The framers of the constitution knew that accumulation of all powers in the same hands would result in tyranny. In their effort to prevent tyranny and to form a more perfect union, they undertook to separate the legislative, the executive and the judicial powers in the first three articles of the Constitution. But, knowing equally well that an absolute separation would only impair the effective function of the government, they also rejected a total separation of powers.
The law of procedure can be divided into criminal and civil. Civil procedure is the body of rules by which the parties in civil litigation use the court to settle disputes.
Generally, the party bringing the lawsuit to the court is called the plaintiff, and the party against whom the action is brought is called the defendant. On appeal, the appealing party is usually referred to as appellant, and the winning party at trial is called the appellee.
The American judicial system, reflecting the overall decentralized nature of its government, comprises a large number of federal and state courts.
The federal and the state judicial systems are each constructed like a pyramid. Entry-level courts at both the state and federal levels are trial courts, tn which witnesses are called, other evidence is presented and the fact-finder ( ajury or sometimes a jujdge ) is called upon to decide issues of fact based on the law.
The United States has a federal system of government. What this means is that under the US Constitution there is a national, or federal, government, and there are individual states, each enjoying a substantial degree of autonomy. Each state has its own constitution, its own government, its own set of statutory laws made by its own legislature, and, because of the common law tradition, a body of case law created by its own courts.
Unlike most countries in the world, actually, there are fifty-two court systems in America—one for each of the fifty states, one for the District of Columbia, plus a federal system—similarities abound. The state court systems are established according to the constitution of each state. The federal courts are not superior to the state courts; they are simply independent systems of courts, which derives its authority from Article 3, Section2, of the U.S. Constitution. Although state court systems differ, Exhibit3-1 illustrates the basic organizational structure characteristic of the court system in many states. The exhibit also shows how federal court system is structured.
