Extended Degree Program
Lecture Notes

Approximate Time:

6 hours.

Key Points

A. Development of Anglo-American Law

American law, has come together through innumerable events and developments in human history. Some of these have been related to each others, while others appear to stand isolated from the rest of history. Regardless, it is possible to trace the development of our key legal concepts and institutions back some eight hundred years and to discern even earlier roots in many earlier civilizations and even primitive societies.

1. Early Developments: From the study of archaeology and anthropology emerges a picture of the earliest forms of human society. Our earliest human ancestors were nomadic hunters and gathers who were totally dependent nature for their food and shelter. Hunting and gathering, especially without tools, requires a large area of land to support a relatively small population, thus, early man lived in small, family groups probably comprised of several adults and their children. Their law consisted of rules necessary for survival of the group and were enforced and passed on by the oldest active adults.
   
2. Greco-Roman Period: If we acknowledge that much of the ethical and moral content of our legal tradition has been influenced by our Judeo-Christian heritage, we must also recognize that the structure of our government, and its institutions including the courts, have been influenced by developments in Greece and Rome.
   
3. Medieval Europe: Medieval Europe is a transition period in which the remnants of Greco-Roman law and tradition become mixed with both native and early Christian tradition. The result is numerous countries with different legal tradition. Out of the mix of cultural and legal tradition, there emerged on the British Isles the seeds that would eventually develop a constitutional monarchy, replacing rule by the "Divine Right of Kings" with rule by law.
   
4. Development of English Common Law: English law has incorporated much of the oral tradition concerning the rights and responsibilities of one person to another. These traditional laws, although not passed by a legislative body nor collected in a codified treatise, nevertheless function in the same manner as other, more formally enacted laws, and have been incorporated into American jurisprudence.
   
5. Development of Parliament: The development of the English parliament resulted from the recognition of certain rights which belonged to the three estates -- the nobility, the clergy (combined in the House of Lords) and all other free men (House of Commons). From its rudimentary beginnings as not much more then a debating club and advisory body to the ruling monarch, the British Parliament evolved to provide a model of representative democracy.
   
6. Colonial America: Originally receiving their legal authority by charter from the British crown, the colonies added their own twist to the evolution of democratic government incorporating the twin concepts of the "separation of powers" and the "division of powers" into the structure of their new government in the U.S. Constitution.

B. Law and the Legal System in the United States

1. Sources of Law in the U.S.: Like almost all of the Western World, the United States is governed by a combination of two distinct systems of law:
   1. Statutory Law - Based essentially on Roman civil law. Came to the United States through successive changes -- decline and fall of the Roman Empire, rise of the medieval church, feudalism, Norman Conquest, rise of nationalism.
   2. English Common Law - Statutory law was often too general to be applied to particular cases. In England there developed a system of judges and courts to which people could appeal for justice from law.

   
   These two basic systems are supplemented, in the United States, by another product of English jurisprudence known as equity. In the U.S. this system of equity, as a supplement to the written and common law, has been incorporated into the justice system. Few states, however, have separate equity courts. Usually the same court now sits as a court of law (dispensing strictly legal judgments) and as a court of equity (administering relief in cases for which the law, as it exists, offers no adequate remedy.

2. Current Composition of Law In the United States: The law in each state (except Louisiana which is based on the Napoleonic Code) consists of the U.S. Constitution, the individual State Constitutions, Statutes , and Common Law.

C. Classifications of Law

There are numerous ways to classify law, which leads to a variety of names which may be confusing to the casual reader. In all cases, the attempt is to divide the total body of law into smaller units which may be more readily conceptualized. Depending on the point of view of the person doing the classification, these smaller units may have a number of names, and often the same name is used by different authors with a slightly different meaning.

1. By origin:
   1. Constitutional Law - law developed by specially designated bodies or legislatures convened for the purpose of framing or amending a constitution.
   2. Statutory Law - legislation that arises from either representative assemblies (legislatures) or by the process of initiatives and referendums.
   3. Administrative Law - the rules, regulations, standards, orders, etc. issued by executive or administrative boards or officers; written within the sphere of their legal competence and responsibility.
   4. Common Law - derived from custom (in England) and the decisions made by courts in specific cases.
2. By function:
   1. Substantive Law - the rules and requirements of conduct.
   2. Procedural Law - tells how to bring a lawsuit and how to prosecute.
   3. Remedial Law - the remedies (sanctions) available for breaches of the law.
3. By application:
   1. Public Law - that branch of law which is concerned with the establishment, maintenance and operation of government; the definitions, relationships and regulations of its various branches; and the relationship of the individual or of groups to the state.
   2. Private Law - that branch of law which is concerned with rights and duties of individuals and groups in relation to each other; originally based largely on Common Law, but increasingly subject to statutes.

Progress Assessment Exercise

Download the following Microsoft Word file and answer the questions. Your responses should be brief, yet contain sufficient depth to demonstrate your understanding of the issues and/or concepts involved. All progress assessment exercises should be typewritten, well organized and clearly presented. You will be evaluated on the effectiveness and organization of your responses as well as on the substance of the content. When you have finished, email your answers to the instructor. You may also send them by US mail to:

Mr. Charles D. Treser
Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences
University of Washington
Campus Box 357234
Seattle, WA 98195-7234

Exercise No. 2

When you have finished you may proceed to Lesson 3. Sources of Legal Authority