00:00:03
Hi, I'm Craig and this is Crash Course Civics
and today we're gonna look at the basics of
00:00:07
a system that affects all our lives: the law.
And no, we're not going to be talking about
00:00:11
the laws of thermo-dynamics. That's Hank's
show. Though we will be bringing the heat, ha!
00:00:15
The law affects you even if you never committed
a crime because there's so much more to the legal
00:00:18
system than just criminal justice, and even though we're
going to focus mainly on courts, the law is everywhere.
00:00:23
If you don't believe me, read the user license
on your next new piece of software, or if
00:00:27
you fly anywhere read the back of your plane
ticket. Hopefully won't be more entertaining
00:00:31
than what you're watching now, but that's
examples of the law.
00:00:34
[Theme Music]
00:00:43
In general, courts have three basic functions,
only one of which you probably learned about in
00:00:47
your history class. The first thing that courts
do is settle disputes. In pre-modern history
00:00:51
(which is way easier to understand than post-modern
history), kings performed this function, but
00:00:55
as states got bigger and more powerful it
became much easier to have specialized officials
00:00:58
decide important issues like who owned the
fox you caught on someone else's land. Or
00:01:02
what does the fox say, which was disputed
a lot back then.
00:01:06
The second thing the courts do is probably
the one you heard about in school, or on television,
00:01:09
or perhaps while studying for the standardized
test, and that's interpret the laws. This
00:01:13
becomes increasingly important when you actually
try to read laws, or when you realize that
00:01:16
legislators are often not as they might be when
writing laws in the first place. Take a look at the
00:01:20
Affordable Care Act. There are a few
famous careless errors in that.
00:01:23
Finally courts create expectations for future
actions. This is very important if you want
00:01:27
to do business with someone. If you know that
you'll be punished for cheating a potential
00:01:30
business client, you're less likely to do
it. Still you might, 'cause there are a lot
00:01:34
of jerks out there who would. Are you one
of them? Don't be! At the same time if you
00:01:37
know that people will be punished for cheating
you you're more likely to do business. And
00:01:41
it's courts that create the expectation that
business will be conducted fairly.
00:01:44
Interpreting the laws can help this too, since
the interpretations are public and they set
00:01:47
expectations that everyone can understand
and know what the law means and how it applies
00:01:51
and then world peace. No more law breaking
ever.
00:01:54
The first thing to remember about courts in
the U.S. is that most legal action, if it
00:01:57
occurs in court at all, occurs in state court.
And if it occurs at night, it occurs in Night Court.
00:02:02
Because this is mainly a series about
federal government, and not Indiana government
00:02:05
or sitcoms about court in New York, I'm going
to focus mainly on the federal court system
00:02:09
which has four main characteristics.
00:02:10
One, the federal court system is separate
from the other branches of government. The
00:02:14
executive could do the job, just like kings
used to but we have separation of powers so
00:02:18
we don't have to be at the mercy of kings.
Have you seen Game of Thrones?
00:02:20
Two, the federal courts are hierarchical,
with the Supreme Court at the top and turtles
00:02:24
all the way down. Nope -- not turtles -- sorry
I meant lower courts. What this means is that
00:02:27
when a lower court makes a decision it can
be appealed to a higher court that can either
00:02:31
affirm or overturn the lower court's decision.
00:02:33
The third feature of federal courts is that
they are able to perform judicial review over
00:02:36
laws passed by Congress and state legislatures,
and over executive actions.
00:02:40
And the fourth aspect of federal court system
is that you should know that the federal judges
00:02:43
are appointed for life, and their salaries
can't be reduced. This is to preserve their
00:02:47
independence from politics. Sounds like a
pretty sweet deal.
00:02:49
Remember when I told you that the legislature
makes the laws? Well, that was true, but it's
00:02:53
also not the whole story. Legislatures both
state and national make laws and these written
00:02:57
laws are called statutes. In continental Europe
those are pretty much all the laws they have. Statutes.
00:03:01
Statutes everywhere! And statues. That place is
filled with art. They had the Renaissance there, y'know?
00:03:06
But in the U.S. and England, which is where
we got the idea, we have something called
00:03:09
common law, which consists of the past decisions
of courts that influence future legal decisions.
00:03:13
The key to common law is the idea that a prior
court decision sets a precedent that constrains
00:03:17
future courts. Basically if one court makes
a decision, all other courts in the same jurisdiction
00:03:21
have to apply that decision, whether they
like it or not. The collection of those decisions
00:03:25
by judges becomes the common law.
00:03:29
I don't have to have a reason to punch the
eagle.
00:03:31
I should probably point out what courts actually
do and explain that there are two different
00:03:34
types of courts that can make civil law. What
differentiates the two types of courts is
00:03:38
their jurisdiction, which basically means the
set of cases that they're authorized to decide.
00:03:42
Trial courts are also called courts of original
jurisdiction. These are the ones you see on
00:03:45
TV and they actually do two things. First,
they hear evidence and determine what actually
00:03:49
happened when there's a dispute. This is called
deciding the facts of the case. Not everything
00:03:53
that happened or that may be important qualifies
as a fact in a court case. Those are determined
00:03:57
by the rules of evidence, which are complicated and
would really slow down an episode of Law and Order.
