Usa Legal System

OUTLINE OF THE
OUTLINE OF THE

U.S.LEGAL SYSTEM
U.S.LEGAL

OUTLINE OF THE

U.S.LEGAL SYSTEM

Bureau of International Information Programs
United States Department of State
http://usinfo.state.gov
2004

OUTLINE OF THE

U.S.LEGAL SYSTEM
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INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Legal System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 4
CHAPTER 1

History and Organization of the Federal Judicial System . . . . . . . . . 18
CHAPTER 2

History and Organization of State Judicial Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
CHAPTER 3

Jurisdiction and Policy-Making Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
CHAPTER 4

Lawyers, Litigants, and Interest Groups in the Judicial Process . . . . 72CHAPTER 5

The Criminal Court Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
CHAPTER 6

The Civil Court Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
CHAPTER 7

Federal Judges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
CHAPTER 8

Implementation and Impact of JudicialPolicies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
The Constitution of the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Amendments to the Constitution of the United States . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

INTRODUCTION

THE
U.S.
LEGAL
SYSTEM

In this scene from an 1856
painting by Junius Brutus Searns,
George Washington (standing,
right) addresses the Constitutional
Convention, whose members
drafted and signed the U.S.Constitution on September 17,
1787. The Constitution is the
primary source of law in the
United States.

6

OUTLINE OF THE U.S. LEGAL SYSTEM

Every business day, courts throughout
the United States render decisions that
together affect many thousands of
people. Some affect only the parties to
a particular legal action, but others adjudicate rights, benefits, and legal
principles thathave an impact on virtually all Americans. Inevitably, many
Americans may welcome a given ruling while others — sometimes many
others — disapprove. All, however, accept the legitimacy of these decisions,
and of the courts’ role as final interpreter of the law. There can be no
more potent demonstration of the
trust that Americans place in the rule
of law and their confidence in the U.S.legal system.
The pages that follow survey that
system. Much of the discussion explains how U.S. courts are organized
and how they work. Courts are central
to the legal system, but they are not
the entire system. Every day across
America, federal, state, and local
courts interpret laws, adjudicate disputes under laws, and at times even
strike down laws as violating the fundamental protectionsthat the Constitution guarantees all Americans. At
the same time, millions of Americans
transact their day-to-day affairs without turning to the courts. They, too,
rely upon the legal system. The young
couple purchasing their first home,
two businessmen entering into a contract, parents drawing up a will to provide for their children — all require

the predictability and enforceable
commonnorms that the rule of law
provides and the U.S. legal system
guarantees.
This introduction seeks to familiarize readers with the basic structure
and vocabulary of American law.
Subsequent chapters add detail, and
afford a sense of how the U.S. legal
system has evolved to meet the
needs of a growing nation and its
ever more complex economic and
social realities.

A FEDERAL LEGAL...