NCJ Number
113592
Date Published
1988
Length
287 pages
Annotation
This book focuses on the relationship of law to justice, with the goal of understanding law and legal systems as social institutions operating among many other complex social institutions.
Abstract
Intended for students and other adults whose professional lives require an understanding of law and legal systems, the book is divided into five parts. In part one, law and justice are examined as systems. The problems of defining law are discussed and the world's principal legal systems -- Common Law Islamic, Romano-Germanic, and Socialist -- are discussed. The roots of the legal system operating in the United States are explored and the ways in which legal systems influence and reflect social change are discussed. Part two discusses how the structures of justice agencies and systems are determined by the law. Included are discussions of martial law and police agencies. Part three describes how law provides the substantive rules that justice systems administer and enforce. Criminal law substantive rules and principles are detailed. Part four discusses how law provides procedural rules for the administration of enforcement functions of justice systems. Current issues in constitutional law are discussed, as are the laws of procedure for criminal, civil, juvenile, and military cases. Part five considers how those public officials who create and administer legal systems are held accountable by the citizenry. The role that lawyers play in the justice system is explored in detail. Appendixes. 289 footnotes. Chapter references.