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Judiciary System: Common Law and Court Decisions

Explore the common law tradition and court rulings in the American legal system. Learn about judicial requirements, types of decisions, and how courts shape policies. Discover the roles of executive and legislative branches in overseeing judicial processes.

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Judiciary System: Common Law and Court Decisions

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  1. Chapter 15 The Judiciary

  2. The Common Law Tradition • common law – judge made law that originated in England and was derived from prevailing customs • precedent – a court ruling bearing on subsequent legal decisions in similar cases • emanating from stare decisis, or standing on decided cases

  3. Sources of American Law • Constitutions • United States Constitution • State Constitutions • Statutes and Administrative Regulations • Case Law • Ordinances (Local Government)

  4. Basic Judicial Requirements • Jurisdiction • A Federal Question or • Diversity of Citizenship • Standing to Sue • justiciable controversy

  5. Which Cases Reach the Supreme Court? a subjective process, but certain factors increase a case’s chances • when two lower courts are in disagreement • when a lower court’s ruling conflicts with an existing Supreme Court ruling • when a case has broad significance • when a state court has decided a substantial federal question • when the highest state court holds a federal law invalid, or upholds a state law that has been challenged as violating a federal law • when a federal court holds an act of Congress unconstitutional • when the solicitor general is pressuring the Court to hear a case

  6. Types of court decisions • opinion • unanimous • majority • concurring • dissenting • affirm • reverse • remand

  7. Ways in Which Courts Make Policy • judicial review – the power of the courts to declare the acts of governmental officials unconstitutional • judicial activism – taking a broad view of the Constitution and using power to direct policy towards a desired goal • judicial restraint – rarely using judicial review and limiting judicial action in the policy process

  8. Executive Checks judicial implementation appointments Legislative Checks Appropriation of funds to carry out rulings Constitutional amendments Amending laws to overturn court’s rulings Public Opinion Sometimes can ignore decisions pressure for non-enforcement influence judicial opinions Judicial Self-Restraint tradition of restraint narrow focus of judicial questions stare decisis Checks on the Judiciary

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