Court History and Purpose Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Court History and Purpose - Essay Example The state and federal courts have different laws but certainly share some of them. Some acts such as selling of drugs are both crimes in the two of them, which means the accused can be tried in the two of them (Siegel, 2011). Some of the criminal codes applied in the criminal court system, in America, are traceable back to some of the early legal codes used in different places, in the world, especially in the past centuries. Such codes include the Babylonian code of Hammurabi (2000 n.c.e) of lex talionis (an eye for an eye) that still guides proportionality in punishments. The Ten Commandments prohibition against theft, violence, and perjury still holds. The American criminal court system has adopted some of these codes, improved them and instituted certain laws according to the crimes committed (Siegel, 2011). Common law, which originated from England, is based on the customs and traditions that evolved over the centuries as interpreted by judicial tribunals. The American legal system is such a case, which adapted the rule from the English hence called the Anglo-American law except in Louisiana State that adapted French civil law. This is where a central government was formed, and it set its own rules and regulations and uses it to administer local courts. The adaption of this way of the court system is clearly brought out by the formation of a central government in America with a constitution, the U.S constitution. This guides the government decisions. All states have their own constitutions, with different laws. Use of precedent, often referred to as stare decisis, is common in America. American judges make judgments from earlier similar cases to pass judgment on new cases that are similar. When such cases come up, judges look at earlier rulings to derive principles that apply to the case they are deciding, and this helps them to pass judgments. As new situations arose overtime, judges created new legal principles to