1/29/24
The legal environment
Court system of NY state
- two independent courts we have federal and state. Not the same because certain cases
go to states and others to federal
- Constitution decides what goes to what court. Which matters belong to state and which
belong to federal
Federal
- Ex- federal- immigration issues, civil rights
- Level one- district court
- Level 2- court of appeals
State
- Ex- state- criminal matters divorce
- going to the state court system. Those are contract matters so we will be looking into
state court system
- You can appeal a decision and usually those people that appeal is he person who lost
- Level 1 of case- Supreme Court of NY- you know its a trial level case
If there is an appeal you go to
- level 2- Appellate district- first level of appeals
- Level 3- court appeals- highest level court of appeals- 3rd time you are hearing the case
but 2nd time it is being appealed
- You can not automatically go to the US Supreme Court. 4/9 have to agree to take the
course unless it have some constitutional law consequences. 9 justices
- Sandra day o'Connor was the first US Supreme Court women to sit. She was there for
25 years
- 2 women and 7 men
You don’t have to hire anybody to represent you (attorney). You can represent yourself but
Pro- Saving money
Con- you don’t know as much
If your case involves a lot of money you are unlikely to go in alone. If not worth a lot its worth the
risk
Two sources of law in state
1) Legislature- In NY state it is assembly and senate. Statute is posted by both houses and
signed into law by the governor (current- Kathy hocal) thousands of statutes that cover
our everyday lives and we are bound by them. Senators and assembly
2) Judiciary- our judges- English came to shore first and bought their law that they are
facials with which is called English common law. Which means over the years many
cases have grown up. Just because a case is 200 years old doesn’t mean it is not
, applicable which is when legal research comes in. English common law is unique
because it is precedent (governs all future situations)
Common law cases
————————————————————-
First name of case is who is suing who
Ex- Corte vs Walter
Corte is suing Walter
Corte- prosecutor
Walter- defendant
- The person bringing the appeal is called the appellant and the person responding back
is called the respondent.
01/31/24
Statues we are talking about are
1) general obligations law- GOL- all governed by the GOL
2) Uniform comm code- UCC- it does not cover all ny state entity or person their are many
provisions in the UCC which cover only merchants- business law provions.
- Who is included? Every state in the country with the exception of one, Louisiana, has
adopted a version of the UCC. Up until mid 20th century every state had their own set of
business laws but later realized it made no sense so UCC was drafted so every single
state has adopted its version of the UCC. The language to the UCC ny NY is identical to
the UCC in California. Louis a did not follow because they were under French rule. Even
after the French gave up its control of Louis a a the law Thant they have bough in was
French law and it is different than English common law. Based on different principals so
they didn’t think they needed to change it.
English have their own common law meaning.
Latin term for precedent- stare decisis- let the term stand. (Same meaning)
- a later judge can change the precedent by saying its bad law and it should not apply.
Happened recently with abortion. The right to an aabortion since 1973 in the case of roe
vs wade was found to be imbeded in the constitution under right to liberty. US Supreme
Court made an argument of why it should not apply and there changed the precedent. If
the legiature want to change a precedent they can but it needs to be passed through the
houses
- precendent helps court insured that they are going to be consistent therefor proving to
the people that everybody is being treated the same. Everyone is treated the same with
particular issues.
Europe
- Europe follows civilian law.
- Under Neapolitan their were codes and most of the country’s he captured follow the
codes. They don’t follow precedent but its not really that different.
The legal environment
Court system of NY state
- two independent courts we have federal and state. Not the same because certain cases
go to states and others to federal
- Constitution decides what goes to what court. Which matters belong to state and which
belong to federal
Federal
- Ex- federal- immigration issues, civil rights
- Level one- district court
- Level 2- court of appeals
State
- Ex- state- criminal matters divorce
- going to the state court system. Those are contract matters so we will be looking into
state court system
- You can appeal a decision and usually those people that appeal is he person who lost
- Level 1 of case- Supreme Court of NY- you know its a trial level case
If there is an appeal you go to
- level 2- Appellate district- first level of appeals
- Level 3- court appeals- highest level court of appeals- 3rd time you are hearing the case
but 2nd time it is being appealed
- You can not automatically go to the US Supreme Court. 4/9 have to agree to take the
course unless it have some constitutional law consequences. 9 justices
- Sandra day o'Connor was the first US Supreme Court women to sit. She was there for
25 years
- 2 women and 7 men
You don’t have to hire anybody to represent you (attorney). You can represent yourself but
Pro- Saving money
Con- you don’t know as much
If your case involves a lot of money you are unlikely to go in alone. If not worth a lot its worth the
risk
Two sources of law in state
1) Legislature- In NY state it is assembly and senate. Statute is posted by both houses and
signed into law by the governor (current- Kathy hocal) thousands of statutes that cover
our everyday lives and we are bound by them. Senators and assembly
2) Judiciary- our judges- English came to shore first and bought their law that they are
facials with which is called English common law. Which means over the years many
cases have grown up. Just because a case is 200 years old doesn’t mean it is not
, applicable which is when legal research comes in. English common law is unique
because it is precedent (governs all future situations)
Common law cases
————————————————————-
First name of case is who is suing who
Ex- Corte vs Walter
Corte is suing Walter
Corte- prosecutor
Walter- defendant
- The person bringing the appeal is called the appellant and the person responding back
is called the respondent.
01/31/24
Statues we are talking about are
1) general obligations law- GOL- all governed by the GOL
2) Uniform comm code- UCC- it does not cover all ny state entity or person their are many
provisions in the UCC which cover only merchants- business law provions.
- Who is included? Every state in the country with the exception of one, Louisiana, has
adopted a version of the UCC. Up until mid 20th century every state had their own set of
business laws but later realized it made no sense so UCC was drafted so every single
state has adopted its version of the UCC. The language to the UCC ny NY is identical to
the UCC in California. Louis a did not follow because they were under French rule. Even
after the French gave up its control of Louis a a the law Thant they have bough in was
French law and it is different than English common law. Based on different principals so
they didn’t think they needed to change it.
English have their own common law meaning.
Latin term for precedent- stare decisis- let the term stand. (Same meaning)
- a later judge can change the precedent by saying its bad law and it should not apply.
Happened recently with abortion. The right to an aabortion since 1973 in the case of roe
vs wade was found to be imbeded in the constitution under right to liberty. US Supreme
Court made an argument of why it should not apply and there changed the precedent. If
the legiature want to change a precedent they can but it needs to be passed through the
houses
- precendent helps court insured that they are going to be consistent therefor proving to
the people that everybody is being treated the same. Everyone is treated the same with
particular issues.
Europe
- Europe follows civilian law.
- Under Neapolitan their were codes and most of the country’s he captured follow the
codes. They don’t follow precedent but its not really that different.
