Week 1

Court History and Purpose

Katrina Maxwell

America has adopted ways from the beginning of time to resolve disputes among its people. The first known early legal code was the code of Hammurabi, which bases off the old philosophy of an eye for an eye. Then there was the Twelve Tables from Roman law, which was one of retaliation. For example, “If one has maimed another and does not buy his peace, let there be retaliation in kind.” In other words, the one who was maimed or his family members can go and maim the other (Siegel, Schmalleger & Worrall, 2011). Due to all the barbarianisms of such laws, new ones had to be made. So, legal codes have changed and been updated throughout the years.

Under the common law, judges made decisions and wrote them down to become law, and it was law from one court to the next. Henry II implemented a system where judges from their own courts could make decisions over disputes, based on their customs. Due to judges making more decisions, precedents came into play. Precedent meaning, that decisions began to be made from previous decisions (Siegel, Schmalleger & Worrall, 2011). This led to consistency in the decisions of judges. American courts use this same method today, where all courts are standing on the decisions from earlier decisions even from higher courts. However, some laws become so outdated over time, which new decisions need to be made.

The dual court system falls under the same umbrella of the US Supreme Court. There is the federal court system and the state court system. The state courts are bound by their own statutes and constitution, US statutes and Constitution, rulings and precedent from higher courts within the state, rulings of the federal courts in their jurisdiction, and by precedent from the federal appeals courts in their jurisdiction, and by the US Supreme Court. The federal courts are bound by US Statutes and Constitution, precedent and rulings from the appeals court in their jurisdiction, and...