GEOG 2051 Chapter : 14 Weathered Landscapes2
Document Summary
Constitutional law- meaning of constitution is not self-evident. It means what the court says it means. Statutory law- interpretation of federal and state w. Common law- law based on custom or judge-made law . Code law countries don"t allow judges to develop common law. Administrative law- application or interpretation of rules issued by federal and state agencies. Federal: us district court- court of appeals- us supreme court. Supreme court: state courts are encourage to apply federal laws to the state laws as they see fit. Petitioner(-respondent: you don"t have a right to appeal the supreme court. There are 12 federal circuit courts of appeal and one specialized one. Everyone has a different number of judges, dependent on how many states you cover. Every case is heard initially by a 3 judge panel. They can uphold, affirm, or overturn the district court"s decision (2/3 vote). That becomes the official decision of the circuit court.
