What is meant by the rule of law
What is meant by the rule of law? The rule of law maybe defined in brief as a doctrine that no individual, however powerful is above the law. In principle Rule of Law had a significant influence on attempts to restrain the arbitrary use of power by rulers and the growth of legally enforced Human Rights in many western countries. It is often used as a justification for separately legislative from judicial power, this can be clearly seen within the government structure of the UK. The Government in the UK is highly centralised and carried out within a written state - Government power is not confined by a written constitution or bill of rights. It is said to be both accountable and responsible. Responsible Government is carried out according to constitutional conventions, internal, obligations from membership to the European community and the rule of law. Great significance has been given to the rule of law, within the UK constitutions legal writers such as Dicey have tried to explain the rule of law, and in fact many constitutional lawyers today continue to be influenced by his explanation of the term rule of law. Dicey had acknowledged that his work was based on the writings of Hearn, who suggested that the rule of law is an ancient origin and may be found in the literature on the role of the State in society. Hearn's inspiration for his idea lay in the constitution
The Sergeant of the Law and The Merchant
The Sergeant of the Law and The Merchant The Merchant has a forked beard and is a representative of the rising middle classes. The Sergeant at Law is a man of considerable importance as he is in the highest rank of barrister group from which the judge chooses at court proceedings. He is the first professional pilgrim that Chaucer introduces. Both the Merchant and the Sergeant at Law are experts in their professions. The Merchant is well dressed with motley which implies that his clothes are in mixed colours. This indicates variety and that the Merchant may be showy in appearance. "Hye on horse he sat" which may mean literally that he sat high on his horse perhaps because his horse was lively or it can also imply that he is riding in an arrogant way. The Merchant wears a fashionable Flemish beaver hat, "Flaundrissh bever hat". This creates a sense that this may be held against him as there is competition between Flemish and English craftsmen. He wears expensive, good quality boots. His overall appearance is stylish and showy may be because it may help to attract more clientele. He is solemn in speaking his opinions and bases it on what would be favourable to his trade "sowninge alwey th'encrees of his winning". The Sergeant of Law has often been at the 'parvys'; i.e., porch of St. Paul's church where lawyers often met for consultations. He is highly renowned for his
Analysing a Tennis Player
Analysing and Improving Candidate Number: 0204 Candidate Name: Brendan Assibi The player I'm going to observe and analyse is Daniel Doyle. I'm going to analyse his tennis in his role as a singles player. Skills needed to be a good singles player > Mental Skills > Good anticipation > A good knowledge of the rules > Good strategies for different circumstances > Use opponents weaknesses for your own advantage > Good positioning > Speed > Imagination and innovation > Agile / Mobile / Good reactions > Ability to play a whole variety of shots. Daniel is very good at getting around the court to make up for lost ground or mistakes. Daniel is also good at putting strength into shots he manages to play. Thus making his opponent struggle to get to the shots. Daniel also has the ability to place his shots around the court to great effectiveness. Making it ever so difficult to play the attacking shots you would want to play. Daniel is also very nippy around the court, which enables him to get around the court with ease. Daniel has a number of weaknesses. Daniel finds it pretty hard to play his backhand drives. This is a serious weakness considering that it is a shot you're going to have to use throughout any tennis match. So it mustn't be overlooked otherwise it could be disastrous. He also lacks the ability to play attacking shots. For example if you lobbed Daniel,
Can society exist without laws?
Can society exist without laws? ________________ Naturally, there cannot be a society without laws. In any society, everyone has to adhere to the laws made. The reason being that laws exist only for the society. According to former judge C Upendra, if there is no law then there is no society. Hence, the legal philosophy of Von Savigny stated that “law grows with the growth of the society itself and finally withers away as the nation loses its nationality”. Most importantly, the law serves as the backbone of organized societies and tends to keep the society bound. Everyone must do as the law says, or else he/she will face the punishments which will be handed out in the case of him/her ending up being law-breakers. Hence, the law major role is to act as a deterrent to control the evil and treacherous behaviour of human beings to maintain discipline and progression within the society. Additionally, the role that law plays in the society is to guarantee the rights of those who are weaker either physically or socially in any given social structure. It is clearly impossible for everybody in any society to have absolute freedom: as one person may want to exercise that freedom, it would trample upon somebody else's freedom. So, the laws put limits on each person's freedom in order to protect other person's freedom. For example: we are free to drive a car on the road, but
Law and order in 19th century London
Law and order in 19th century London The police at this time were certainly not anywhere near as advanced in their ways of tackling crime as police are nowadays. The main reasons for this is that they did not yet have the knowledge to understand the criminal mind, and the closest they got was keeping photographs of criminals faces thinking that criminal types all had the same shaped head. The Metropolitan Police Force had two main areas of expertise; these were to patrol the streets to keep order and deter any crime and help with major disturbances such as riots. Their training fell short of being capable of solving crimes such as murders and did not have the same technology that is open to police today when solving crimes. Police were only allowed to use truncheons until the 1940's when revolvers were introduced to inspectors. The crime fighting techniques the force mostly used gained them a reputation for violence, a good example of this is when in 1868 a baton charge at Bromley resulted in a seventy eight year old man being trampled to death. The Metropolitan Police force was not the only police force in London, up until 1839 a force called The Bow Street Runners was in existence and their horseback branch then went on to become the Metropolitan Police Force's mounted section. It became very dangerous for policeman in poorer parts of London as there were frequent
Sunday in the park
