Branches of Government PDF
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Summary
This document provides an overview of branches of government, types of laws, the US Constitution, and common law. It discusses the roles of legislative, judicial, and executive branches and the concept of statutory and administrative law, as well as common law and its relationship to statutes.
Full Transcript
Branches of government ○ Legislative makes laws ○ Judicial interprets laws ○ Executive enforces laws ○ Administrative does all three 4 types of laws ○ US Constitution supreme law of the United States Any federal or state law that con;icts with the Constitution is invalid (unconstitutional) 27 total...
Branches of government ○ Legislative makes laws ○ Judicial interprets laws ○ Executive enforces laws ○ Administrative does all three 4 types of laws ○ US Constitution supreme law of the United States Any federal or state law that con;icts with the Constitution is invalid (unconstitutional) 27 total amendments First 10 = Bill of Rights First amendment (Freedom of Speech) Government doesn’t regularly intervene on educational/science speech They do intervene on commercial speech, however! Fines can be up to $30 billion + prosecution (jail) + federal exclusion list + private payer exclusion ○ Statutory Law Law made by legislatures A legislature is an elected body of persons with the primary responsibility to make laws The legislature in the US is Congress, composed of a Senate and a House Laws are also known as statutes or acts Statutory laws are descriptive, not prescriptive. Statutory laws are intentionally vague Statutes are organized in the following hierarchical order: ○ Administrative Law Law made by administrative agencies Called regulations Regulations interpret and dene statutes created by Congress Legislatures create administrative agencies to take on the legislative functions that they cannot It makes sense that agencies, having a greater level of expertise, create regulations that determine how laws created by Congress will be implemented on a day-to-day basis However, the regulation must be based on a statute that gives the agency the authority to create the regulation ○ Common Law Law made by courts The duty of the court is to apply the proper law to the facts before it and resolve the matter through judicial opinions (decisions) which are enforceable as law. In some instances, common law principles have become so accepted and recognized that legislatures have codified them as statutes
