Criminal Justice System: How Laws Term Paper

' (Johnson, 2003; paraphrased) Congress's work is "initiated by the introduction of a proposal in one of four forms:

1) the bill;

2) the joint resolution;

3) the concurrent resolution; and 4) the simple resolution. (Johnson, 2003)

There are two types of bills:

1) the public bill; and 2) the private bill. (Johnson, 2003) public bill is one that has an effect on the public in a general way while a private bill is one that affects a private entity instead of the population at large. Once a bill has been agreed to by both the Senate and the House of Congress it becomes a law only after:

1) "Presidential approval; or 2) Failure by the President to return it with objections to the House in which is originated within ten days or 3) the overriding of a presidential veto by a two-thirds vote in each house." (Johnson, 2003)

II. Case Law

There are those who believe that judges 'make' laws however, the truth is that judges only 'interpret' the law. Case law is binding on the decisions that a judge makes in a case. Case law is the "Legal precedent that is created by judges rather than legislatures. In case law, judges can either interpret statutory law or apply the common law." (E.B. Williams Library, nd) in other words, when a judge hears a case he will review the decisions in cases that are as much similar to the case that is being heard as possible and rule as closely to what has been ruled in cases in time before the present case in order to make a decision that is 'based upon case law'.

Summary & Conclusion

This work has provided a brief review of the making and changing of laws within the framework of the United States Judicial system as stated in the U.S. Constitution and noted herein.

Bibliography

Johnson, C.W. (2003) How Our Laws Are Made. Presented by Mr. Ney June 20, 2003. Online available at http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:oV7GPSjFhbEJ:www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/howourlawsaremade.pdf+How+laws+are+made+and+changed&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

Case Law (nd) E.B. Williams Library. Tutorials. 2001. Georgetown University Law Library. Online available at http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/tutorials/definitions/case_law.html.