Division of Law Essay Example
Division of Law Essay Example

Division of Law Essay Example

Available Only on StudyHippo
Topics:
  • Pages: 8 (2154 words)
  • Published: May 19, 2017
  • Type: Case Study
View Entire Sample
Text preview

The Division of Law provides legal counsel and representation to various entities of the State Government, including boards, departments, offices, commissions, instrumentalities and their officers and workforce. One significant duty is to defend against lawsuits brought against the State, its entities, officers and staff.

The Attorney General is responsible for representing the State in legal matters and protecting contractual interests, as well as providing legal counsel to State entities such as departments, agencies, officials, and employees through the Division of Law. They are also accountable for safeguarding public interest in all State affairs. The four types of law - political law, public law, temporal law, and divine law - regulate behavior through a set of rules enforced by social institutions. These regulations are typically created by legislative bodies within governments but there is no universally accepted definiti

...

on of law.

The development of laws, whether written or unwritten, can impact politics, economics, and society due to the influence of a constitution. This serves as a mediator between individuals in civil law jurisdictions like Canon and Socialist law where central bodies consolidate their laws. Alternatively, common law systems accept binding precedents set by judges. In previous times, religious laws played a vital role even in secular matters which still occurs in some nations such as Islamic ones.

The legal system is separated into two main branches: Criminal law and Civil law. Criminal law concerns behavior that is deemed detrimental to society, and can lead to the perpetrator being incarcerated or fined. Conversely, Civil law's primary objective is to resolve disagreements between individuals or groups by awarding appropriate legal remedies, usually financial compensation, to the victorious party. There are many areas

View entire sample
Join StudyHippo to see entire essay

within Civil law, including Contract law which governs transactions ranging from bus ticket purchases to derivatives trading; and Property law which addresses the transfer and ownership of personal and real estate.

Trust law deals with managing assets for investment and financial security, while tort law enables people to receive payment for harm done to their property. Constitutional law establishes the basis for creating laws, protecting human rights, and electing political figures. Administrative law is utilized to review government agency decisions, while international law controls interactions between sovereign nations such as trade and military operations.

For a government to perform its duties of implementing and enforcing laws and serving the public through public servants, the bureaucracy, the military, and the police are crucial. Although they are created and constrained by law, an autonomous legal profession and an active civil society contribute to their advancement [citation needed]. The study of law offers ample opportunities for scholarly exploration in legal history, philosophy, economic analysis, and sociology. Moreover, it raises challenging and intricate matters related to equality, equity, and justice.

Throughout history, the notion of equality before the law has been upheld by various influential individuals. In 1894, Anatole France declared that regardless of social status, all people are forbidden by law from sleeping under bridges, begging on streets or stealing bread. Aristotle prioritized the rule of law over any individual or leader. Mikhail Bakunin contended that laws reinforce worker exploitation by those in power while Cicero warned against excessive enforcement as it can diminish justice in society. Marxist ideology posits that laws will become unnecessary once the ruling class becomes obsolete.

The legal field that concerns itself with the intersection of politics

and the law is referred to as political law or political activity law[1]. It encompasses numerous areas, including but not limited to election laws, voting rights regulations, campaign financing rules, lobbyist guidelines, transparency legislation regarding government proceedings, codes of ethics for executive and legislative branches of government. Additionally, it covers administrative procedures for regulation drafting and legislation alongside constitutional and regulatory drafting. These legal structures apply primarily to candidates running for office, government officials, advocacy groups involved in policy-making efforts or political activism , lobbyists representing organizations or industries with an interest in public policy issues related to their business or causes they support non-profits engaged in public-interest work as well as trade unions advocating for workers across various sectors. The Federal Election Commission bears the responsibility of enforcing provisions related to campaign finance during federal races.[8]

The Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section is responsible for monitoring criminal violations of political laws that apply to federal positions such as the presidency, House of Representatives, and Senate. These laws include restrictions on campaign contributions, with some contributions being prohibited.

Campaign finance and ethics regulations are enforced by administrative agencies in most states, with the state attorney general sometimes involved. Local governments may also have their own ethics agencies. These agencies provide campaign finance or lobbying registration and reporting forms for disclosure purposes or enforcement mechanisms. "Pay-to-play" restrictions fall under political law.

Public law, covering constitutional, administrative, tax and criminal law as well as procedural law, regulates the connections between individuals and government. Specifically for municipal securities dealers, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has established regulations forbidding certain persons from donating to political funds of issuer officials.

Public law takes precedence over optional regulations and deals with governmental entities' power to decide on individual rights in asymmetric relationships. Private law, on the other hand, covers laws regarding personal matters. Despite this authority, the rule of law requires that all actions taken by authorities remain within legal boundaries (secundum et intra legem), including government compliance with the law.

Seeking judicial review through a court can be a possible outcome when a citizen disagrees with an administrative authority's decision. The classification of rights includes private and public rights, whereby the latter involves the right to receive benefits from government budget decisions that only individuals can claim. This differentiation between public law and private law has its origins in Roman law, which was later accepted by civil law countries in the 19th century before being adopted by common law countries as well.

Distinct from human-made laws, divine law is rooted in religious beliefs and believed to be directly derived from the will of God. It remains independent of human will and cannot be altered by it. Although natural law is viewed as an expression of divine law, it cannot be changed by humans. Divine law may be revealed and updated based on new revelations as God's infinite nature necessitates its boundlessness and immutability.

