the arguments against doing so was very compelling, precedent should be followed.

Much law in the United States today is based on English common law. When there is no statue to cover a particular situation or when a law is not clear, the precedents established under common law are used by the courts to decide a case. In many cases, statues are based on common law.

Today the major role of judges is to interpret and apply existing statues. Even though there are many laws on the books at both the federal and state level, sometimes it’s not clear which law applies in a particular case. When courts decide such cases, they examine the facts of the case before them and review precedents. Precedents show how previous similar cases were handled. Most of the cases are collected and published so that lawyers and judges can refer to them.

Administrative Law: Administrative law is made and enforced by government agencies. These agencies are set up by legislatures to execute, or carry out and enforce, laws that the legislatures have passed. Because of the work they do, the agencies are part of major departments within the executive branch. For example, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is the deferral tax collection agency, is part of the Department of the Treasury. The IRS carries out and enforces the federal tax laws passed by Congress.

At the federal level, these agencies are created by Congress. Top agency officials are appointed by the President, with the approval of the Senate. Some agencies are part of major departments within the approval of the Senate. For example, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is the federal tax collection agency, is part of the Department of the Treasury. The IRS carries out and enforces the federal lax laws passed by Congress.

Sometimes Congress sets up an independent agency to enforce laws it has passed. For example, Congress set up the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 to enforce the federal antipollution laws.

State and local governments have also set up agencies to enforce and administer laws at those levels. For example, state agencies administer state laws relating to health care programs, public school attendance, and working conditions.

Civil and Criminal Laws: Laws differ not only in their origin but also in their purpose. The legal system includes both civil and criminal law. Criminal law defines crimes and spells out punishments of fines or imprisonment for violators. Civil law deals with issues not covered by criminal law, including marriage, divorce, business contracts, civil right, and housing.

THE BASIS OF OUR LAWS: THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

The U.S. Constitution is the blueprint for organizing and running this country’s government. It achieves a delicate balance between the need for the states to have a government strong enough to unite them and the state’s wish that the national government not have too much power over them.

Safeguards have been built into the Constitution to make sure that limits are put on the government. Without these safeguards, leaders might pass laws that took away individual liberties or that imposed personal whims on the people. In this country the greatest protection against an overly powerful government is the fact that the source of all government power is the people. Through the Constitution, the people choose the government, and the government has only the powers the Constitution gives it. Other safeguards include dividing the government into parts so that no branch can become too powerful.

To understand why the United States has all these precautions within its government and lawmaking system, we must look back to the beginnings of the United States.

How the Constitution Was Written

When the American Revolution ended in 1783, the newly independent states had to decide how they would be governed. The links that had held the states together up to that point were weak. The national government that had been set up under the Articles of Confederation in 1777 did not have enough power to make the states follow the national laws. As a result, the states quarreled over money, boundaries, and other issues. However, they did not want to be controlled by an all-powerful central government, not even one that they created themselves. After all, they had only recently fought their way out from under England’s oppressive rule. In May 1787, 12 of America’s 13 states set their most learned men to Philadelphia. (Rhode Island did not send any delegates.) The states gave these 55 men the task of planning a government that would unite the individual states into a stronger nation.

The delegates went to Philadelphia with very different ideas. They disagreed about how the new national government should be organized. For many weeks they argued and debated, sometimes bitterly. Small states worried about having equal representation with larger states. Southern states worried about regulation of trade since they exported so much tobacco. They reached compromises on these issues. However, all the delegates were in agreement on one issue. They felt strongly that the states must never again be subject to the personal wishes of a tyrant.

It took the delegates nearly four months to agree on the form the new government should take. None of the delegates, or framers, as they became known, was entirely happy with the constitution they drew up. After all, none of them had convinced the others that he was entirely right about how the new government should work. However, 39 of the framers signed the Constitution and sent it to Congress, which forwarded it to the state legislatures. Eleven of the 13 states had ratified, or approved, the Constitution by 1788. Thus, the government of the United States of America was established. (North Carolina and Rhode Island ratified in 1789 and 1790, respectively.) The document the framers produced is still the basis for all law in the United States.

Parts of the Constitution

The Constitution is divided into three parts: the preamble, the articles that made up the original Constitution, and the amendments that have been added since 1788.

The Preamble: In the preamble, which is the introduction, the framers spelled out their goals, which were very ambitious. The primary concerns of the framers were to set up a system of cooperation among the states, establish justice and peace, promote the welfare of the people, secure liberty, and provide for the defense of the nation. Most important, the framers presented a concept essential to our democratic government: that the government was established by the consent of “We the People”.

