Ellie Cavanaugh's sister doesn't come home and her parents get worried. She was supposed to come home at 9 but didn't. Ellie's sister, Andrea, had left her friends house at 8 p.m. Ellie knew that Andrea had gone to the secret place where she and her friends would meet with Rob Westerfield. They would smoke and hang out there. Andrea had a crush on Rob. Rob was a notorious speeder and all around bad boy. Ellie's parents had forbidden Andrea from seeing Rob. Andrea met with him in secret. Andrea would sometimes take Ellie with her to the secret place. The morning after Andrea didn't come home, Ellie snuck out to the secret place. She found Andrea dead with her head bashed in. Ellie ran home to her house covered in the blood of her sister. Ellie's parents blamed Ellie for Andrea's death because she didn't tell them about the secret place in time. Rob Westerfield was convicted of murder mostly on Ellie's statement to the court. Ellie's parents split up and her mom dies. Her father gets remarried. Ellie became a investigative journalist in Atlanta. When Rob becomes elligible for parole, Ellie visits her old home again. She intends to be there to prevent him from getting out. Rob's family mounts a defense saying that it was another student at Andrea's high school who killed her and not Rob.
Pg. 3-63
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Ch. 2 Justice and the Law Discussion
Aristotle defined justice as consisting of treating equals equally and unequals unequally. What I want to know is how do you know who is equal and who is unequal? I know that in the south before the civil war blacks weren't considered to be a full person and were given a 3/5 vote. But that was back then and now we believe that they are human beings just like the whites and other races. Would unequals be considered those who have broken the laws or would that be something else?
In my opinion the evolutionary natural law perspective seems to be the most probable reason that law was created. It has an underlying truth that speaks to me. I also think that positive law is has much to do with some of the laws passed by kings who had no one to balance them in their power. Many of those laws were later thrown out but some societies today still have dictators who control every aspect their countries. Such an example would be North Korea. I think Kim Jong Ill has fashioned himself as a ruler who was chosen by the God(s). That might qualify as Transcendental law even though the people don't know the he made up the laws and didn't get them from a higher power. http://www.biography.com/articles/Kim-Jong-Il-201050?part=2
In my opinion the evolutionary natural law perspective seems to be the most probable reason that law was created. It has an underlying truth that speaks to me. I also think that positive law is has much to do with some of the laws passed by kings who had no one to balance them in their power. Many of those laws were later thrown out but some societies today still have dictators who control every aspect their countries. Such an example would be North Korea. I think Kim Jong Ill has fashioned himself as a ruler who was chosen by the God(s). That might qualify as Transcendental law even though the people don't know the he made up the laws and didn't get them from a higher power. http://www.biography.com/articles/Kim-Jong-Il-201050?part=2
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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."
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."
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Ch. 1 Law: Its Function and Purpose Discussion and Vocab
I think laws were created to benefit the survival of a culture and to uphold the societal norms and morals. Not all morals have laws to enforce them and not all laws deal in morality. As society evolved so did their understanding of law and justice. Sometimes law was created by the powerful and the wealthy and other times it was created by the common folk. Law is not simple to explain and sometimes difficult to enforce.
Ch. 1 Vocab
Law: a written body of general rules of conduct applicable to all members of defined community, society, or culture, which emanate from a governing authority and which are enforced by its agents by the imposition of penalties for their violation.
Beliefs: ideas wh have about what how the world operates and what is true and false.
Values: normative standards shared by the culture about what is good and bad, correct and incorrect, moral and immoral, normal and deviant.
Norm: the action componet of a value or a belief that prescribes and proscribes behavior as acceptable or unacceptable.
Symbol: a concrete physical manifestation that "stands for" an abstraction.
Technology: the totality of the knowledge and techniques a people employ to create the material object of their sustenance and comfort.
Language: a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventional signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings.
Risk Society: a society organized in response to internally manufactured risks.
Mores: the fixed morally binding customs of a particular group.
Folkways: a mode of thinking, feeling, or acting common to a group of people.
Positive law: human-made law arising from social norms; contrasted with natural law
Natural law: a theory or philosophy of law often contrasted with positive law. It maintains that law is either God-given or one that flows from the evolved nature of Homo-sapiens.
Forms: refers to Plato's belief that the objects and ideas in the world are imperfect representations of the archetypal objects and ideas in the real world.
Social Contract: hypothetical contract between individuals creating a state that could protect them from predation and exploitation.
Mechanical Solidarity: According to Durkheim, the form of social solidarity found in premodern societies.
Organic Solidarity: According to Durkheim, the form of social solidarity found in modern societies.
Collective Conscience: Defined by Émile Durkheim as ‘the body of beliefs and sentiments common to the average of members of a society, it comprised a form and content which varied according to whether society was characterized by mechanical or organic solidarity.
Consensus Perspective: a perspective emphasizing that consensus mostly characterizes society, where being part of a shared culture contributes to social stability.
Conflict Perspective: a perspective emphasizing that conflict mostly characterizes society, in which resources are limited and people seek to maximize their interests.
Formal irrationality: legal decisions based on formal rules but not based on reason or logic.
Formal rationality: legal decisions based on rules and on reason and logic.
Substantive irrationality: legal decisions on a case-by-case basis without a set of legal principles
Substantive rationality: legal decisions on a case-by-case basis with a set of rules.
Ch. 1 Vocab
Law: a written body of general rules of conduct applicable to all members of defined community, society, or culture, which emanate from a governing authority and which are enforced by its agents by the imposition of penalties for their violation.
Beliefs: ideas wh have about what how the world operates and what is true and false.
Values: normative standards shared by the culture about what is good and bad, correct and incorrect, moral and immoral, normal and deviant.
Norm: the action componet of a value or a belief that prescribes and proscribes behavior as acceptable or unacceptable.
Symbol: a concrete physical manifestation that "stands for" an abstraction.
Technology: the totality of the knowledge and techniques a people employ to create the material object of their sustenance and comfort.
Language: a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventional signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings.
Risk Society: a society organized in response to internally manufactured risks.
Mores: the fixed morally binding customs of a particular group.
Folkways: a mode of thinking, feeling, or acting common to a group of people.
Positive law: human-made law arising from social norms; contrasted with natural law
Natural law: a theory or philosophy of law often contrasted with positive law. It maintains that law is either God-given or one that flows from the evolved nature of Homo-sapiens.
Forms: refers to Plato's belief that the objects and ideas in the world are imperfect representations of the archetypal objects and ideas in the real world.
Social Contract: hypothetical contract between individuals creating a state that could protect them from predation and exploitation.
Mechanical Solidarity: According to Durkheim, the form of social solidarity found in premodern societies.
Organic Solidarity: According to Durkheim, the form of social solidarity found in modern societies.
Collective Conscience: Defined by Émile Durkheim as ‘the body of beliefs and sentiments common to the average of members of a society, it comprised a form and content which varied according to whether society was characterized by mechanical or organic solidarity.
Consensus Perspective: a perspective emphasizing that consensus mostly characterizes society, where being part of a shared culture contributes to social stability.
Conflict Perspective: a perspective emphasizing that conflict mostly characterizes society, in which resources are limited and people seek to maximize their interests.
Formal irrationality: legal decisions based on formal rules but not based on reason or logic.
Formal rationality: legal decisions based on rules and on reason and logic.
Substantive irrationality: legal decisions on a case-by-case basis without a set of legal principles
Substantive rationality: legal decisions on a case-by-case basis with a set of rules.
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