Scope of the Law

Author: Eric Townsend

Over the last few days I have been developing the first class of a pre-law course for students on their way to law school. As a starting off point, I thought it would be good to first categorize the law from a macro level and then go into each area of law in more depth. As I was developing this initial class I realized this might also be a benefit to anyone who was curious about our legal system, and I decided to write this blog to give my readers a brief and broad overview of our legal system.
The main aspect of our legal system can be summed up in one word, “rights”. Rights correspond with duties. Rights are derived in two ways: first, common law rights of each person as defined by case law; second, Constitutional and statutory rights of each person created through our political system. Once a right is established any breach of the corresponding duty makes the violator guilty of breaking the law. In most cases these rights and duties are simple, but in some cases they are not. An easy example, in a contract for the sale of my car to Bob I have a duty to provide the car when agreed. A more complicated example, if property law says that I am the owner of land and it is my right to be free from intrusion onto such land then all of society owes me a duty not to enter my land.
Our common law rights were borrowed from English courts that developed them over hundreds of years. These common law rights are also known as natural rights. They are used to determine the right of each in their own person and the rights of society in property. Although common law rights cover a broad number of actions, if there is a statutory right it takes precedent over common law rights.
Statutory rights derive from two sources: first, from the Federal government through the limited powers given them by the Constitution; and second, from state governments through the 10th Amendment for any other actions not reserved to the Federal government or where they have failed to take action. States can delegate their authority to local governments like cities and the Federal government can delegate their authority to agencies like the EPA. So a statute will be valid if it does not violate this Constitutional framework.
So to understand our legal system, the law has been broken down into several different areas of law to easily explain and define those rights and duties. Property law determines when a person has a right (aka interest) in property, and also the duties of all people regarding that right. Criminal law seeks to define and limit the rights people have in their actions (based on the political beliefs at that time), and uses liberty and monetary punishments to enforce those limits when that duty is breached. Tort law, like criminal law, seeks to define and limit the rights people have in their actions, and uses monetary punishments to enforce those duties. Tort law additionally seeks that the tortfeasor restore the injured party by monetary contribution in the amount of the harm caused. Contract law seeks to enforce the heightened rights created when people agree to them and to enforce breaches of those duties. Constitutional law provides the framework for our Federal government, it gives limited guidance on the framework of state governments, and it establishes the rights and duties as between the Federal and state governments, between the people and those governments, and between ours and foreign governments. Other types of law will generally be offshoots of these overarching legal areas.
From a broad view, this is our legal system.

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