Foundation of Our Legal System

¶ … legal system: Where laws come

The Constitution of U.S. is considered to be the 'supreme law of the country'. It provides the foundation for the American government, and provides the scope for the freedom and rights of all the citizens of the country. (Introduction to the United States Legal System) The Constitution describes the broad arenas wherein the federal government can legislate upon, when the other issues could be left to the scope of control by the state and local government. Hence, even though the federal government has the power to act in myriad arenas, most of the laws are being adopted by state and local governments. (Understanding the U.S. Legal System) Treaties which are being made by the U.S. are the Supreme law of the country and they come under the U.S. Constitution. When a conflict issue arises between a treaty and a federal statute, the one which is late in time or which is more specific and clear would led to its control. Federal statutes provide authority to regulatory agencies to form rules because of the difficulty involved in having detailed and technical issues being looked into by the Congress which is non-expert and is always overburdened. (Introduction to the United States Legal System)

Even though the regulatory agencies are being formed by the legislature, they are a part of the executive branch. They issue regulations to for the purpose of enforcing laws which are passed by the legislature. These regulations have the enforcement of law and have the similar power as laws which are made by the legislature. The President also has enormous wide authority to make executive orders. It is the federal courts which only have the power to review agency rules and actions to make sure that they are legal under the substantive federal statute. The U.S. is a country enforced by common law. Every state in the country has a legal system which is formed on the common law, excluding Louisiana. And the supreme law within each state is the State constitutions. State statutes must therefore adhere to the each state's constitution. Further all the state constitutions and legislation can be preempted by the federal legislation or by the federal Constitution. (Introduction to the United States Legal System) A bill need to be passed through both the houses of the Congress and need to be presented to the President for signature or veto for ensuring that a federal law shall prevail or shall not exist. (Understanding the U.S. Legal System) Informed decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and of most of the state appellate courts could be witnessed in the official reporter of the respective courts. (Introduction to the United States Legal System)

Various types of crimes and their classifications the legal system in the U.S.

The term 'crime' could be defined as any action or omission which is being banned by the law. Most of the states differentiate among the various kinds of crimes. (Survey of Criminal Justice: Chapter Four -- Crime) Crimes are brought into classification in several varieties of ways namely -- common law crimes against statutory crimes, and crimes which are mala in se against which are mala prohibita. (Criminal Law: encarta.msn.com) The most commonly found classifications are between misdemeanors and felonies. A misdemeanor is a minor crime which the state punished by confinement for less than a year and this is normally found in a local jail. A felony on the other hand is a more serious crime whereby the state punishes by means of death or incarceration for more than a year, and it is normally found in a state prison. A crime is a wrong which is committed against the entire society. (Survey of Criminal Justice: Chapter Four -- Crime)