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Respond to each classmate 100 words a piece

Law

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Respond to each classmate 100 words a piece.

The question they had to answer. (Identify and discuss the differences among the four main sources of law in the United States at both the federal and state level. Also, discuss the concept of natural law, and identify an example of natural law found in one of those four, main sources.)

Classmate 1 

The primary sources of law include the United States at both the federal and state level are 1) The national constitution and the constitutions of the individual states. 2)  Statutory law—including legislation made by state legislatures, congress, and other local government agencies. 3)  Laws and regulations developed by governmental bodies, such as the federal Food and Drug Administration. 4)  Case law also referred to as court rulings. The power to make laws is spread among three branches, that is, the executive, judiciary, and legislature, both at the state and federal levels.

The executive arm is guided by administrative edicts, executive orders, and directives. Notably, only the president has the power to issue the last two. Rules and regulations are also crucial to the establishment and operations of agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. Congress passes the acts that lead to the formation of these entities. Finally, the judiciary shapes a country’s laws through case precedents. Judges, on the other hand, shape the "common law." The law is stated in a growing corpus of doctrine defined by judges in individual instances, rather than in a collection of predetermined abstract principles. As a result, common law expands and is subject to changes over time. Further, common law obligates courts to follow prior rulings (precedents) to maintain the fundamentals of common law. 

Natural law claims that human beings contain innate values that regulate their thinking and conduct. These principles of good and wrongdoing are inherent in humans and are not essentially informed by society or court judgements. Natural law maintains these values should form the foundation of a fair society. A well-acknowledged example of natural law in our culture is that it is wrong to murder another person for any reasons. This natural law has shaped policies in prison sentences for murder cases with reduced death sentences in the US. 

Classmate 2

In the U.S. there are four sources of law. These sources are Constitutional law, Statutory law, Administrative law, and Case and Common law. Each source of law has a different function as to how they keep order, and what their jurisdiction is. For example, Constitutional law applies to both state and federal levels. On the federal level, Constitutional law applies to the enforcement and upkeep of the laws set by the United States Constitution and the relationship of the three branches of government.  On the state level Constitutional law deals with the interpretation and implementation of state constitutions. Statutory law can be applied at the federal and state level. Statutory law are laws that are passed by the legislature, either state or federal. These laws are designed as acts which are passed by congress and become public law. Administrative law are the rules and regulations that are put into place to govern the function of government agencies and how they carry out laws set by congress. These laws are commonly enacted on a federal level. Case law or common law is based on precedents that are set by judicial rulings. These rulings can come from either the state or federal level.

Natural law can be explained as the ethical, just, and right treatment that would be considered a natural act or natural to do. A majority of Constitutional law is based off of natural law such as the laws written in the Bill of Rights. Although the idea of laws being a natural occurrence in life, we see daily that they are not. Some of the natural laws that we all know are still being violated.