BU231 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Endangerment, Legal Positivism
Document Summary
At its most basic a law is a rule that can be enforced by the courts. After reading the first chapter of the text you will realize that a definition of law is far more complicated than that and encompasses morality, ethics and legal positivism. Common law: the common law is based on the premise that rules enunciated in decisions by judges are binding upon lower courts in subsequent cases. (aka precedents) Civil law: largely based on a code adopted and refined by napoleon. (quebec) Civil vs criminal law: this course focuses almost exclusively on the civil law. Criminal law deals with offences against the state. In other words, it involves people or organizations that break rules that are designed to protect society. These rules are found primarily in the criminal code of canada. Criminal: you hit me, you go to jail or get probation.
