Law Papers: Law Essay Help, Law Term Paper Writing, Research Papers on Law

This statement by Lord Fraser has been incorporated into Australian law since Marion’s case was decided in 1992 and rest on the presumption that parents will always act in the child’s ‘best interests’ when making decisions for the child. However, is this the case in all situations? In critical matters, are parents granted the right to make decisions for their children? What are a child’s ‘best interests’? What degree of autonomy do children have in the context of health care choices? What considerations are deemed to be relevant in a contest between the parties? This discussion paper explores these issues as well as examining what is likely to happen if a dispute comes before the Family Court under the current law in South Australia.

Who is a child?
The stipulation of what age separates childhood from adult hood is purely arbitrary. In both domestic and international law , children are those persons who have not yet achieved the age of 18 years. The Family Law Act 1975 declares that a child is a person under the age of 18 years. All other persons are deemed to be adults. Read more…

This paper will discuss the literature that examines the relationship between the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law and its impact on the criminal justice system in California. The three strikes law was passed as a “get tough” response on crime, and its goal was to serve as a deterrent and to reduce violent crime by incarcerating repeat offenders for the rest of their lives. Repeat offenders are thought to be responsible for a majority of crimes. The most thorough study of recidivism, done in 1986 by the National Research Council, produced the estimate that “active violent offenders” probably commit two to four violent crimes a year, while “active nonviolent offenders” were responsible for five to 10 property crimes a year.

While other states have adopted the same or a similar policy, California was selected for this review because it is one of the first states to enact the policy, it has the broadest three strikes measure in the country, there are a greater number of offenders convicted under this law than in any other state, and the laws’ implementation in that state has caused the most debate. Being debated are many issues, and many questions have been raised. In this paper, the beginnings of the law with a description of the policy will be given in the introduction, and the following questions will be studied:
· Are the three strikes laws contributing to prison overcrowding?
· Are these laws targeting non-violent offenders?
· Do these laws serve as a deterrent?

Following a discussion of the literature addressing the above questions, the implications of the findings will be discussed.

It was hoped that California’s “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law would deter the habitual, violent criminals from committing further crimes by mandating harsher penalties including a 25-year-to-life prison sentence for some offenders. Signed into law in March 1994 in the wake of public fury over the case of Polly Klaas, a 12-year-old who was abducted from her home and killed in 1993 by a career criminal, the law was designed to target criminals with one or two serious or violent felony convictions on their records. These crimes, a particular list of offenses that count as “strikes,” include residential burglary, murder, attempted murder, rape, robbery and arson. Read more…

Human rights are the universally recognised interests, powers, liberties and entitlements associated with respect to human dignity and freedom. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights documents this definition and recognises the existence of Human rights. Since the formation of this declaration numerous treaties and declarations have branched from it developing our understanding of human rights.

International human rights have been developed over many centuries through the generation of customary international law and recently through the multilateral treaties and conventions developed specifically to address human rights issues.

International rights come in several main categories, which include – civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, environmental and peace rights and collective rights to self-determination. The first two categories are the two major categories initially recognised by international law in the mid 20th Century. The next two categories are the newest wave of human rights issues, arisen as a result of the agitation by developing countries.

International human rights can only take effect through domestic law. Thus making it somewhat controversial as it imposes duties on states in relation to individuals within their own territory.

In Australia the executive government initially needs to ratify the treaty, convention or any other international instrument. Afterwards the Australian government, or executive, followed by enactment can directly accept the international instrument in question. The parliament will then incorporate the meaning of the international treaty into the domestic legislation via common law, statutes and in the state and Commonwealth constitutions. Read more…

“Law students, having drunk at this intoxicating well,” come away thinking that the highest function of the judge is “devising, out of the brilliance of one’s own mind, those laws that ought to govern mankind. How exciting!”

Now to fully understand the meaning behind this quote by Justice Scalia, it is important to note the origins of judicial-policy making. Judicial policy-making arose in the old common-law system in England where judges, unconstrained by any means of a written constitution exercised the “exhilarating” function of creating law! Alas, American students who studied in England brought it back, so that eventually it spread to modern American law schools where impressionable young law students eagerly grab at this idea like a new toy.

With that in mind I will now move along to my definitions, which I have acquired, from Black’s Law Dictionary and Richard Heymann, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School to clarify the resolution:

When in conflict the letter of the law ought to take priority over the spirit of the law. When in conflict between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law are situations in which judges seek to substitute their own prejudices and biases for the will of the legislature or the constitution.

Letter of the Law refers to the strict literal meaning of the law, contrary to the millions of twists that could be put on it by people.

Spirit of the Law is defined as the twists on the law opposed to its literal meaning. Spirit is defined by Webster as (1) an inclination or tendency (2) a particular mood or emotional state characterized by vigor or animation (3) the predominate mood of an occasion or period- in sum spirit is simply a broad word referring to the general mentality surrounding a particular event. Thus the spirit of the law is the predominant mood or inclination which existed at the time the law was adopted. Read more…

The Ruritania case unveils the making of, not one, but a few very important laws which are linked by one common thread: same sex couples within an ever-changing society. The first premise is that since each decision in law (custom, jurisprudence and edict) affects the next law, timing is the key to dissecting whether or not there were failures to make the law. Additionally, legal acceptance of same-sex couples is a very volatile topic, which has brought about a plethora of public opinion and endured many changes. Examining this case in a chronological manner will help yield the most accurate interpretation of the laws at hand. The modus operendi used in analysis has led to the conclusion that there may have been a failure to make law. However, this is embedded within a framework where many laws adhered to the principles and rules of law making. It is important to briefly outline what was done correctly in order to have a basis of comparison to decide what may have been done wrong.

The 1982 constitutional legislation including the guarantee of equality rights touches on matters of discrimination, which according to Joseph Raz should be institutionalized by general rules. This eliminates flexibility of the law and serves as a durable base, which limits the unpredictability of particular orders. This also ensures stability in the law because general laws reduce the impact of ever changing mores within society. The equality guarantee in Ruritania is very clear and does, in fact, cater towards the same sex component of this case. It states a few specific categories by which discrimination is most commonly and frequently observed. However, it is understood that the law is not solely restricted to these particular orders because of the stable and general statement preceding these specific examples. To quote “Every individual is equal before and under the law…… equal protection and equal benefit…”. It is unnecessary to enter into more detail since this states, very clearly, that every individual should be treated equally, ‘point finale’. Therefore, although in 1982 same sex couples were still very much an obscurity and did not appear in the list of particular examples of discrimination, they were, nonetheless, entitled to the benefits of equality under the general rule of the constitution. It may even be considered that it was this constitution that eventually led homosexuals to more readily expose themselves to the critical eyes of society. Throughout the 1980’s, laws began to recognize sexual orientation to include ideas beyond heterosexuality. This ambiguous time period, when same-sex couples slowly took to the stage, complicates the decision as to whether or not there was a failure to make law. Read more…