Introduction to Law US

1. Introduction to Law
United States

2. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
History of Law
* System of rules of conduct and rights formally
recognized by society or prescribed by the authority in a
state [≠ what is permitted and prohibited]
* Appearance of an organized court system: around 4000
BC [beginning of legal history]

3. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Classification
Three broad divisions:
1- Law & Equity;
2- Substance & Procedure;
3- Public & Private Law.
8.3

4. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Law & Equity
* Equity: supplementary system in which
justice was administered through a
separate court, the Court of Chancery.
≠ from an action at law:
** absence of a jury
** more flexible procedure
** wider scope of review on appeal
** law courts: restricted to the award of
money and damages as relief;

5. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Law & Equity
**equity operated on the person of the defendant
and the court could issue an injunction,
forbidding specified acts in order to prevent
further injury, or it could decree specific
performance, ordering performance of an
obligation.
** A defendant [demandado/acusado]who
disobeyed could be punished by fine or
imprisonment for contempt of court until
compliance.

6. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Law & Equity
** Equity came to differ from law in substance as well as
procedure, as may be seen from one of its most
important creations, the trust.
** Some states had separate systems of courts for law and
equity; others had a single system in which a court
might sit as either a law court or an equity court,
depending on the nature of the case.
** By the middle of the century
there was a demand for merger of law and equity.

7. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Law & Equity
** The Code abolished the distinction between a
suit in equity and an action at law, substituted a
single civil action for the different forms of
actions previously available, and consolidated
the rules of procedure.
** Law and equity were united in the federal
courts in 1938 and have been merged in
practically all the states.

8. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Substance & Procedure
* Substantive Law:
**creates, defines and regulates rights and duties of
parties.
* Procedural or Adjective Law or Adjectival Law or
Remedial Law:
** prescribes method of enforcing the rights or obtaining
redress for their invasion
** aggregate of rules of procedure or practice
**the rules according to which substantive law is
administered.

9. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Private & Public Law
* Public Law: rights that are enforced through the
administrative process; branch of law devoted to the
functioning of the government and the adjustment of
relations between individuals and the government;
constitutional and administrative law [labor law
-government control over labor relations, and trade
regulation - government control over business activity
and criminal law - relationship between the individual
and the government, tax law: controversial, affinity in
practice with private law]

10. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Private & Public Law
* Private law: rights that are left to the
enforcement on private initiatives through
the law courts; private law is occupied
with the rights of individuals among
themselves [corporation and property
law]; more fragmented [contracts, family
law, property law, and torts]

11. Introduction to
Law
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Silvina Celle
Sources & Hierarchy of Law
1- The Constitution
2- International Treaties
3- Federal Statutes
4- Agency Rules & Executive Orders
5- Judicial Opinions
6- State Constitutions & Statutes
7- Citation

12. Introduction to
Law
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Silvina Celle
Person
* A human being (natural person)
* Legal person: labor organizations,
partnerships, associations, corporations,
legal representatives, trustees, trustees in
bankruptcy, or receivers.
* “Persona” in civil Law is character in
virtue of which certain rights belong to a
man and certain duties are imposed upon
him.

13. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Obligations
* Legal bond which obliges the performance of
something in accordance with the law of the
land. It corresponded nearly to our word
contract. The legal relation existing between two
certain persons whereby one (the creditor) is
authorized to demand the other (the debtor) a
certain performance which has a money value.
In this sense obligation signifies not only the
duty of the debtor, but also the right of the
creditor.

14. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Extinction
* Payment: the performance of a duty, promise or
obligation, or discharge of a debt or liability, by the
delivery of money or other value by a debtor to a
creditor where the money or other valuable thing is
tendered and accepted as extinguishing debt or
obligation in whole or in part.
* Novation: substitution of a new contract, debt or
obligation for an existing one, between the same or
different parties.
* Compensation: something (such as money) given or
received as payment or reparation (as for a service or
loss or injury); the act of compensating for service or loss
or injury.

15. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Extinction
* Compromise and settlement: an agreement or
arrangement by which, in consideration of mutual
concessions, a controversy is terminated.
* Confusio or Merger of Obligations: extinction of an
obligation due to the merger of creditor and debtor in
one person.
* Renunciation: the act by which a person abandons a
right acquired without transferring it to another.
* Discharge of debt: it is to extinguish it, to annul its
obligatory force, to satisfy it. A debt may be discharged
by payment or performance, or by any act short of that,
lawful in itself, which the creditor accepts as sufficient.
* Impossibility: failure of the contemplated mode of
delivery or payment.

16. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Torts
* Group of civil wrongs, other than
breach of contract, which interfere
with person, property, reputation, or
commercial or social advantage
* Essential Purpose: compensatory
[though punitive damages may
occasionally be awarded]

17. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Torts
* Most torts can be divided into three broad
categories:
**depending on whether liability is based on
intent;
** on negligence;
** or is absolute or strict, with no requirement of
either intent or negligence.
[Negligence is economically a more significant
basis for a tort liability than intent]

18. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Government Structure
* Executive Branch
* Legislative Branch
* Judicial Branch

19. Introduction to
Law
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Silvina Celle
Executive Branch
* The President
* The Vice President
* The Cabinet
* All federal departments of 1- State, 2- Treasury,
3- Defense, 4- Justice, 5- Interior, 6- Agriculture,
7- Commerce, 8- Labor, 9- Health & Human
Services, 10- Housing & Urban Development,
11- Transportation, 12- Energy, 13- Education,
14- Veterans affairs
* Most governmental agencies

20. Introduction to
Law
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Silvina Celle
Legislative Branch
* The Congress, which consists of two
chambers:
** a Senate - 100 Senators serve six-year
terms.
** a House of Representatives - 435
members apportioned by population and
serve two-year terms.

21. Introduction to
Law
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Silvina Celle
Judicial Branch
FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
a. US COURTS OF APPEALS:
US District Courts
US Bankruptcy Courts
U.S. Tax Court
b. US COURTS OF APPEALS FOR FEDERAL CIRCUIT:
* US Government Administrative Agencies:
** Federal Communications Commission
** National Labor Relations Board
** Interstate Commerce Commission
** Federal Trade Commission
** Internal Revenue Service, etc.
* U.S. Court of Federal Claims
* Court of International Trade

22. Introduction to
Law
Trad. Públicas: Silvia Comerci –
Silvina Celle
Judicial Branch
STATE COURT SYSTEM
STATE SUPREME APPELLATE COURT
INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT
* Trial Courts of General Jurisdiction
* Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction
** Small Claims Divisions
* Probate and Surrogate Courts (many states)
* Specialized Courts of Limited Jurisdiction:
** Probate and Surrogate Courts
** Family Courts
** Traffic Courts
** Juvenile or Family Law Courts (many states)
** Subordinate Courts:
- Justice of the peace Courts
- Magistrate Courts
** Police Courts