The Articles: In the first three of the Constitution’s seven articles, or parts, the framers set up the three branches of the national government --the legislature, the executive, and the judicial --and to defend their powers. Article IV spelled out the relationships of the states to one another and to the national government. Article V established the rules for changing the Constitution. A very important statement in Article VI is that the Constitution, along with the laws of Congress and treaties with foreign countries, is “the supreme Law of the Land”. Article VII described provisions for ratifying the Constitution.

The Amendments: Nowhere is the Constitution’s role as the protector of people’s rights more evident than in its amendments, or changes. The framers were wise enough to know that any plan for the new government, no matter how good, would need changes or additions over time. Article V makes this provision for amending the Constitution. There are four ways to propose and ratify an amendment, but only one way has been used extensively.Twenty-five of the 26 amendments have been proposed by a two thirds vote in both houses of congress and ratifies by three fourths of the states.

The first ten amendments, known as the bill of rights, were added only three years after the original constitution was ratified. Some states agreed to ratify the document liberties and protect individuals from the government. The most recent amendment, ratified in 1971, extends the minimum voting age to 18. Before this amendment minimum voting age for federal elections and most state elections was 21.

The Supremacy Clause

Article VI of the constitution provides for federal supremacy, which means that federal law is a higher authority than state law. The states agreed that they needed one uniform highest form of law and that it would be the U.S. Constitution. No other form of law federalor state can contradict it. Directly below the constitution are the laws and treaties passed by Congress. Below the U.S. Constitution and congressional laws is each states constitution, followed by the statues. Below state laws are local laws.

The Legal Responsibilities of the Branches of Government

The constitution determines the main divisions, or branches, of the federal government and defines the powers and responsibilities of each division. Together the three branches form a national government that is strong enough to meet the needs of the states. At the same time, no one branch has the power to control the government as a whole. This separation of powers prevents any branch from having too much authority.

The Legislative Branch

The U.S. Congress is the legislative branch. It has the power to make laws that govern the nation as a whole. The job of the members of the Congress is difficult. They must interpret the will of the majority who elected them and pass laws that reflect the wishes of the people. The two chambers or houses of congress are the Senate and the House of Representatives. The power of congress is divided between these two houses.

The Senate has 100 members, 2 for each state, regardless of the states size. The house of representatives has 435 members. The number of members for each state is determined by the size of the states population.

In addition to making laws, congress has other law-related responsibilities. For example, it creates all federal courts below the Supreme Court. It also has the power to impeach, or accuse of misconduct, and remove from office not only federal judges but even the President.

The Executive Branch

Article II of the constitution defines the executive branch of government. This branch consists of the president and the vice president of the United States. According to the constitution, the main law related duty of the president is to execute the nation’s laws. That is, the president is responsible for and carrying out the laws of the country. This duty involves appointing federal judges. The president also recommends laws to congress. Every year the president delivers a state of the union message that serves as an agenda, or plan of action for congress.

The president has the power to grant clemency, or mercy, to people accused of federal crimes. The president also can issue pardons, which free individuals from punishment in federal criminal cases. For example, President Gerald Ford pardoned President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon might have committed during the Watergate scandal in the early 1970’s.

As part of his function of executing the laws of the country, the President can issue executive orders. These orders have the force of law but do not need approval by Congress. Executive orders have been issued in many areas, including civil rights and economic issues. For example, in 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson issued an executive order requiring firms winning federal contracts to set up programs for hiring more minorities. These orders cannot, of course, go against the Constitution or a statue. Any order that does can be overturned by the Supreme Court.

The Judicial Branch

Article III of the Constitution created the judicial branch of government. The judicial branch includes the Supreme Court and all other federal courts that Congress creates. This branch is responsible for interpreting and applying the laws of the United States. It resolves disagreements about laws, and it can overturn any law that conflicts with the U.S. Constitution.

The only court that the Constitution created directly is the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the Constitution gave Congress the power to create federal courts at lower levels. Using this power, Congress set up the federal court system when it adopted the Judiciary Act of 1789. Congress has created many additional courts and judgeships as the country has grown over the last two hundred years.

Checks and Balances

Each of the three branches of government is equal yet separate. To make sure that no branch becomes too powerful, the Constitution set up a system of checks and balances. This system gives each branch ways of influencing what the other branches do. For example, if Congress adopts a law that someone feels goes against the Constitution, that person can go to court to have the law overturned. Congress has the power to remove federal judges and the President from office, and it can propose amendments to the Constitution to overturn Supreme Court decisions. The President checks Congress with the power to veto-or reject- laws passed by Congress. Congress, however, may override the veto with a two thirds vote in both houses. The President influences the court system by appointing federal judges, but the President’s choices must be approved by the Senate. The system of checks and balances requires that the three branches work together.