Grace Brasseaux
CMST 3080 Mass Media Law
10/22/2024
Five Sources of Law
I. Common Law
Common law is a system that judges use when determining the
outcome of a case. The judges look at the way that similar cases
were handled in the past to decide how a case should be settled,
rather than choosing the outcome of a case depending on written
law. This allows consistency in the court.
Example: A child gets hurt playing on playground equipment at
school. The parents of this child decide to sue the school district,
and the judge handling the case looks at past cases of school
districts being sued for the injury of a child on school property to
determine how to settle the case.
II. Equity Law
Equity Law allows judges to evaluate a case as fairly and justly as
they can, then decide the outcome of a case. This can be used to
decide the result of a case that may be unique or cannot be solved
with usual rules or precedents in the justice system. Some typical
outcomes in equity law are temporary restraining orders,
preliminary injunctions, and permanent injunctions.
Example: A person thinks that their neighbor is beginning to build a
fence on their property, but the neighbors have an ongoing
argument about where each property borders. There may be a
preliminary injunction placed to cease the building of the fence until
the property records are found and it is legally determined where
each neighbor’s property is located.
III. Statutory Law
Statutory laws are created by groups of people to try to predict
obstacles that could affect large numbers of citizens. They are
created by legislative bodies, such as city councils, state
legislatures, or U.S. Congress. When these laws are created by
these legislative bodies, the laws and consequences are written
down in lawbooks and codes, making them applicable to all criminal
law to keep our society safe.
Example: The city council is noticing that stop signs have been
going missing in their small city for the past week. It has already
caused 2 car accidents. The police department sets up surveillance
cars and cameras and catches the person who is guilty of stealing
the stop signs. This person is charged with the legal repercussions
of this action and has legal consequences because of it.
IV. Constitutional Law
Constitutional law is used when there is a question of the structure
of the government or important rights for citizens. Since the U.S.
constitution is the highest law for our country, no other laws can
override this constitutional law.
Example: A newspaper publishes a story with information on a city
official that makes him look untrustworthy. The city official tries to
sue the news company, and the court decides that the news can
publish this story based on the constitutional right of our freedom of
speech.
V. Administrative Law
Administrative law is used to keep large issues, such as healthcare
or environmental, regulated by law. The government creates
agencies to regulate these large social issues so that everything can
be fair and just. This source of law allows the government to make
rules to ensure the health and safety of citizens.
Example: A company makes cookies and is selling them to make a
profit. If they want to make money from selling their food, they must
be FDA approved to ensure that the people eating their food will be
safe and healthy.
