Intro to law 101

Question 1

first appearance of law

Question 2

what are the two definitions of law ?

Answer 2

1.law is a set of universal moral principles in accordance with nature.

2. Law is a collection of valid rules, commands or norms that may lack any moral content

Question 3

what’s the rule of law and its 3 most important principles?

Answer 3

• Everyone should be equal before the law and subject to the same laws in the same courts.( equally enforced)
  • Regular law should be supreme, not arbitrary power.(independently adjudicated)
• The constitution’s laws come from the rights of individuals, which are defined and enforced by the courts.( consistent with international human rights norms and standards.)

Question 4

what’s the difference between law and morality?

Answer 4

law is system of rules
deliberately changed by entities vested with the authority to do so

change entails respect for certain formalities

can develop quickly

official sanctions are imposed for violation/breach of

morality is- system of values and principles
-cannot be changed intentionally does -not require formalities
-develops slowly
-no official sanction, but may be subject to censorship

Question 5

what is law through the lense of legal positivism?

Answer 5

collection of valid rules, ; may lack any moral content legal rules often coincide with moral principles but a connection with morality is not a necessary feature of “law

Question 6

what is law through the lense of natural law?

Answer 6

certain rights/values are inherent by virtue of human nature
law has an inherent morality can be universally understood through human reason

Question 7

The Hart- Fuller debate

Answer 7

Hart- positivist
Nazi law was in Harts opinion a formally valid law, so the court was in the wrong for convicting the woman for denouncing her husband.

Fuller-Naturalist
In fullers opinion was this law so morally wrong, that it could not be considered law.

In his opinion was the court right in convicting the woman.

Question 8

what are the 8 principles identifying law’s internal morality?

Answer 8

generality,
promulgation,
non-retroactivity,
clarity,
non-contradiction,
possibility of compliance, constancy,
congruence between declared rule and official action

Question 9

Natural persons

Answer 9

human beings- must be born, not deceased.

Question 10

legal person

Answer 10

entities (i.e. organizations) that have received the status of legal subjects e.g. corporations, university, municipality,

A good example of this is Hilton hiring people.

can vary from one field to another
essentially entails that the legal subject is/can be an addressee of the law
CS: may hold certain rights, become duty bearers, receive certain permissions

Question 11

Obligations to do

Answer 11

obligation to perform a certain type of action
sanctions may arise from failure to comply
can apply generally but sometimes entity/agent must have a specific status
e.g. car drivers must turn their car lights on when it gets dark

Question 12

Obligations to not do

Answer 12

i.e. a prohibition
entails an interdiction of doing something or an obligation to refrain
sanctions may arise from failure to comply e.g. anti-doping rules in sports law

Question 13

permission

Answer 13

usually, absence of a prohibition
in law, what is not prohibited is usually permitted (e.g. stepping on the grass is OK, if no rule states otherwise)
sometimes, permissions are explicit (e.g. police officers performing body searches)

Question 14

rights

Answer 14

interest protected by law (to do something/be protected from something) e.g. right to be free from torture, inhumane and degrading treatment

Question 15

definitions

Answer 15

a statement of what a legal term entails (i.e. the conditions required for a factual situation to acquire a legal meaning)
e.g. murder is ‘the unlawful killing of a human being with malice afterthought’; ‘every murder perpetrated by poison, lying in wait […] is murder in the first degree’
certain further legal consequences may flow from them (i.e. whoever is found guilty of first degree murder is to be punished by death or by life imprisonment

Question 16

public law

Answer 16

citizen- state
(constitutional, administrative law, criminal law)

Question 17

private law

Answer 17

between individuals or groups in society.
contract law

Question 18

binding contract

Answer 18

it requires that the parties to the agreement actually intend to create legal relations.