Sunday in the Park This is a short story called Sunday in the Park and it was published in 1985. The story takes place in a public park in some unknown city. The story is about a family who is relaxing at a park on a Sunday afternoon. The two parents are reading on a bench while their son is playing in a sandbox. Suddenly a big boy is throwing some sand at their son, Larry and the mother asks him to stop. The boy´s father is sitting at another bench reading in some comic books and he tells the boy to ignore the woman. Then Larry´s father steps in and starts to argue with the other man. The big man stops reading his comics and makes fun of Larry´s father who is very small. At last the family leaves and walks home. Morton, who is Larry´s father, wears glasses and probably isn't the biggest man. He is described as an office worker who doesn't come out in the sun a lot. He seems to be well educated and tries to find a peaceful solution and doesn't like to fight. This is described when he continuously smiles at the big man and speaks friendly when he is getting picked at himself. Even though the big man tells him to shut up he says: "This is ridiculous. I must ask you" in a tone that isn't very rough. He knows he has no chance in fight with the big man so he chickens out and doesn't have the bravery to stand up for his family. The big man on the other hand is big and he
The Role of Courts in American Politics
Julia Gaan ([email protected]) Dr. Sell Political Science 120 The Role of Courts in American Politics The third branch of the federal government is the judicial branch. Before the existence of the Constitution, a system of state courts was in place. Through much controversy and compromise a decision was accomplished, which put in place the Supreme Court. In Article III, Section 1, "The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court and such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish." The Supreme Court was initially set up as a part of the separation of powers in the American political system. It did not originally have the power of judicial review until 1803 in the case of Marbury vs. Madison (Young, 283), which then gave the Supreme Court the power to interpret the Constitution and overrule any law or action that was unconstitutional. As part of the political system, the selection of judges has choice of the President and confirmed by the Senate. Once appointed, federal Judges are in the seat until they resign or die and are independent of the President's influence. (Burns, 360-361) For example, the chief justice of the United States is appointed and holds tenure for life. He is one of nine Justices, and has the major role of interpreting the Constitution. This allows the Supreme Court to strike down any law
Different forms of jury trial and the disadvantages of jury trial
Assignment 7.14 In this essay I will identify the different forms of jury trial and explain the disadvantages of jury trial. The different forms of jury trial are in criminal and civil courts. In civil courts now very little cases are trialed by jury but examples of cases that would be are libel and slander, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment and fraud. In criminal cases trial by jury is now confined to trials on indictment before a crown court therefore only a small amount are tried by jury. Also it is considered that the greater expense involved in holding a jury trial is justifiable for more serious offences. I don't think that it is justified to refer to the jury in terms of 'the lamp that shows that freedom lives' for many reasons. Firstly if people have to attend the trial when being called as a juror that is anything but freedom as they don't have a choice whether they want to do it or not. Although on the other hand some may say that it is justified as it means that the general publics are getting a say. The advantages of jury trials are that it adds certainty to law as it gives a general verdict which cannot be misunderstood for example in a criminal case the jury states whether they are finding the person guilty or not guilty. Also they can be seen as protection against oppressive or politically motivated parties as they have the right to find defendants
The Mabo Case. Outline the main events and characters in this case. Give a clear account of why the judge and jury came to their decision.
3. Case Study - select a famous Australian Legal Case. Outline the main events and characters in this case. Give a clear account of why the judge and jury came to their decision. The Mabo Case The Mabo case commenced in the late 70's about an Aborigine Eddie Mabo who fought for his land on Murray Island, part of the Torres Strait. The issue that started the court case was when Mr Mabo appealed for a permit from the Queensland Government to visit the island. His proposal was declineed so he was unable to return home to visit his homeland. In 1981, in James Cook University where Eddie Mabo was working at the time, the students called a discussion on land rights in Australia. It was decided at the conference that the issue of a land claim by the Murray Islanders to traditional title would be taken to the High Court. With major local party support, including legal experts with significant experience in land rights legislation they set off to claim that Mabo had the right to visit his homeland.. The aim of the case was to make the law decide that the Islanders owned the land not the Euopeans The case was motioned to the High Court at first, however they had to take it to their State Court the Supreme Court of Queensland first. The Queensland Government acted in response and they passed an unexpected piece of legislation through the House without any debate - the Torres Strait
The Role of Ratio Decidendi in Judicial Precedent.
The Role of Ratio Decidendi in Judicial Precedent Ratio decidendi plays a very important role in judicial precedent as it is the legal principle underlying the decision in a particular case. Therefore, it creates the precedent for future cases and is considered the most important part of a judge's speech. Judicial precedent, which is case law, has been and still is a major source of law in the English system. The decisions from previous cases create law for future judges to follow. The English law system is based on the Latin principle of stare decisis, which means 'stand by what has been decided and do not unsettle the established,' i.e. follow the common law, don't try to change it. There are different types of precedent; original, binding and persuasive. Original precedent is a point of law where a new case that hasn't been decided on in the past. In these cases the judge would look at cases that appear closest, the judge would use the case to reason by analogy. A case where the judge had to reason by analogy was in 1995, the case was Hunter and others V Canary Wharf Ltd. The case was about a 250m high tower that Hunter said caused interference with television reception. A decision needed to be made as to whether the tower did cause problems, but because this was an unusual case the judge didn't have a directly related ratio decidendi to refer to and so he found a case
