chapter 1 Flashcards
law
organises just behaviour in a society. it applies two kinds of rules; substantive and formal law.
substantive law
composed of legal rules that define the content of just behaviour. to organise just behaviour in a society we first need standards that define the ‘rules of the game’ that people are required to obey.
formal law
composed of legal rules that maintain substantive law. they are necessary to provide consequences when substantive law is violated.
public law
the law that regulates the relation between a government and its citizens. it can be in the form of substantive or formal rules.
public substantive law
rules in society everyone should comply with for the public wellbeing/good, eg. traffic rules. when one offends the rule, the state interferes and punishes the citizen in line with the appropriate formal rules. the state acts for the sake of society.
public formal law
formal rules that regulate the legal procedures that need to be taken into account when a citizen misbehaves. evidence should also be of quality before a state may interfere. a state is not unlimitedly competent in punishing a citizen.
private law
the law that regulates the relation between citizen or those who act as citizens. it can be public or private.
tort
rules for compensating damage to the victim of a wrongful act. a form of tort is battery.
battery
someone intentionally making unwanted contact with another person, eg. a punch in the face, and from this, damage resulted.
constitutional and administrational law
laws adopted to regulate the way a state is governed and the fundamental rights citizens of a state are entitled to.
private international law
rules that regulate where to settle a dispute (jurisdiction) under which law and how to execute a verdict.
just
the perception of ‘just’ differs per society. in general, it is defined by three basic values commonly shared in every society: justice, opportuness, and legal certainty. the exact way this balance is designed determines the characteristics of the society’s legal system.
justice
the moral conviction of a given society expressed in law.
opportuness
the expression of effectiveness by a given society in law. when law is not used as a tool to express moral conviction, but as a tool to effectively regulate something in society.
legal certainty/principle of legality
the expression of legality in a given society. every citizen and the relevant government should be able to know the legal consequences of their actions beforehand, and not afterwards. law should, to a certain extent, be predictable.
natural law approach
assumed that laws emerge from nature. this means that a law does not need to be codified first to be a law, but already exists regardless of its appearances, eg. human rights.
positivist law approach
assumed that law comes forth from codification. law is only law when it has been written down first.
bureaucracy
over-formalising relations in society when only written standards can be applied.
codified standards
written rules produced by a legislator. has a strong emphasis on legal positivism, since written codes are what positivists consider to be the source of law. they can never be fully comprehensive and offer a clear solution for every legal conflict. there is always a need for room for interpretation.
legal principles
has a strong emphasis on natural law, since a principle is usually an abstract value that represents a foundation in law, which naturally applies without the need to be codified. it is sometimes considered too vague and imprecise to apply to a real case. therefore, it might need some support in written standards to be specific enough to be effectively used.
treaty
written contract between two or more states who consider themselves bound to its content relative to each other.
bilateral treaty
a treaty to which two parties are party.
multilateral treaty
a treaty to which more than two states are party.
signature
implies the consent of the responsible negotiator on behalf of the state to the treaty. a treaty is drafted during negotiation process of involved states in which states are represented by an authorised negotiator.