Question 19

agreement(common law)

Answer 19

1-offer by one party and acceptance of that offer by the other. by word, speech, fax, email or conduct.(serious intention)

2- Consideration is the bargain element of the agreement: each party stands to gain something from the agreement – otherwise they would not have entered into it

Question 20

breach of contract

Answer 20

Thus I agree to sell you my car; I stand to gain the purchase price and you, the ownership of the vehicle. If I ignore my agreement with you and sell my car to someone else, you may invoke the
law to obtain a remedy – because you relied on my keeping my promise. This is known as breach of contract,

Question 21

people incapable of binding themselves contractually

Answer 21

the young (minors) or those afflicted by mental or other impairments of their rational faculties are generally regarded as incapable of binding themselves contractually.

Question 22

does a contract has to be always written

Answer 22

Contrary to the popular myth, a contract does not generally need to be in writing. Apart from certain contracts (the sale of land
is the most conspicuous example), no formality is required to bind the parties. An oral agreement is generally no less binding than a written one, though, as we have seen, the common law requires evidence of consideration in return for a promise

Question 23

voidable contract

Answer 23

Mistake, misrepresentation, or duress may render a contract voidable. This is because there is, in effect, no genuine agreement.

Question 24

under which circumstances may I escape liability for breach of contract

Answer 24

A court may award damages for breach of contract. Should I fail to perform my obligations under a contract, you may sue me to recover compensation or, in a limited number of cases, compel me to carry out my side of the bargain. If, however, I can show that circumstances have rendered performance impossible or that the purpose of the contract has been frustrated, I may escape liability for breach of contract

Question 25

tort

Answer 25

Torts (or delicts, as they are called in Continental legal systems) are civil wrongs; they include injuries to my person, property, reputation, privacy, even my peace of mind.

for example, should you run me over in your car, and I can prove that you were driving negligently, I may be awarded damages to cover the cost of my hospital treatment, the money I lost through being away from work, and my pain and suffering.

Question 26

requirements for a tort to succeed

Answer 26

The wrong had to be done intentionally or by being negligent.
- has caused actual injury or damage*

*some torts whose principal purpose is to protect rights rather than compensate for damage
( trespassing) are actionable without proof of damage)

Question 27

MacPherson v Buick Motor Co.

Answer 27

Justice Cardozo held that where a manufacturer negligently produces a defective car that injures the person who purchased it from the dealer, the manufacturer is liable to that person despite the absence of a contract between them and the person injured.

Question 28

Rylands v Fletcher

Answer 28

a defendant who brings onto his land a source of danger is strictly liable should it ‘escape’ and cause damage.

Question 29

mass torts

Answer 29

these are lawsuits launched by a large number of plaintiffs (‘class actions’) associated with a single product

They include product liability claims against, for example, tobacco companies, for lung cancer caused by smoking

Question 30

The four main defences to an action for defamation

Answer 30

• defense of justification

-defense of absolute privelege(protects defamatory statements when made in the course of legislative, judicial and other oficial proceedings)

Third, the defence of qualified privilege obtains in circumstances where the defendant has a
duty (legal, social, or moral) to make a statement to a person

who has a corresponding interest or duty to receive it, i.e., where the publisher and those to whom the publication is made have a common interest in the data concerned.

There is the defence of fair comment which, in practice, tends to be the most important. This defence protects honest expressions of opinion on matters of public interest and is particularly relevant to the protection of free speech

Question 31

the 3 basic components of criminal liability

Answer 31

• conduct(To amount to a crime, ‘conduct’ must inflict or threaten substantial harm to individual or public interests)
• without justification
  -without excuse

Criminal responsibility normally entails the presence of a guilty act (the ‘actus reus’) as well as a guilty mind (‘mens rea’). But

Question 32

Civil law systems distinguish between movable and immovable property. The former corresponds roughly to personal property, while immovable property corresponds to real property.

Answer 32

con

Question 33

legal analysis

Answer 33

make an overview of parties and events

Question 34

differences between civil and common law

Answer 34

civil is codified, common is not
common law is cases , not texts
in common law precedent is supreme

Question 36

Primairy source

Answer 36

The rules themselves( legislation, regulations). They emanate from official bodies, and therefore binding.

Question 37

Secondary source

Answer 37

Background sources that analyze and interpret the rules. Although they are not binding, they can directly influence the creation of primairy sources.