Classification of Law

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 483.

The law often has been described as "a seamless web" in which principles are hopelessly and endlessly intertwined. However, there are ways to classify legal subjects that advance understanding of the law and legal principles.

One means of classifying the law is to divide it into matters of public law and matters of private law. Public lawincludes constitutional law, administrative law, and criminal law. Constitutional lawinvolves the interpretation and application of either the federal or a state constitution. Administrative lawdescribes the legal principles that apply to government agencies, bureaus, boards, and commissions. Criminal lawencompasses all legal aspects of crime. In each of these areas, society, or the people, are directly involved in the issues. Their interests are represented by a governmental agency, officer, or official whose obligation is to see that justice is accomplished and the goals of society achieved. Public law provides a major portion of the legal environment of business.

Private lawencompasses those legal problems and relationships that exist between individuals, as contrasted with those in which society is involved. Private law is traditionally separated into the law of contracts, the law of torts, and the law of property.

Contract law addresses agreements between two parties. Tort law addresses wrongs other than a breach of contract, by which one party injures another. Property law deals with all aspects of ownership and possession of both tangible things and intangible rights. Our whole economic system is based upon the rights of individuals to acquire and use private property.

Historically, conflicts among individuals and businesses that could not be resolved by the parties have been formally resolved by utilizing the court system. The process of resolving conflicts through lawsuits filed in court is known as litigation.

The party who files a civil action seeking money damages is called the plaintiff.The party sued is known as the defendant.The term defendant is used to describe the person against whom a criminal charge is filed by the prosecuting state or federal government. When a defendant wants to sue the plaintiff, the defendant files a counterclaim.Most jurisdictions use the term counterplaintiffand counterdefendantto describe the parties to the counterclaim. Thus, the defendant becomes a counterplaintiff and the plaintiff also becomes a counterdefendant when a counterclaim is filed.

In actions involving equitable relief, the party initiating the case is the petitioner.The other party in an equity case is the respondent.The same terms are used when a petition for a writ of certiorari is filed after the right to an appeal has been exhausted.

When the result at the trial court level is appealed, the party appealing is usually referred to as the appellant,and the successful party in the trial court is called the appellee.Most jurisdictions, in publishing decisions of reviewing courts, list the appellant first and the appellee second, even though the appellant may have been the defendant in the trial court. As a result, the names used in a case are somewhat misleading. Since the party first named is not always the plaintiff, you need to be aware in studying cases, that the first-named party in the case title may be the defendant-appellant.

In most state jurisdictions and in federal courts, the law allows all persons to join in one lawsuit as plaintiffs if the causes of action arise out of the same transaction or series of transactions and involve common questions of law or fact. In addition, plaintiffs may join as defendants all persons who are necessary to a complete determination or resolution of the questions involved. It is not necessary that each defendant have a personal stake in every claim.

In addition, if a defendant alleges that there cannot be a complete determination of a controversy without the presence of other parties, he or she may bring in new third parties as third-party defendants.This procedure usually is followed when there is someone who may have liability to a defendant if the defendant has liability to the plaintiff.