Eth 321 - the Role and Functions of Law

The Role and Functions of Law

Nicole Wickart

ETH/321

06/13/2016

Teresa Anderson

The Role and Functions of Law

There have been laws created for people to abide by as early as 2853 BC ("Timetable of World History", 2006).   Why is there the need to create laws?  What exactly is a law? There are also two different court systems that laws play a role in; federal and state.  Laws and regulations also help govern how a business is run.  There are many businesses and consumers who find fault in a product or a service that was rendered, but many never make it into a trial thanks to alternative dispute resolution.  There is a law for many things, but they are meant to keep people and businesses secure.

What is a law?

What is a law? According to “What is law? A coordination model of the characteristics of legal order” (2012) law is a system used to classify conduct as right or wrong that serves to deliver punishments to deter wrongdoing.   Laws were created to protect the people and to guarantee our freedoms.  Without laws and regulations, the world would be chaos as there would be no governing laws to protect people and businesses from it.

Federal vs. State

There are two court systems in the United States.  There is the Federal Court System and the State Court System. Federal courts deal with cases dealing with the constitution, treaties, multi- state, and bankruptcy; while the state courts deal with most criminal, probate, contract, tort, and family law cases (United States Courts, n.d.). State constitutions and state laws are tended to by the state courts.  When someone breaks a state law, they will go to the circuit court in their district for sentencing if proven guilty.  If a person or business breaks a federal legislation or has a class action lawsuit against them, they will go to a federal court to have the case heard. If a case is lost in the federal court, the defendant can try to get an appeal or writ of certiorari for cases of federal importance (Reed, 2012).  The Supreme Court will either approve or deny the appeal (by four votes) if they feel there is enough proof to hear the case themselves.  The Supreme Court is also associated with judicial review.  This is their authority to examine different legislative acts to look for validity on different constitutional amendments and the executive and legislative branches of the government.