Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: Who are the Militia? [View all]ExCop-LawStudent
(147 posts)Here's your first lesson.
There are four sources of law in the United States and each individual State, with the exception of Louisiana (see note below). Constitutional law, the foundation of all law in the American system; statutory law, enacted by the legislative branch and agreed to by the executive branch; regulatory law, regulations created by the executive branch, normally under the authority of statute; and the common law, which are the decisions of the judiciary. A good PowerPoint primer for you is here. Come back when you have gone over the presentation and we will go over it for you, including more detail on the sources of law and the differences, but concentrating on the common law.
We'll also go over the difference between binding and non-binding decisions, holdings v. dicta, primary v. secondary authority, and mandatory v. persuasive authority. Be prepared to discuss each in turn.
Note: Louisiana is not a common law jurisdiction, but is a code law jurisdiction. Louisiana courts are not bound under the principles of stare decisis, but they do have a similar principle called jurisprudence constante. For extra credit, you can explain the difference.