French and American Court System Research Paper - 1

French and American Court System - Research Paper Example The American Court System has basically the same degrees of organization with federal and state courts hearing the case when it is first brought up, a Court of Appeals for appeals made from the decision of the federal and state courts and the Supreme Court which has the final say when the case has not been resolved in the Court of Appeals. (American Bar Association, 2006); ( Wasby, 2000) As compared to the United States where the Supreme Court has the final authority on the interpretation of the Federal Constitution and all statutes and regulations created pursuant to it, the authority in France which has the final say on the interpretation of the law is divided into two: the Conseil dÉtat for administrative cases and the Court of Cassation for civil and criminal cases. The Jury System is a court proceeding where sentencing decision makers are people (note that it is more than one person) who may have no or little education in law and a judge as an arbiter/overseer of the proceedings such as in the United States. This is in contrast to other systems such as a Professional Judge which makes use of a career attorney delegated by the state to become a court’s sentencing decision maker. This is the mode among countries such as Japan and the Philippines. Besides from the jury which employs lay persons (lay in the sense that they may have little education in law), there also exists the lay judge where a layperson (singular) serves as the judge. This system can be found in many tribal communities where religion governs and legal codes and education are not yet well established. The jury is supposed to be the protector of the individual’s rights from the decision of the state by having the case presented to peers or equals of the accused who by being peers can understand the motivation or plight of the accused. Presumably, they are to understand the actions of the accused and judge whether the actions were prudent and acceptable to common values of equals in the same society.