What is law?

The question what is law has troubled people for many years. To understand the law, we must consider the relationship of law to morals. Our legal system is influenced by traditional ideas of right and wrong. Law fall into 2 major groups: criminal and civil. l Criminal laws regulate public conduct and set out duties owed to society. Criminal offenses are divided into felonies and misdemeanors. The maximum penalty for a felony is a term of more than one year in prison. Civil laws regulate relations between individuals or groups of individuals. Civil laws regulate many everyday situations such as marriage, divorce, conracts, consumer protection, and negligence. Constitutional law is a leading category of the whole system of law. Administrative law is closely connected with constitutional law,but it deals with the legal forms of concrete executive and adminstrative activity of government and ministries. International law regulates relations between governments and also between private citizensof one country and those of another. Financial law regulates the budget, taxation and others.

Законодавча влада в країнах

One of the most important branch is legislative branch of power, which is presented by different bodies in different countries. Parliament, Britan’s legislature, comprises the House of Commons, the House of lords and the Queen in her constitutional role. The centre of parliamentary power is the House of Commons, which has 651 elected members of parliament. Limitations on the power of the Lords are based on the principle that the House, as a revising chamber, should complement the commons and not rival it. Once passed through both houses, legislation receives the Royal Assent and it than becomes law. Talking about USA, article 1 of the Constitution grants all legislative powers of the federal government to a Congress divided into 2 chambers, a Senate and the House of Representatives. Each House of Congress has the power to introduce legislation on any subject except raising revenue , which must approve in the House of R. Each house can vote against legislation passed by the other house. The Senate also has certain power to confirm presidential appointment of high officials and ambassadors of the federal govern and to ratify all treaties by a 2-3 vote. The Senate has the sole power to try impeachment and to find government officials guilty or not guilty.

Виконавча влада в країнах

Talking about USA, within the executive branch itself, the president has broad powers to manage national affairs and the working of the federal government. The President can issue rules, regulations and instructions called executive orders. As commander-in-chief of the armed force of the U.S., the President may also call into federal service the state units of the national guard. The president nominates the heads of all executive departments and agencies. He may veto any bill passed by the Congress. The executive power in U.K. is presented by the monarch, privy council and Cabinet Ministers. The monarch formally summons, prorogue and dissolve parliament and appoints the ministers of the Cabinet. The real work of the monarchy consists largely in signing papers. The Queen has the power to confer peerages, knighthoods and other honours. The Queen make appointments to many important state officers, on the advice of the prime minister. The Privy Council is the body which advises the Queen. In the U.K. the functions of the Privy Council include issuing Orders in Council, granting Royal Charges and acting as a court of appeal from British courts in overseas territories. The Prime Minister selects other ministers, which make up the Governments and act as political heads of the various Government Departments.

Судова система в країнах

One of 3 branches of federal government , the judiciary, consists of system of courts and headed by the Supreme Court of the US. The judicial power extends to cases arising under the Constitution, an act of Congress, or a treaty of the US, cases affecting ambassadors, ministers and consuls of the foreign countries in the US, different controversies and bankruptcy cases. The Supreme Court is the highest court of the US. He has original jurisdiction in only 2 kinds of cases: those involving foring dignitaries and those in which a state is a party. The UK does not have a single unified judicial system. The Court of Appeal, the High Court, The Crown Court, the Magistrate’s Court and the County Courts are administrated by Her Majesty’s Courts of Justice. The House of Lords is the highest appeal court in almost all cases in England and Wales. The Supreme Court is the most important superior court of England and Wales. It consists of court of appeal, High court of Justice and Crown Court. The Court of Appeal consists of 2 divisions: the Civil and Criminal Division. The High Court function both as a civil trial court and a criminal appellate court for cases from higher courts. The Crown Court is a criminal court of both original and appellate jurisdiction.