Chapter 4: Common Law, Statutory Law, and Administrative Law

- judge made law
- sum of all the cases decided by appellate courts

- "Let the decision stand," the ruling from a previous case
- once a court has decided a particular issue, it will generally apply the same rule in similar cases in the future
- created by the desire for predictability

an earlier case that decided the issue

you have no duty to assist someone in peril unless you created the danger

true

True

- these criminal statutes require witnesses of certain violent crimes to report the crime as soon as they can
- Differ from common law because they are enacted by a legislature, criminalize certain actions, and spell out their penalties

True

organized into two houses: Senate and House of Represenatives

a proposed statute submitted to Congress or a state legislature

True

the power of the president to reject legislation passed by Congress

- true
- House (20) and Senate (17)

- new issue, new worry (when society focuses on new law, Congress responds with legislation)
- unpopular judicial ruling (if Congress disagrees with a judicial interpretation, they may pass legislation to modify the court decision by proposing a new statute, but doesn't actually change the decision)
- criminal law

true

examines all the differences between the two bills and tries to reach a compromise

- Judiciary Committee in House
- House of Rep
- Judiciary Committee in Senate
- Senate
- Conference Committee
- Senate
- House of Rep
- Senate
- President

true

1. Plain meaning rule (if a statute's words have everyday significance; commonsense)
2. Legislative history and content (court looks at the law's history to determine the intent of the legislature)
3. Public policy (if legislative history is unclear, courts rely on pubic policies and may include an examination of some of their prior decisions)

- true
- if both houses repass the bill, each by a two-thirds margin, it becomes a law over the president's veto

- requires all airlines to ensure that your seats are upright before takeoff and landing
- administrative agency

true

- first administrative agency
- began regulating freight and passenger transportation over the growing railroad system

true

true

- true
- president does not have removal power

true

true

describes the problems that Congress believes needs regulation, establish an agency to do it and defines the agency's powers

true

1. Make Rules
2. Investigate
3. Adjudicate

the agency attempts to establish fair and uniform behavior for all businesses in the affected area

true

Legislative and Interpretive

- most important agency rules and are much like statutes
- agency creates law by requiring businesses or private citizens to act in a certain way

true

true

Informal and Formal

- the agency must publish a proposed rule in advance and permit the public a comment period in which they can object and argue, and then the agency can make a final decision

- in the enabling legislation, Congress may require that an agency hold a hearing before promulgating rules to make the agency more accountable to the public
- after the agency proposes a rule, it must hold a public hearing that can help formulate sound policy
- agency must prepare a formal, written response to everything that occurred at the hearing during the final decision

- an order to appear at a particular place a time to provide evidence

requires the person to appear and bring specified documents

true

- must be relevant to a lawful agency investigation
- must not be unreasonably burdensome (a court will compare the agency's need for information with the intrusion of the corporation)
- must not be privileged (a corporate officer accused of criminal securities violations may not be compelled to testify about his behavior)

the process by which
police or other authorities who suspect that a crime has been committed do a search of a person's property and collect any relevant evidence to the crime; protection from illegal search and seizure is in the Fourth Amendment

true

to hold a formal hearing about an issue and then decide it

true

- an agency employee who acts as an impartial decision-maker
- no jury
- all parties are represented by counsel
- rules of evidence are informal and can receive any testimony or documents that will resolve the dispute
- the losing party has a right to appeal to an appellate board within the agency

1. Statutory
2. Political
3. Judicial
4. Informational

imposes additional controls by requiring basic fairness in areas not regulated by the enabling legislation

true

true

true

true

true

true

true

true

designed to give all of us, citizens, businesses, and organizations alike, access to the information that federal agencies are using

- true
- agency must respond in 10 days of request

- anyone is entitled to information about how the agency operates, how it spends its money, and what stats and other info it has collected about a given subject
- all citizens are entitled to any records the government has about them personally

true

true

- the most important permit an agency to keep confidential information that relates to criminal investigations, and internal agency matters

prohibits federal agencies from giving information about an individual to other agencies or organizations without written consent