3.1 Assigned Videos- Foundations of American Law

American Law is founded upon four Foundational Areas of Law"

• Constitutional Law
• Statutory Law
• Common Law 
• Equity Law

The Law is then broken into two spheres of - Public or Criminal  Law and Private  or Civil Law

Public Law

Regulations between the State and its individuals- Fines and Jail

Private Law

Legal Regulations among the citizens  and corporations - Orders and Financial Compensation

Constitutional law is a body of law dealing with the distribution and exercise of government Links to an external site. power. Not all nation states Links to an external site. have codified constitutions Links to an external site., though all such states have a jus commune Links to an external site., or law of the land, that may consist of a variety of imperative and consensual rules. These may include customary law Links to an external site., conventions Links to an external site., statutory law Links to an external site., judge-made law Links to an external site. or international rules and norms Links to an external site., etc.

Statutory law or statute law is written law Links to an external site. (as opposed to oral Links to an external site. or customary law Links to an external site.) set down by a legislature Links to an external site. (as opposed to regulatory law Links to an external site. promulgated by the executive branch Links to an external site. or common law Links to an external site. of the judiciary). Statutes Links to an external site. may originate with national, state legislatures or local municipalities Links to an external site.. Statutes of lower jurisdictions are subordinate to the law of higher. The term codified law refers to statutes that have been organized ("codified") by subject matter; in this narrower sense, some but not all statutes are considered "codified." The entire body of codified statute is referred to as a "code," such as the United States Code Links to an external site.,

Common law is law Links to an external site. developed by judges Links to an external site. through decisions Links to an external site. of courts Links to an external site. and similar tribunals (also called case law Links to an external site.), rather than through legislative statutes Links to an external site. or executive branch action Links to an external site.. A "common law system" is a legal system Links to an external site. that gives great precedential weight to common law,  on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different occasions.  The body of precedent Links to an external site. is called "common law" and it binds future decisions. In cases where the parties disagree on what the law is, an idealized common law court looks to past precedential Links to an external site. decisions of relevant courts. If a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is bound Links to an external site. to follow the reasoning used in the prior decision (this principle is known as stare decisis Links to an external site.). If, however, the court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally distinct from all previous cases (called a "matter of first impression Links to an external site."), judges have the authority and duty to make law by creating precedent Links to an external site..  Thereafter, the new decision becomes precedent, and will bind future courts. In practice, common law systems are considerably more complicated than the idealized system described above. However stare decisis Links to an external site., the principle that similar cases should be decided according to consistent principled rules so that they will reach similar results, lies at the heart of all common law systems.

Equity is the name given to the set of legal Links to an external site. principles, in jurisdictions following the English Links to an external site. common law Links to an external site. tradition, which supplement strict rules of law where their application would operate harshly. In civil legal systems Links to an external site., broad "general clause" allow judges to have similar leeway in applying the code Links to an external site.. Equity is commonly said to "mitigate the rigor of common law", allowing courts to use their discretion and apply justice Links to an external site. in accordance with natural law Links to an external site.. In practice, modern equity is limited by substantive Links to an external site. and procedural Links to an external site. rules,

Substantive law is the statutory Links to an external site. or written law that governs rights and obligations of those who are subject to it. Substantive law defines the legal relationship of people with other people or between them and the state. Substantive law stands in contrast to procedural law Links to an external site., which comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil Links to an external site. or criminal Links to an external site. proceedings. Procedural law deals with the method and means by which substantive law is made and administered. The time allowed for one party to sue another and the rules of law governing the process of the lawsuit are examples of procedural laws. Substantive law defines crimes and punishments (in the criminal law) as well as civil Links to an external site. rights and responsibilities in civil law. It is codified Links to an external site. in legislated statutes Links to an external site. or can be enacted through the initiative Links to an external site. process.

Procedural law comprises the rule by which a court Links to an external site. hears and determines what happens in civil Links to an external site. lawsuit Links to an external site., criminal Links to an external site. or administrative proceedings Links to an external site.. The rules are designed to ensure a fair and consistent application of due process Links to an external site. (in the U.S.) or fundamental justice Links to an external site. (in other common law Links to an external site. countries) to all cases that come before a court. The substantive law Links to an external site., which refers to the actual claims and defenses whose validity is tested through the procedures of procedural law, is different than procedural law.