Canadian Justice System Essay, Research Paper
Introduction
Since the dawn of our existence, when we had the freedom to pretty much do anything our inventive minds could conjure up, there arrived a changing point when our ideas went too far or too extreme. There were actions that people of the past and present societies couldn t accept because it felt wrong in every way. This led to a rule called a LAW. All of the countries, states, provinces, and small communities have these laws which keep us under control and keep an orderly society on our planet. Without it there would be chaos and of devastated world.
Concept of Law
First lets define what a law actually is; a law is a body of official rules and regulations, generally found in constitutions, legislation, judicial opinions, and the like, that is used to govern a society and to control the behaviour of its members. The purpose and functions of law have varied throughout history. In today s society, a politically appointed body of systems lies out or makes the rules that can be agreed upon the standards in society. Laws are in a written form, which has the appropriate punishment that meet, the type of crime. Laws serve a variety of functions. Laws help to maintain a orderly, relatively stable society. Courts provide a social stable existence for us by resolving disputes in a civilized manner. Property and contract laws assist business and private conduct. Laws also limit the potential powers that the government could have to help provide some degree of freedom to society. Law can also been used as a stepping-stone for social change; for instance, some laws have been passed to control the social world and to improve the quality of individual life such as health, education, and welfare.
Substantive and Procedural Law
Substantive law is defined as the rights and duties of persons and deals with procedures for enforcing those rights and duties . Substantive law covers a wide variety of matters – for example; what is required to form a contract, what the difference is between theft and break-in, when one is entitled to compensation for an injury, and so on. These rules of procedure and authority determine the courts that may handle a claim or dispute; in others words these are what are called small claims court.
Public Law
Public law concerns the relationships within government and those between governments and individuals 2. Public law is usually not codified.
Private law
Private law involves the various relationships that people have with one another and the rules that determine their legal rights and duties among themselves 2. Private law deals with rules and principles over private property and use of property, contracts between individuals, family relationships, and give out the compensation for harm inflicted against a person by another. Government involvement was usually minimal. Private law also was there to provide guidelines and security in private arrangements and interactions in ways that are acceptable to certain moralities and customs, but that are not necessarily enforceable in a court of law, such as non-contracted areas and agreements within an a agreement of private individuals.
International law
The legal process that concerns relations among nations is called international law 3. International law dates back from the days of the Roman Empire. International law is almost entirely based on customs. The requirements on which it rests are the acts of independent governments in their relations with one another, including treaties and conventions. Behind many of its rules is only the public opinion of the civilized world.
Origin of Law
Some say that the origin of law can be traced by to the Roman Republic in the 6th century BC. The laws of this time were principles that were inscribed in the Twelve Tablets, which was the basis for all Roman laws. An early magistrate office called the praetorship the source of laws that were used came from the Twelve Tablets. In the 6th century the Roman law was to be reunified as result from the invasions in the 5th century, which tore the law into eastern and western sections. The Roman Empire was reconquered in the last half of the 6th century, which the new rulers did not completely adopt, and thus took local laws and their laws together fused as one. Heading into the 11th century, when war faded out, academic interest in law developed. These scholars sought to the study of law as a science by interpreting and analyzing the Roman law. Beginning in the 13th century, a group known as the Commentators attempted to blend the interpretations of the Roman law with more customary law or religious law. The Commentators focused on the development of a complete legal theory. At this same time, the Roman law began to be more commonly enforced as the legal authority in France and Italy. The revival of the Roman law tradition eventually formed the basis for a common legal language throughout Europe. The rise of nationalism that began in the 18th century led to the adoption of distinct civil codes for each European country, of which the French Code Napol on of 1804 is the most famous. In the early 1900s Switzerland and Germany adopted similar codes. The subject matter of all these codes is almost identical with the first Roman law.
Development of Law
Law develops as society evolves; and so the first of the simplest societies were tribals. The members of the tribe were bonded together initially by association and worship of the same gods. Even in the absence of courts and legislature there was law; a blend of customary morality, religion, and magic. The main authority in any tribe was the chief; the highest of all authorities was believed to be the gods whose life force was to be revealed in nature and in the sightings of the tribal priests. Wrongs against the tribe, such as profanity or violating tribal custom, were met with group approve including mockery and unfriendliness. The gods were kept happy in ritual ceremonies ending sometimes with a sacrifice or the ejection of the criminal. Wrongs against individuals, such as murder, theft, adultery, or failure to repay a debt, were avenged by the family of the victim, often in actions against the family of the wrongdoer. Revenge of this kind was based on tribal custom, which was a major part of early law.
Tribal society gradually evolved into territorial confederations where governments emerged, and modern law began to take shape. Once again the Roman laws made most significant influence, which changed most of the legal systems of the world. The threat of a rebellion led to one of the most significant developments in the history of law, the Twelve Tables of Rome that were engraved in bronze. They were largely a statement of customs concerning matters as property, payment of debts, and appropriate compensation or other remedies for damage to whomever. The Twelve Tables serve as a historical basis for the belief and so it was to be in written form. These tables and their Roman successors, led to civil-law codes that provide the main source of law in much of modern Europe, South America, and al over the world.
Statue Law
Another source of criminal law are statues. Statutes are laws that were set by an act of the government. These laws are ordered and placed as its own such as the Criminal Code. Most offences are updated over time in order to include further information of a criminal act. In order to change the law, the government has to modify existing laws or introduce new ones by passing them through a statute. Statute law is considered to be the most important source of law creating in Canada, and it through these statutes that the criminal law system is changed, adding, or eliminated.
The administration in charge of changing, adding, or eliminating statutes is divided among the Parliament, the provinces, and municipalities. Criminal laws however can only be enacted in a Parliament meeting. The statute law always is of higher power then the case law, except in conflicts with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter allows citizens the rights to processes certain rights and freedom that cannot be violated by the government and this limits the power of the government . All statues are brought together about every ten years when Parliament replaces the existing statutes with revised ones.
Municipal By-laws
Like federal and provincial laws, municipal by-laws are also basically a set of rules set out by courts in a local community. The jurisdiction of the by-laws is only in the municipal surrounding areas.
Conclusion
So in saying, whether you agree with what is stated about these set of rules which were laid out by a high political association, we all have to live with these laws or the world as we know it could be quite interesting and different. Therefore obey the rules or you will get burned.
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