Library: US Criminal Justice by Credo Reference: General Information

Legal Systems

Administrative law: Topic Page
Law governing the powers and processes of administrative agencies. The term is sometimes used also of law (i.e., rules, regulations) developed by agencies in the course of their operation.
Canon law: Topic Page
The law governing the affairs of a Christian Church, especially the law created or recognized by papal authority in the Roman Catholic Church.
Civil law: Topic Page
The part of a country’s law that deals with the rights, etc of its citizens, rather than crimes.
Commercial law: Topic Page
The principles and rules drawn chiefly from custom, determining the rights and obligations of commercial transactions.
Common law: Topic Page
System of law that prevails in England and in countries colonized by England. The name is derived from the medieval theory that the law administered by the king's courts represented the common custom of the realm.
Criminal law: Topic Page
The branch of law dealing with unlawful acts which are offences against the public and society generally.
International law: Topic Page
Body of rules considered legally binding in the relations between national states, also known as the law of nations. It is sometimes called public international law in contrast to private international law (or conflict of laws), which regulates private legal affairs affected by more than one jurisdiction.
Labor law: Topic Page
Legislation dealing with human beings in their capacity as workers or wage earners. The Industrial Revolution, by introducing the machine and factory production, greatly expanded the class of workers dependent on wages as their source of income.
Maritime law: Topic Page
System of law concerning navigation and overseas commerce. Because ships sail from nation to nation over seas no nation owns, nations need to seek agreement over customs related to shipping.
Military law: Topic Page
The statutes, codes, and common traditions relating to and executed by military courts for the discipline, trial, and punishment of military personnel.

Related Fields

Criminology: Topic Page
The study of crime, society's response to it, and its prevention, including examination of the environmental, hereditary, or psychological causes of crime, modes of criminal investigation and conviction, and the efficacy of punishment or correction (see prison) as compared with forms of treatment or rehabilitation.
Ethics: Topic Page
In philosophy, the study and evaluation of human conduct in the light of moral principles.
Psychology: Topic Page
Science or study of the thought processes and behavior of humans and other animals in their interaction with the environment.
Sociology: Topic Page
Scientific study of human social behavior. As the study of humans in their collective aspect, sociology is concerned with all group activities—economic, social, political, and religious.

Terms & Concepts

Aggression: Topic Page
A form of behavior characterized by physical or verbal attack. It may appear either appropriate and self-protective.
Blue laws: Topic Page
A number of repressive puritanical laws of the colonial period, forbidding any secular activity on Sundays.
Civil rights: Topic Page
the personal rights of any citizen of a country to freedom and equality, regardless of race, religion, sex or sexuality.
Corn laws: Topic Page
The laws introduced in Britain in 1804 to protect domestic farmers against foreign competition by the imposition of a heavy duty on foreign corn: repealed in 1846.
Eminent domain: Topic Page
The right of a state to confiscate private property for public use, payment usually being made to the owners in compensation.
Gang: Topic Page
Group of people organized for a common purpose, often criminal.
Gun control: Topic Page
Attempts to legislate the right to own and bear arms.
Hostage: Topic Page
Person held by another as a guarantee that certain actions or promises will or will not be carried out. During periods of internal turmoil, insurgents often seize hostages.
Human rights: Topic Page
Rights (as freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture, and execution) regarded as belonging fundamentally to all persons.
Law: Topic Page
Rules of conduct of any organized society, however simple or small, that are enforced by threat of punishment if they are violated.
Liability: Topic Page
In law, an obligation of one party to another, usually to compensate financially. It is a fundamental aspect of tort law, although liability may also arise from duties entered into by special agreement.
Mafia: Topic Page
Secret society reputed to control organized crime such as gambling, loansharking, drug traffic, prostitution, and protection; connected with the Camorra of Naples.
Organized crime: Topic Page
Criminal activities organized and coordinated on a national scale, often with international connections.
Secret police: Topic Page
A police organization operating for the most part in secrecy and especially for the political purposes of its government often with terroristic methods.
Violence: Topic Page
What is violence? Violence is an aggressive form of behavior. It is an intentional act against another person.

Subject Guide

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