00:04:01
After the trial court hears the facts of a
case it decides the outcome by applying the
00:04:04
relevant law. What law they apply will depend
on statutes and in some cases what other courts
00:04:08
have said in similar situations. In other
words the common law.
00:04:11
You might have noticed that I've been referring
to courts, not judges or juries, because not
00:04:15
all trials have juries. Bench trials have
only a judge who determines the facts and
00:04:18
the law. Besides, who decides what in a court
case isn't really that important. More than
00:04:22
90% of cases never go to court by the way,
they just get settled by lawyers out of court.
00:04:26
But say you actually go to court and you lose.
Naturally, you'd be upset.
00:04:30
Especially if you're a sore loser, like me.
Shut up.
00:04:34
You have a choice. You can give up and go
back to your normal, loser life or you can
00:04:37
appeal the trial court decision to a higher
court. An appeals court that has, you guessed
00:04:41
it, appellate jurisdiction. Did you actually
guess that? That'd be amazing.
00:04:45
Appeals courts don't hear facts -- who wants
those -- they just decide questions of law
00:04:49
so you don't have to bring witnesses or present
evidence, just arguments. In most cases, if
00:04:53
you want to bring a successful appeal, you
need to show that there was something wrong
00:04:55
with the procedure of your trial. Maybe the
judge allowed the jury to hear evidence they
00:04:58
shouldn't have heard, maybe one of the jurors
was a cyborg.
00:05:01
Here's the way that these courts connect to
what I was saying before about common and
00:05:03
statutory law. Most common law is made by
appeals courts. And because appeals courts have
00:05:08
larger jurisdiction than trial courts, appeals decisions
are much more important than trial court decisions.
00:05:12
So now I'm going to talk about the three types
of law, and it's gonna get confusing. We should
00:05:16
probably go to the Thought Bubble for some
nice, compelling, intriguing animations.
00:05:20
The two main types of law are basically the
Bruce Banner of law. They're the criminal
00:05:23
law and civil law, but they can sometimes morph
into the Incredible Hulk of laws: public law.
00:05:29
"Public law, smash abuse of government authority!"
00:05:32
If you watch TV or movies, or read John Grisham
novels, you're probably familiar with criminal law.
00:05:36
Criminal laws are almost always statutes
written by legislatures, which means that
00:05:39
there is an actual law for you to break. In
most states the criminal laws are called the
00:05:42
penal codes. In a criminal dispute -- and it's
a dispute because the government says you
00:05:46
broke the law and you will say you didn't --
the government is called the prosecution and
00:05:49
the person accused of committing the crime
is called the defendant.
00:05:52
Almost all criminal cases happen at the state
level and for this reason it's hard to know
00:05:55
exactly what is or what is not a crime in
each state. Although murder is a crime everywhere.
00:05:59
There are also some federal crimes like tax
evasion, mail fraud, and racketeering.
00:06:02
If you're suing someone or being sued, you're
in the realm of civil law. Civil cases arise
00:06:06
from disputes between individuals, or between
individuals and the government, when one party,
00:06:10
the plaintiff, claims that the other party,
the defendant, has caused an injury that can
00:06:13
be fixed or remedied. If the plaintiff proves
his or her case the defendant must pay damages.
00:06:17
If you lose a civil case you don't go to prison
or jail in most circumstances, but you may
00:06:21
end up losing lots of money, and that sucks.
I love money.
00:06:24
Cases about contracts, property, and personal
injuries, also called torts, are examples
00:06:28
of civil law. So under certain circumstances
a civil or criminal case can become public law.
00:06:32
This happens when either the defendant
or plaintiff can show that the powers of government
00:06:35
or the rights of citizens under the Constitution
or federal law is involved in the case.
00:06:39
Also if the law gets exposed to gamma rays.
"Law, smash!"
00:06:42
For example, in a criminal case where the
defendant claims that the civil rights were
00:06:45
violated by the police, the decision can become
public law. Thanks Thought Bubble.
00:06:49
So those are the basics of the court system
in the U.S. And you can see that there's a
00:06:52
lot to keep straight. There are types of courts,
basically trial courts and appeals courts,
00:06:56
on both the state and federal level. And there are
types of laws, basically statutory and common laws.
00:07:00
The fact that we have both state and federal
statutory law is an example of federalism in action.
00:07:04
The U.S. unlike most other nations has both
statutory and common law, but most of the
00:07:08
time when we're talking about federal laws we're in
the realm of statutes, or maybe the Constitution.
00:07:12
When you study American government, most of
the cases you read about are examples of appeals
00:07:16
and of public law. How this all works in practice
is even more complicated. And the adaptability
00:07:20
of the American legal fabric allows statutes to stretch
to fit the growing and changing American society.
00:07:25
Much like Bruce Banner's incredibly elastic pants.
Thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.
00:07:32
I'm getting angry! Oh no! Ahhhh! I'm not wearing
elastic pants! Oh no! Ahhhhh!
00:07:42
Crash Course: Government and Politics is produced
in association with PBS Digital Studios.
00:07:46
Support for Crash Course Government comes
from Voqal. Voqal supports non profits that use
00:07:49
technology and media to advance social equity. Learn
more about their mission and initiatives at voqal.org.
00:07:54
Crash Course is made with the help of these
Incredible Hulks. Thanks for watching. Rarrrr!
