B Point out the basic purposes of law.

Ex. 41 Study the branches of law and complete the diagram:

Branches of law

Law can be divided into two main branches: (1) private law and (2) public law. Private law deals with the rights and obligations people have in their relations with one another. Public law concerns the rights and obligations people have as members of society and as citizens. Both private law and public law can be subdivided into several branches. However, the various branches of public and private law are closely related, and in many cases they overlap.

Private law is also called civil law. It determines a person's legal rights and obligations in many kinds of activities that involve other people. Such activities include everything from borrowing or lending money to buying a home or signing a job contract.

The great majority of lawyers and judges spend most of their time dealing with private-law matters which are handled out of court. But numerous situations arise in which a judge or jury must decide if a person's private-law rights have been violated. More than 10 million such cases are filed in United States courts each year. These cases are called lawsuits or civil suits.

Private law can be divided into six major branches according to the kinds of legal rights and obligations involved. These branches are (1) contract and commercial law (deals with the rights and obligations of people who make contracts), (2) tort law (A tort is a wrong or injury that a person suffers because of someone else's action. The action may cause bodily harm; damage a person's property, business, or reputation; or make unauthorized use of a person's property. Tort law deals with the rights and obligations of the persons involved in such cases.), (3) property law (governs the ownership and use of property), (4) inheritance law (concerns the transfer of property upon the death of the owner), (5) family law (determines the legal rights and obligations of husbands and wives and of parents and children), and (6) corporation law (governs the formation and operation of business corporations; it deals mainly with the powers and obligations of management and the rights of stockholders). The dividing line between the various branches is not always clear, however. For example, many cases of property law also involve contract law.

Public law involves government directly. It defines a person's rights and obligations in relation to government. Public law also describes the various divisions of government and their powers.

Public law can be divided into four branches: (1) criminal law (deals with crimes, that is, actions considered harmful to society), (2) constitutional law (official rulings on how the principles of a nation's constitution are to be interpreted and carried out), (3) administrative law (centers on the operations of government agencies), and (4) international law (deals with the relationships among nations both in war and in peace). In many cases, the branches of public law, like those of private law, overlap. For example, a violation of administrative law may also be a violation of criminal law.

Ex. 42 Decide which of the law branches deals with the following legal matters:

Systems of law

Every independent country has its own legal system. The systems vary according to each country's social traditions and form of government. But most systems can be classed as either (1) a common-law system or (2) a civil-law system. The United States, Canada, Great Britain, and other English-speaking countries have a common-law system. Most other countries have a civil-law system. Many countries combine features of both systems.

Common-law systems are based largely on case law – that is, on court decisions. English common law developed from the rules and principles that judges traditionally followed in deciding court cases. Judges based their decisions on legal precedents – that is, on earlier court rulings in similar cases. The common law thus came to be law made by judges. England – and the other common-law countries--have kept these principles almost unchanged. The United States, Canada, and other countries that were colonized by England based their national legal systems on the common law. However, the lawmaking role of legislatures in these countries has increased greatly during the 1900's. For example, the United States Congress has made major changes in American contract and property law.

Civil-law systems are based mainly on statutes (legislative acts). The majority of civil-law countries have assembled their statutes into one or more carefully organized collections called codes.

In civil-law countries, which include France and Mexico, the statutes, rather than the courts, provide the final answer to any question of law. Judges may refer to precedents in making their decisions. But they must base every decision on a particular statute and not on precedent alone.

Other systems. Many countries have patterned their legal system after both civil law and common law. For example, Japan and most Latin-American nations have assembled all their private law into a code. But public law in these countries has been greatly influenced by common-law principles, especially those that guarantee the rights and liberties of the people.