In his Treatise on Law, Thomas Aquinas distinguishes between divine law and natural law. He underscores that divine law solely originates from scripture or revelation (specifically biblical laws) and plays a pivotal role in human salvation. Aquinas further highlights the importance of avoiding confusion between divine law and natural law.

The majority of Divine law is based on natural law, however, it can also incorporate positive

law. The History subject contains a variety of Schools of History, each with their own unique approach to historical analysis. It's important to note that a "School" of History doesn't refer to a physical building or educational establishment, but to a community of like-minded scholars. Historians may or may not identify with one or more schools and their standpoint may also change throughout their career. Some schools have lost credibility and are no longer in use.

A school of thought refers to a group or collection of individuals with shared opinions, outlook, and beliefs in disciplines such as philosophy, economics, social and cultural movements, art movements and others. These schools may be classified into "new" or "old," based on their currency, and are often a part of a paradigm shift. However, it is uncommon for any given field to have only two schools. Many schools are named after their founders, including the "Rinzai school" of Zen, founded by Linji Yixuan and the Asharite school of early Muslim philosophy founded by Abu l'Hasan al-Ashari.

Commonly, schools of philosophy, architecture, or linguistics are named after their place of origin. For instance, the Ionian School of philosophy emerged in Ionia, the Chicago School of architecture in Illinois' Chicago, and the Prague School of linguistics was named after a linguistic circle discovered in Prague. Similarly, Tartu-Moscow Semiotic School had its representatives residing in Tartu and Moscow. Differentiating criminal law from criminal procedure is necessary. Criminal law establishes crimes, describes their nature, and penalties. Contrarily, criminal procedure is procedural or remedial; it explains how someone charged with a crime is caught, tried, and punished. Criminal law defines punishable acts

while criminal procedure outlines how these acts are sanctioned.

Criminal law, which deals with crime and the punishments for violating its regulations, is distinct from civil law, which prioritizes dispute resolution and victim compensation procedures. Criminal law also covers criminal procedure, which outlines how individuals accused of a criminal offense should be apprehended, prosecuted, and punished if convicted. Additionally, penal laws are judicially-binding rules that specify crimes, their characteristics, and the appropriate sentencing for those violations.

The set of regulations upheld by each state pertains to the prosecution and punishment of actions or omissions that breach public laws. Criminal law exhibits three primary qualities: general, territorial, and prospective. The universal application of criminal law obligates all individuals residing or visiting within a state's boundaries, regardless of citizenship status. Any person who violates state legislation while present in its jurisdiction may undergo legal trial and penalty by the governing body. However, according to international law principles, political leaders and diplomatic representatives are an exception to this rule; nevertheless, it remains imperative for states to enforce their statutes and maintain orderly conduct within their territory.

The territoriality of criminal law is a crucial element, as it stipulates that laws can only be enforced within the state's boundaries. Nonetheless, there are exceptions where criminal laws may still apply to conduct committed outside the territory but within the jurisdiction of the state. These exceptions include occurrences such as committing a crime on a vessel or aircraft belonging to the state or creating counterfeit currency notes of the state while abroad.

Penal laws must possess the quality of prospectivity. It is unlawful for a penal law to enforce a punishment on

an act that wasn't punishable at the time it was committed. Typically, crimes are penalized based on the laws applicable during their occurrence. Nonetheless, under specific circumstances, if a new law pertaining to a crime introduces more lenient conditions in favor of the accused, it can be retroactively applied.

As discussed, penal laws fall under the jurisdiction of the state's power to regulate and enforce them as part of their police power. Criminal law encompasses the definition of crimes, procedures for arrests, searches and seizures, interrogations, rules for trials, and punishments for offenders. Common law, also referred to as judge-made law, originated in twelfth century England through judges ruling that specific actions were punishable and identifying crimes against the state such as murder, rape, arson, and burglary.

The legal system in the American colonies was based on a body of unwritten laws and customs produced by British judges' law decisions over time. This law included a law of precedent which binds later courts to follow the decisions made by previous courts when presented with the same legal problem.

The principle of stare decisis is related to the law of precedent and it refers to the allowance of prior decisions or precedents to stand. This principle is crucial in maintaining equity in the judicial system as it guides court rulings in comparable cases. The Constitution's Article VI supports this principle.

The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and all judges must adhere to it. Even if there are conflicting laws within a state's constitution or legislation, the Constitution takes precedence. Any law that goes against the Constitution is invalid in the United States.

Both federal and

state criminal codes are composed of statutes and ordinances passed by Congress, state legislatures, and city councils. While state constitutions hold more weight than local laws, the Supreme Court has the power to declare laws unconstitutional.

Statutory laws establish criminal acts like murder, sexual assault, theft, and burglary. Although state and federal statutory laws may share some similarities in this area, federal drug regulations can enhance local law enforcement's ability to combat crime more efficiently. Additionally, the United States has administrative rules that carry penalties.

Several administrative agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, Internal Revenue Service, and Environmental Protection Agency produce semijudicial or semilegislative regulations. These regulations are then enforced by these agencies through inspection for violations and issuing fines. The range of these regulations covers various offenses like securities trading fraud, avoiding income tax payments, selling tainted food items, and disposing hazardous waste materials. Additionally, case law established by verdicts from higher courts holds significant legal weight according to those same courts (e.g., the U.S Supreme Court).

The U.S. Supreme Court is responsible for establishing case law in the United States, which is determined through interpretations of statutory law by appellate courts and court decisions on uncodified rules.

Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New