Outline No. 1 -- Sources of Law

Plopper Assignment: Chapters 1 & 2 (13 pages)

Optional Middleton Assignment: Chapter 1

I Purposes of law:

regulates behavior

settles disputes

protects individual rights (from govt action) Bill of Rights

II Main sources of law

1. Constitutional Law:

Basis for media law, First Amendment

Hard to amend, protects rights in vagaries of politics

2. Statutory Law:

Enforceable rules to govern social behavior (criminal law)

Varies by state

Media law: advertising, electronic media, some copyright, access to government-held information

3. Administrative Law:

Agencies created by legislative bodies to oversee enforcement of legislation. FTC, FCC, etc.

Agencies regulate statutorily defined areas of law

4. Court Opinions -- Common Law:

Continually growing accumulation of rulings by courts. Judge-made law, for instance, law of privacy

Precedents set by courts before, subsequent courts follow precedent to provide stability and predictability

But courts are also flexible: modify precedent, make new precedent, over-rule precedent, or ignore

III Dual Courts System

STATE (Arkansas)	FEDERAL
Arkansas Court of Appeals Arkansas Supreme Court	U.S. Supreme Court
	U.S. Court of Appeals -- Circuits (ours is 8th)
Trial -- Circuit Court	U.S. District Courts

Arkansas Court of Appeals and Arkansas Supreme Court

Appeal non-tort cases (such as obscenity or criminal libel) to Court of Appeals

Appeal tort caes (such as privacy or libel) to Arkansas Supreme Court

The Federal Courts of Appeal

Circuits:

Arkansas in the 8th circuit

Many media cases from 2nd (New York) and 9th (California)

4th circuit considered most conservative, 9th most liberal

1st circuit (Boston) considered highly intellectual, often stepping stone to U.S. Supreme Court

IV Writ of Certiorari

The U.S. Supreme Court does not hear every case submitted to it.

Parties petition for a writ of certiorari. (also called "grant cert")

Why the Court may choose to hear a case:

1. significant legal issues judicial restraint

2. lower court error facts of the case

3. federal circuits conflict

V Common reporting error:

Refusal to hear case is NOT an affirmation! If cert is denied, the headline should not say: "Supreme Court affirms ruling"

Most opinions come down on Monday. Court term is First Monday in October until the end of June.

VI Terms

crime: state brings charges against defendant

tort: private or civil wrong

plaintiff: the person suing in a civil suit

defendant: person being sued

petitioner: seeking appeal (also appellant)

respondent: fighting appeal (also appellee)

cause of action (also complaint or claim): the basis of a lawsuit ; the legal grounds

opinion: a written explanation of what a judge or judges or justices ruled and why (precedent).

binding law: the precedent set in a state, circuit or by the U.S. Supreme Court.; the law that applies to a particular set of facts.

"Say you sue me because you say my dog bit you," he once explained.
"Well, not this is my defense: My dog doesn't bite. And second, in the alternative,
my dog was tied up that night. Third, I don't believe you really got bit.
 And fourth, I don't have a dog."