Reading Guide 15.2 - Types of Law
(Page 430-434)
Name: KEY
1. What two types of law affect Americans directly?
Criminal law and civil law
2. What is the purpose of criminal laws?
To prevent people from deliberately or recklessly harming one another or one another’s property
3. Describe the adversary system that exists in American courts.
The courtroom serves as an arena in which lawyers for opposing sides try to present their stronger cases
4. Define Plaintiff:
The party that brings the charges against the accused
5. Who is always the plaintiff in a criminal case?
The government
6. Define Defendant:
The individual or group accused of a crime
7. What kind of crimes has serious consequences for the victim and the criminal and includes crimes like murder,
rape, and robbery?
felonies
8. What kinds of crimes are generally punishable with a fine or jail sentence of less than one year?
Misdemeanors
9. What is the most common type of crime?
Crimes against property
10. What is civil law concerned with?
Disputes between people or groups in which no criminal laws have been broken
11. What is a law suit?
A legal action whereby a person or group sues to collect damages for some harm that is done
12. In a civil case, the person suing is the plaintiff, while the person or organization being sued is the defendant.
13. What is a tort?
A civil wrong
14. What is libel?
The printing of false and damaging information
15. REVIEW: What individual freedom did the Zenger case create in the American colonies?
Freedom of the Press
16. What do cases involving constitutional law generally decide?
The limits of the government’s power and the rights of the individual
17. Administrative law refers to the rules and regulations that the executive branch must make to carry outs its job.
18. What is a statute? Who is specifically in change of writing statutory laws?
A statute is a law written by a legislative branch of government. Statutory laws are written by US Congress,
state legislatures, and local legislatures