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Legal Analysis

666 (1998), the Supreme Court ruled that fear of foreign prosecution is beyond the scope of the Self-Incrimination Clause. (Note: The numbers in this sentence comprise the citation to the Balsys decision. They indicate that the Court issued its ruling in the year 1998 and that the decision appears in volume 524 of a series called United States Reports, beginning on page 666.

Legal Analysis

A defendant can raise a counterclaim against a plaintiff or a cross-claim against a co-defendant, so long as they are related to the plaintiff's original complaint. Courts prefer to hear in a single lawsuit all the claims arising from a dispute. Business litigations, as for breach of contract, or tort cases, where a party alleges he has been injured by another's negligence or willful misconduct, are civil cases.

Legal Analysis

A law may be unconstitutional because it violates rights guaranteed to the people by the Constitution, or because Article I did not authorize Congress to pass that kind of legislation. The power to interpret the constitutional provisions that describe where Congress may legislate is thus very important. Traditionally, Congress has justified many statutes as necessary to regulate "commerce? among the several States," or interstate commerce.

Legal Analysis

A law might proscribe "dangerous" amounts of pollutants in the atmosphere, while an EPA rule defines the substances and amounts of each that would be considered dangerous. Sometimes a statute empowers an agency to investigate violations of its rules, to adjudicate those violations, and even to assess penalties! The courts will invalidate a statute that grants an agency too much power. An important statute called the Administrative Procedure Act (United States Code Title 5, Section 551, et.

Legal Analysis

Afterwards, Mrs. Simpson's family sued Simpson for wrongful death, a civil action. The jury in this case determined that a preponderance of the evidence demonstrated Simpson's responsibility for the death of his wife.

Legal Analysis

All exercise executive power delegated by the President and thus are responsible ultimately to him. In some areas, the relationship between the executive and the other two branches is clear. Suppose one or more individuals rob a bank.

Legal Analysis

All, however, accept the legitimacy of these decisions, and of the courts' role as final interpreter of the law. There can be no more potent demonstration of the trust that Americans place in the rule of law and their confidence in the U.S.

Legal Analysis

And the entire system rests upon the traditional legal principles found in English Common Law. Although both the Constitution and statutory law supersede common law, courts continue to apply unwritten common law principles to fill in the gaps where the Constitution is silent and Congress has not legislated. SOURCES OF FEDERAL LAW The United States Constitution Supremacy of Federal Law During the period 1781-88, an agreement called the Articles of Confederation governed relations among the 13 states.

Legal Analysis

Article I, Section 8 lists areas where Congress may legislate. Some of these ("To establish Post Offices") are quite specific but others, most notably, "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States," are less so. Obviously the power to interpret the less precise delegations is extremely important.

Legal Analysis

As explained below, the U.S. Constitution (adopted 1787, ratified 1788) began a gradual and at times hotly contested shift of power and legal authority away from the states and toward the federal government.

Legal Analysis

But as the nation modernized and grew, the relationship of the three branches within the legal system evolved to accommodate the more complex issues of industrial and post-industrial society. The role of the executive branch changed most of all. In the bank robbery example, Congress needed little or no special expertise to craft a statute that criminalized bank robbery.

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