Ch. 13 Vocabulary

Song Duel: method of restoring peace among the Eskimo (Inuit) peoples by the perpetrator of a crime and the victim hurling singsong insults at one another.
Corpus Juris Civilis: Roman legal code also known as the Code of Justinian
Code Civil des Francais: also known as the Napoleonic Code. Became the blueprint for all subsequent civil law codes
Inquisitorial System: investigatory criminal justice system characterized by cooperation between all parties in an effort to reach the truth
Conseil Constitutionnel: France's constitutional court determining constitutionality of proposed legislation only.
Cour de Cassation: France's highest appeals court hearing criminal cases
Crimes: major offenses for which the penalty can be from five years to life imprisonment
Assize court: French court in which the most serious crimes are tried
Delicts: in the French criminal justice system, delicts are similar to the less serious felonies in the American system. They carry a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison and are tried in correctional court
Police court: lowest-level French trial court for crimes with maximum penalty of two months in jail
Socialist law: system of law based on Marxist principles and developed in the former Soviet Union. Socialist law subordinates the rule of law to the requirements of the state
Ch'ing Code: early (1646) Chinese law code containing many statutes and offenses
Principle of Analogy: Chinese legal principle allowing for punishment of acts not specified by criminal codes but which are "analogous" to them
People's Mediation Committees: community of individuals organized in work and neighborhood groups to ensure rule conformity
Collegial Bench: compromises one to three professional judges and two to four lay people's assessors who sit in judgment of Chinese individuals accused of serious crimes
Supreme People's Court: China's highest-level court. Deals with important national matters and appeals from lower courts
Higher People's Court: Chinese court analogous to an American state supreme court
Intermediate People's Court: Chinese court that carries out the same functions as the higher people's court at the prefecture (multicounty) level. The major difference is that it is a court of original jurisdiction for cases involving serious crimes such as murder and rape
Basic People's Court: Chinese court analogous to American district (felony) court
Islamic Law: a theocratic system of law based on the Qur'an, the Sunna, and Shari'a
Sunna: companion book to the Qur'an containing numerous moral precepts relating to all aspects of Islamic life
Qadi: (Khadi) islamic judge
Hadd Crimes: (plural, Huddud) Islam' most serious crimes with mandated punishments as defined by God
Quesas: in Islamic law, serious non-Hadd crimes for which punishment is not prescribed in the Qur'an, Islam's holy book
Ta'azir Crimes: in Islamic law, minor crimes for which punishment is discretionary and lenient by Islamic standards
Musta'galah: type of court in Islamic law that hears minor (ta'azir) offenses
Kubra: the high court in Islamic law that hear serious (Hadd) offenses
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen: revolutionary document integrated into the French Constitution
International Court of Justice: also known as the World Court, it is the judicial body of the United Nations. Deals with legal disputes among United Nations member states