Family of Law Issues - Essay Example

Family of Law Part One: Five Families of Law Chart Common Law Civil Law Theoretical Law Socialist Law TraditionalLaw Great Britain France Saudi Arabia China Navajo Nation Part 2: Essay The family of law followed in Great Britain is common law. In this type of law, cases are determined using precedent cases ruled by other judges in the past. Disputes in the common law of the Great Britain are resolved by carrying out a good analysis and research to determine how a similar situation has been solved in the past. Relevant statutes and cases are extracted and then the principles of the president case or statute are applied in the current case. Later cases carry more weight that previous cases. Under the common law, the theft of the friend will be dealt with based on other theft cases carried out in the Great Britain in the past. The judges will study other cases of theft from the past and extract their principles, and then use them to punish her. The kind of punished will be the same as the punishment given to other thieves in precedent theft cases. Gender and nationality of the friend cannot affect the ruling of the judges as long as she committed the theft offense in the Great Britain territory. The law is fair because it ensures that the guilty party is judged according to the judgments of the past similar cases. In France, the main type of law applied is the civil law. This type of law entails private laws on property, inheritance, family, and contract laws (Bell, 1998). Disputes are settled by allowing the two parties to engage in agreements, and if the agreements are broken by one or both parties the courts intervene by applying constitutional laws and statutes to pass resolutions. The theft of the friend could be death with in France by applying the civil law. The theft can be reported by the offended party to the relevant authorities who then apply the property law to enhance fairness to the owner of the property stolen. The friend may be required to pay for damages or can be jailed in court for a number of years determined by the law. The fact that the friend is a foreigner or a lady cannot influence the decision of the authorities in France under the civil law because the statutes and the constitutional laws apply to all cases committed in France. The law is fair because it follows the statutes and the constitution which are used to protect the rights of the citizens, e.g. the right to own property. The third country that can be considered in this essay is Saudi Arabia. The family of law that may apply in Saudi Arabia is theocratic law. This type of law depends on the doctrine of religion which suggests that the ruler of the people is God or the gods (Hirschl, 2010). Disputes are settled in Saudi Arabia by following the principles of the Islamic religion. Considering God as the ruler, authorities in Saudi Arabia follow the laws in Holy Books to settle disputes among conflicting parties. The procedure followed in solving disputes in this case includes bringing the two parties together in the presence of religious leaders and reading the religious doctrines to both of them. Instead of punishing the guilty party, he/she is asked to reconcile by free will with the offended party and ask God for forgiveness. The friend would be summoned and told that theft is a in punishable by God, and in order to be right with God she needs to compensate and repent. Other considerations of the theft case in Saudi Arabia include gender and nationality. Because the thief is a woman, she is more likely to be treated more harshly by the theocratic laws in Saudi Arabia because there is gender bias in the country. Furthermore, being a foreigner means that she is not part of the religious community in Saudi Arabia; hence she may not be brought before the religious authorities. I think this law is not fair because it may not be fair to some religious groups and some gender types. In China, the family of laws that can be applied in the theft case is socialist law which involves unified concept of real property. Disputes are solved in this type of law by involving various members of the society because property is owned by the society (Quigley, 1989). The friend’s theft is dealt with by calling various members of the society together before the relevant authorities and key principles of the society are used to rule the case. She would be given a punishment agreed by the members of the society, including engaging in community projects. Being a foreigner may affect the treatment of the offender because the Chinese society will not recognize a foreigner as a member of their society. This law is fair because it takes the interests if the wider society into consideration. Lastly, the family of laws applied in Navajo Nation is the traditional law which involves the protection of the traditional lives and culture of the people. Disputes are resolved by using the fundamental values and universal principles that guide the people’s ways of life. Navajo Nation government heads the conflict resolution by exercising its authority to apply the fundamental values of the country. The friend’s theft can be handled by considering the fundamental value of the property stolen. Traditionally, Navajo Nation values its city of Arizona and it is highly likely that a theft in its territory can be taken very seriously. The friend can be punished by being deported immediately to her country or being jailed in Arizona. The fact that the friend is a foreigner may affect her treatment in Arizona because the traditional law of the Navajo Nation cannot allow a foreigner to ruin the traditional values of its people. However, her gender does not affect her treatment because the traditional law does not discriminate against gender. This law is fair because it protects the traditional pride and values of the nation which benefit all citizens. References list Bell, J. (1998). Principles of French law. New York: Oxford University Press. Hirschl, R. (2010). Constitutional Theocracy. Harvard: Harvard University Press. Mahler, G.S. (2004). Politics and Government in Israel: The Maturation of a Modern State. New York: Rowman & Littlefield. Quigley, J. (1989). Socialist Law and the Civil Law Tradition. The American Journal of Comparative Law, 37 (4), 781–808. Read More