CRM 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Cross-Dressing, Precedent, Actus Reus

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Criminology
• Course: CRM 100
• Professor: Stephanie Ehret

Document Summary

The rule of law: the requirement that governments as well as individuals be subjected to and abide by the law. Criminal law: the body of law that deals with conduct considered so harmful to society as a whole that it is prohibited by status and prosecuted and punished by the government. Public law: the law of relationships between individuals and the government. No crime without a law, no punishment without a law. No one is compelled to incriminate himself or herself. No one should be twice troubled by the same cause. Precedent: a judicial decision that may be used as a standard in subsequent similar cases. "whenever a judge makes a decision that is said to be legally enforced, this decision becomes a precedent: a rule that will guide judges in making subsequent decisions in similar cases". Common law: law that is based on custom, tradition, and practice and is generally unwritten.