Types And Sources Of Law

RUNNING HEAD: Types and Sources of Law 1

Types and Sources of Law

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Types and Sources of Law 2

In the United States, Constitution serves as the supreme law and contains fundamental principles

that illustrate and elaborate functions of various bodies and the process of promulgating laws

(Perry & Bobbitt, 1984). Any law that goes against the laid dictates of the constitution is void.

The constitution, therefore, is the blueprint of how a country should be governed structural wise

and legal wise. The sovereignty of the people solely lies in the supremacy of the constitution.

The governance system, execution, and making of new laws are all explained in the constitution.

According to the U.S.A constitution, the government is divided into three distinct levels namely

the Federal, State, and local governments. The federal government, which is led by the president,

composes of three main branches that include the judiciary, executive, and legislature (Perry &

Bobbitt, 1984). The legislature promulgates laws that are borderless in a congress while the

executive enforces the law to ensure compliance. The judiciary interprets the law providing that

every law is not misinterpreted and is done in federal courts, which have no limitations to

hearing different types of cases. There is only one federal government and confers authority to

State government.

The state government is the second level of government that confers authority from the federal

government. The state government has three branches that include the executive, which is led by

the governor and works to enforce the law, legislature branch that constitutes of elected members

who propose bill into laws and the judiciary branch that deals with constitution issues and

interpretation of the law in courts (Perry & Bobbitt, 1984). The state’s judiciary branch is,

however, limited to entertain and hear various types of cases such as personal injury, family,

contract, tort, and criminal laws.

Types and Sources of Law 3

The local government is the lowest level in the hierarchy of governmental structure and is led by

a mayor. Since residents have a closer relationship with the local government, it is structured in

more diverse ways to serve different interests efficiently. The government is divided into four

layers namely the county, townships, municipalities, and special districts. The county role is to

administer laws and manage public amenities and services while that of townships deals with

local services such as fire, road maintenance, and garbage collection. The municipality contains

councilors and mayors all elected by the locals. The councilors serve as legislature while mayors

serve as executive. There are also special districts that provide specialist services such as waste

management.

Codes and standards are two closely related terms that have a thin line and require keen attention

to understand what each term means. The code provides a set of requirements that specify

minimum acceptable levels of a particular practice and varies along the field of practice. The

codes require a strict observance and negligence may result in dire consequences. Standards

contain a set of requirements that set the base and should be adhered to for optimal output.

Standards are not mandatory but if not observed leads to underperformance. Both codes and

standards go hand in hand as they have the same principle of having optimal output and making

a choice of whether to follow one is hard. You may have standards that may be used to judge you

or use the codes that were only meant to make you better. For this reason, codes and standards

are ambiguous.

In a federal government, federal agencies are authorized to make rules and invite public

participation followed by the publication of the distinct provisions in the federal register. After

the subsequent processes are over, the rules become permanent and are then codified in the Code

of Federal Regulations (CFR). When referring to the rules from the code of federal regulations

Types and Sources of Law 4

(CFR), it is necessary to cite it as law from 47 CFR 300 for authentic conceptualization of the

law and quick referencing.

Discovery is a pre-trial process that determines whether or not the case is worth going to trial

phase. There are various methods applicable to get discoveries from the involved parties. They

include required disclosure, depositions, production of documents, and written interrogatories.

Disclosure requires the individual to disclose any relevant information that is useful to the case

such as crucial exhibits and key witnesses who will appear in trial. Production of the documents

involves a request to give materials which will be used and mostly those records that contain

information that can deteriorate before trial phase. Written interrogatories involve written reports

with questions to the other party requesting for answers in the duration of time. Deposition

utilizes a device to ask other party questions under oath and requiring verbal responses which are

then transcribing and can be used as evidence in the trial period.

Some questions determine whether or not a case should be heard in a court of appeal. They

include are the trial case documentations available? The court of appeal relies on written

evidence than oral evidence (Cameron, 1981). The case proceedings documentation should be

available to make an appeal case possible. Does the case have an appealable judgment order? In

some instance, the federal or state court may term its judgment final restricting the parties from

appealing the case. Was there an error of law, fact or procedure on the proceedings? The primary

role of an appellate jury is to determine whether the law was followed and interrupted well and

whether all legal procures were followed before giving the ruling.

Types and Sources of Law 5

References

Varone, J. C. (2011). Legal considerations for fire and emergency services. Cengage Learning.

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