Courts As Legislators Term paper

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (courts as legislators)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

Courts

As

Legislators

The purpose of this paper is to show that although not originally intended to, some our modern day courts in the United States have in essence become legislators. I will give a brief overview of the history of courts and site some cases where the decisions handed down or the opinions of the court have set precedent in the way the law is understood and enforced.

As long as man has been on this earth there have been conflicts or disputes that needed to be resolved by a third party. By definition, a court is a.) a place where legal justice is administered b.) a judicial tribunal duly constituted for the hearing and determination of cases. The recognized existence of even primitive courts implies a relatively high degree of social organization and the need for systematic resolution of disputes based on established customs and rules of conduct. Courts have been set up to hear disputes between two or more parties. In medieval European history a Curiae was a court, or group of persons, who attended to a ruler at any given time for disputes of social, political or judicial purposes were resolved. It's composition and functions varied considerably from time to time and from country to country during a period when executive, legislative and judicial functions were not as distinct as they were later to become. The ruler and the curia made all policy and decisions either great or small and if the ruler was a powerful one, were as active as a modern day court of law. The curia of England underwent an evolution from the medieval curiae. It was known as Curia Regis, which was introduced at the time of the Norman Conquest (1066) and lasted until the end of the 13th century. The Curia Regis was the start that the higher courts of law, the Privy Council and the Cabinet, evolved from. About the same time, the Curia undertook financial duties. The members were called "justices" and in the king's absence presided over the court. In 1178, Henry II took another step by appointing five Curia members to form a special court of justice, which became the Court of Common Pleas. Initially the justices of this court followed the King's court from place to place, but Magna Carta (1215) provided for the court to be established in one place.

There was also Ecclesiastical courts, which was a tribunal set up by religious authorities to deal with disputes among clerics or with spiritual matters between clerics and layman. Although you can find such courts today among the Jews, Muslims and some Christian sects, their functions have become limited to strictly religious issues and the governance of church property. During earlier periods, the ecclesiastical courts often heard matters of the non-spiritual, and during the Middle Ages; the Roman Catholic Church even rivaled the non-spiritual courts in power. Some of the secular matters dealt with included anything to do with marriage and exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving wills. In England, the ecclesiastical courts had complete jurisdiction in matters of succession of personal property until the 16th century, and then in competition with the courts of chancery, until 1857.

In many areas, where royal justice was insufficient, church court assumed jurisdiction. However, by the end of the 14th century, as the administration of royal justice increased, so did the heightened controversy between the two powers. The secular authorities found ways to diminish to power of the ecclesiastical courts, thus rendering their jurisdiction to that of spiritual matters. The civil contract of marriage was separated from the sacrament and other contracts and wills were brought into the secular domain. In England today the ecclesiastical courts exercise jurisdiction in civil cases concerning church buildings and in criminal cases in which clergymen are accused of spiritual crimes.

As our forefathers came to America, they brought with them the ideals that were set before them in their native country. Although they left England looking for a new way of life, they used these ideals as the basis for a new society.

With the Constitution of the United States a new form of government was formed. The three branches of federal government that arose from this are: legislative (Congress), executive (President), and judicial (courts). Article I of the constitution establishes the legislative branch, Article II the executive and Article III the judicial. These three branches operate within a system known as "checks and balances", this means that although each branch is separate, the Constitution often requires the cooperation among the branches.

The federal courts are often called the guardians of the Constitution because their rulings protect rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution. The federal courts interpret and apply the law to resolve disputes, through fair and impartial judgements. The federal courts do not make laws, that is the responsibility of Congress. Nor do the courts enforce the laws; this is the role of the President and executive branch departments and agencies.

With the last statement being said, through out the years the Supreme Court has decided cases or made statements of opinion on cases that have set precedent on how the law was to be interpreted. The legislative branch of the government was set up to make, change or repeal laws, and not the judiciary branch of the government. As the Supreme Court has presided over cases, they have been called upon to interpret a specific law and clarify its intent. By doing so, they may alter the way that the executive branches of the government have been enforcing the law. Below is a summary of some cases that have made significant changes to the way a law was viewed, or clarified an interpretation of that law, thereby in essence "making" or "changing" a law.

Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803) Under the administrations of Washington and his successor, John Adams, only members of the ruling Federalist Party were appointed to the bench, and held that term for life under the terms of the Constitution. When the Republicans won the election of 1800, they found that while they controlled the presidency and Congress, the Federalists still dominated the Judiciary. The first act of the new administration was to repeal the Judiciary Act of 1800, which created a number of new judgeships. Although President Adams had attempted to fill the vacancies created by this act before the end of his term, several of the judgeship commissions had not been delivered. One of the appointees, William Marbury, sued Secretary of State James Madison to force him to deliver his commission as justice of the peace.

The new chief justice, John Marshall understood that if...

You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 25 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/63987/courts-as-legislators>

More College Papers

Isolation essay
Nicole Bumbacco Ms. Hannah ELC 4AO Dec 23, 1999 Isolation is defined in the Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary as occurring when something is “placed apart or alone.” Naturally, humans are faced with feelings of isolation at certain times throughout their lives. However, there are particular

Language Of The Court essay
The courtroom provides an institutionalized setting where social justice is negotiated through the questioning of witnesses. Nearly every turn-to-talk of the counsel contains a question and every turn-to-talk of the witness may or may not supply the information requested. Therefore, in order to get

Legalization Of Drugs essay
Legalization of Drugs It is clear that most of the serious problems the public associates with illegal drug use are, in reality, caused directly or indirectly by drug prohibition. Let's assume the war on drugs is given up as the misguided enterprise it is. What will happen? The day after legalizat