Ch. 2 Vocab

Justice: "Justice consists of treating equals equally and unequals unequally," according to Aristotle.
Distributive Justice: the form of justice concerned with how a political entity such as a nation distributes its resources.
Retributive Justice: the form of justice concerned with how a society's system of law goes about determining guilt or innocence, and then how it goes about determining the proper just sentence.
Legal Realism: the study of legal decision making. It explores how law is applied and the implications of that application: not law "as written," but law "as practiced.
Transcendentalism: a philosophy emphasizing the primacy of the spiritual over the material (the spirit transcends the material)
Transcendental Natural Law Perspective: a perspective on natural law that law originates in some transcendental realm (such as God) and must be followed by all.
Evolutionary Perspective: a perspective of natural law that considers it natural because it flows from te evolved nature of the species.
Naturalistic Fallacy: the fallacy of confusing what is with what ought to be.
Equity: a concept akin to fairness or justice that served as the basis of the Courts of Chancery in England.
Courts of Chancery: early English courts in which judges were directed to view each case as unique, to be flexible and emphathetic, and to think in terms of standards of fairness rather than rules of law
Rule of Law: the principle that law, not men, govern and that no one is above the law.
Due Process: a set of instructions informing agents of the state how they must proceed in their investigation, arrest, questioning, prosecution, and punishment of individuals who are suspected of committing crimes; a principle binding the state to follow certain procedures designed to protect individual rights before it may deprive individuals of life, liberty, or property.
Lettres de Cachet: notorious sealed letters issued under the Code Louis in France, ordering the arrest and incarceration of anyone displeasing powerful individuals.
Code Louis: it is a perfect example of a system of positivist law being at odds with justice.
Sir Edmund Coke: Chief Justice of England during the sixteenth-century reign of James II. Often called the "father of due process."