Legal Issues
Unit 1
Review
Jurisprudence
• The study of law and legal philosophy
Trial Courts
• Listens to testimony, considers evidence,
and decides facts disputed in situations.
Appeals Courts
• Reviews decisions of lower courts
Common Law
• The result of courts establishing
legal principles and rules
Errors of Law
• When a judge makes a mistake as to the law
applicable in the case.
• Error of law is only valid when the error
affects the outcome of the trial.
*Judge gives jury wrong instructions, judge
permits evidence that should not have been
allowed.
Precedents
• Are set when an appellate court write their
opinion or ruling. The precedent then tells
lower courts how they must rule in similar
situations.
Mitigating Circumstances
• Factors that might lessen the severity of a
crime
Statutes
• A law enacted by a legislature
Supremacy Clause
• Makes the Constitution the supreme law of the land
• Holds federal law above state laws unless otherwise noted
in the Constitution
U.S. Supreme Court
• Comprised of 9 members appointed by the
president
• Decides on what cases they will or will not
hear
Writ of habeas corpus
• Petition of an individual to ask the court to
review if his or her imprisonment is just
Writ of certiorari
• A petition of superior court to call up
the records of an inferior court or a
body acting in a quasi-judicial capacity
Human Rights
• Rights all humans have simply for being
alive
Judicial Review
• Enables a court to void any law passed by
Congress or any state legislature that
conflicts with the Constitution.
• Ex: If Congress passed a law forbidding the
media to criticize public officials, a court
challenge would find the law
unconstitutional.
Legislative Intent
• The reason for enacting a law or statute
Lobbying
• Persuasion of legislatures for a particular
interest
Felonies
• Crimes punishable by more than one year in
prison
Misdemeanors
• Crimes punishable by less than one year in
prison
Initiatives and Referendums
• Initiatives are when voters propose laws
and then submit them to their legislatures.
• Referendums occur when a legislative act
is referred to voters for final approval or
rejection.
Dissenting Opinions
• an opinion filed by a judge who disagrees
with the majority decision of a case.
Concurring Opinions
• an opinion filed by a judge that agrees with
the majority opinion on the case but that
bases this conclusion on different reasons or
on a different view of the case
Litigators
• Lawyers who go to court
Fees associated with lawyers
• Retainer- down payment on total fee
• Contingency fee- attorney gets % of
winnings in the case. If you don’t win there
is no fee assessed
Attorney-client privilege
• Encourages client to speak freely
• Cannot be abused or broken
Settling issues outside of court
• Negotiation- typically informal, may
involve attorneys
• Settlements (civil cases)
• Arbitration (decision made by arbitrator)
• Mediation (third party mediates, does not
resolve issue)
• Ombudspersons- investigate complaints
and help parties come to agreements.
3 main theories of punishment
• The theory of rehabilitation assumes that
external factors brought about by society
causes the criminal to commit the crime.
Therefore, the criminal has the ability to be
rehabilitated and returned back to society
without the want or need to commit more
crimes.
Deterrence
• Deterrence is one theory of punishment and
consists of two branches, general deterrence and
specific deterrence.
• The purpose of general deterrence is to deter
other people from committing a similar crime by
displaying to society the punishment they would
receive.
• Specific deterrence is to deter the actual criminal
from committing the same crime again by giving
him a punishment he would not want to experience
again.
Retribution
• The final theory of punishment is
retribution, in which punishment is used as
revenge – an eye for an eye.
Gideon v. Wainwright
• Overturned Betts v. Brady
• States must supply attorneys for criminal
cases
• Due process of law, equal protection (14th
amendment)
• Rights of the accused in criminal
prosecutions (6th amendment)
Betts v. Brady
• Although the Court found in favor of Betts, it
decided that the right to counsel must be decided
on a case- by-case basis.
• This ruling was upheld for 20 years until it was
overturned by Gideon v. Wainwright in 1963.
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
• Part of jury instructions
• You must be very certain of the defendant’s
guilt.