U.S. Founding Documents and Court Systems Essay
JURI 510
Kyle Conley
Professor Susan Patrick
March 26th 2023
Civil Law, Common Law, or Both?
The U.S. legal system is often been referred to as a “hybrid” model which combines aspects of both civil and common law together due to the multiple influences it contains from a variety of legal sources including the English common law, the Roman civil law system, and the French civil law system. John H. Langbein, Lerner Renée Lettow & Bruce P. Smith, History of the common law: The development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions (2009).
There are three main documents, also known collectively as the “Charters of Freedom” together are known as America’s founding documents. More specifically, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights have worked in harmony to establish and maintain the rights of Americans for more than two and a quarter centuries. These Charters of Freedom are considered to be instrumental to the overall founding and philosophy of what we know today as the United
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Generally speaking, trial courts are on the bottom of the hierarchy while appellate courts are at the top. Both federal and state trial courts are designed to hear evidence, conduct fact-finding, and apply the law to support court decisions. The appellate courts exist to determine whether previous decisions made by trial courts were conducted in accordance with the law and any evidence presented by litigants. Furthermore, both federal and state courts use a jury system and appoint judges to preside over cases and make decisions based on the law and any evidence presented. Federal vs. State Courts, Federal vs. State Courts - Key Differences (2016), https://www.findlaw.com/litigation/legal-system/federal-vs-state-courts-key-differences.html (last visited Mar 24,