Civil law (common law)

Civil law is a branch of the law. In common law countries such as England, Wales, and the United States, the term refers to non-criminal law. The law relating to civil wrongs and quasi-contracts is part of the civil law. The law of property is embraced by civil law. Civil law can, like criminal law, be divided into substantive law and procedural law. The rights and duties of individuals amongst themselves is the primary concern of civil law. It is often suggested that civil proceedings are taken for the purpose of obtaining compensation for injury, and may thus be distinguished from criminal proceedings, whose purpose is to inflict punishment. However, exemplary or punitive damages may be awarded in civil proceedings. It was also formerly possible for common informers to sue for a penalty in civil proceedings.

Because some courts have both civil and criminal jurisdiction, civil proceedings cannot be defined as those taken in civil courts. In the United States, the expression "civil courts" is used as a "shorthand for trial courts in civil cases".

Common law

Common law (also known as case law or precedent) is law developed by judges, courts, and similar tribunals, stated in decisions that nominally decide individual cases but that in addition have precedential effect on future cases. Common law is a third branch of law, in contrast to and on equal footing with statutes which are adopted through the legislative process, and regulations which are promulgated by the executive branch.

A "common law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, so that consistent principles applied to similar facts yield similar outcomes. The body of past common law binds judges that make future decisions, just as any other law does, to ensure consistent treatment. In cases where the parties disagree on what the law is, a common law court looks to past precedential decisions of relevant courts. If a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is usually bound to follow the reasoning used in the prior decision (this principle is known as stare decisis). If, however, the court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally distinct from all previous cases (called a "matter of first impression"), judges have the authority and duty to make law by creating precedent. Thereafter, the new decision becomes precedent, and will bind future courts. Stare decisis, the principle that cases should be decided according to consistent principled rules so that similar facts will yield similar results, lies at the heart of all common law systems.

Common law (disambiguation)

common law is a legal system named after judge-made law, which plays important role in it.

Common law may also refer to:

Common Law (1996 TV series)

Common Law is an American television sitcom that premiered on ABC on September 28, 1996. The show stars Greg Giraldo as a Latino lawyer at a mostly white law firm. The series was created by Rob LaZebnik, and produced by Witt/Thomas Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Due to low ratings, the series was pulled from ABC's schedule after four episodes had aired.

Synopsis

Common Law focuses on John Alvarez (Greg Giraldo), the seemingly-token Latino at a large, WASPy law firm. John has a degree from Harvard Law School, but never forgets his working-class Queens roots, nor the idea that law is about protecting the "little guy" from the major corporations that are his firms' key clients. He has started a clandestine affair with fellow attorney Nancy Slaton (Megyn Price), clandestine because the firm forbids lawyers from dating each other to minimize claims of sexual harassment. To the disgust of his barber father, Luis (Gregory Sierra), John wears his hair long and plays guitar; his father views him as a hippie. Greg Giraldo was in reality a graduate of Harvard Law School nearly top of his class, and became a lawyer for a while before becoming a comedian. After a year as an attorney, Giraldo fell out of love with the profession and launched his comedy career, only referring to his law background very occasionally on the stand-up circuit, until he starred in this series.

Canon law

Canon law is the body of laws and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (Church leadership), for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church (both Latin Church and Eastern Catholic Churches), the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the individual national churches within the Anglican Communion. The way that such church law is legislated, interpreted and at times adjudicated varies widely among these three bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a canon was originally a rule adopted by a church council; these canons formed the foundation of canon law.

Etymology

Greek kanon / Ancient Greek: κανών,Arabic Qanun / قانون, Hebrew kaneh / קנה, "straight"; a rule, code, standard, or measure; the root meaning in all these languages is "reed" (cf. the Romance-language ancestors of the English word "cane").

Canons of the Apostles

The Apostolic Canons or Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles is a collection of ancient ecclesiastical decrees (eighty-five in the Eastern, fifty in the Western Church) concerning the government and discipline of the Early Christian Church, incorporated with the Apostolic Constitutions which are part of the Ante-Nicene Fathers In the fourth century the First Council of Nicaea (325) calls canons the disciplinary measures of the Church: the term canon, κανὠν, means in Greek, a rule. There is a very early distinction between the rules enacted by the Church and the legislative measures taken by the State called leges, Latin for laws.

Law (band) (disambiguation)

Law (band) may refer to:

Law (surname)

Law is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: