1. Sources of Law
1.1. The Constiution
1.1.1. Fixed rules to keep the government in order
1.2. Statues
1.2.1. Act of legislative branch expressive its will and constituting a law of the state
1.3. Judicial Opinion
1.3.1. Case or Common Law
1.3.1.1. General rules enforced by courts
1.3.1.2. Jury of citizens establish facts
1.3.1.3. Due Process and Stare Decisis helps with decision making
2. Hierarchy of Law
2.1. 1. U.S. Constitution
2.2. 2. Federal Statues & Treaties
2.3. 3. State Constitution
2.4. 4. State Law
2.5. 5. Local/Municipal Law
3. Structure of Courts
3.1. Federal Courts
3.1.1. Supreme Court
3.1.1.1. Highest Court in the land
3.1.1.2. Not all cases go to Supreme Court
3.1.2. "Inferior" Courts
3.1.2.1. District Courts
3.1.2.1.1. At least 1 district court in all states, 94 total
3.1.2.2. Courts of Appeals
3.1.2.3. Special Federal Courts
3.1.3. Cases that come to federal courts
3.1.3.1. Cases between citizens and different states
3.1.3.2. Cases involving litigation of federal statues or the federal constitution
3.2. State Courts
3.2.1. Courts of general jurisdiction
3.2.1.1. District circuit courts
3.2.2. Courts of special jurisdication
3.2.2.1. Special cases (juvenile, domestic relations, etc.)
3.2.3. Small claims courts
3.2.3.1. Small amounts of money (hundreds-thousands)
3.2.4. Appellate courts
3.2.4.1. Courts of appeals
3.3. Types of Cases
3.3.1. Civil Cases (Civil Law)
3.3.1.1. Injured party seeks compensation or party seeks injunction or mandamus
3.3.2. Criminal Cases (Criminal Law)
3.3.2.1. Prosecutes for a violation of a criminal statue
4. Branches of Government
4.1. Legislative
4.1.1. "We enact laws"
4.1.2. Statues
4.2. Judicial
4.2.1. "We interpret laws"
4.2.2. Court Opinions (cases)
4.3. Executive
4.3.1. "We implement and administer laws"
4.3.2. Administer regulation
5. Court Process
5.1. Beginning Action
5.2. Pleading
5.3. Discovery
5.3.1. 1. Disposition (testimony before the trial)
5.3.2. 2. Interrogations
5.3.3. 3. Request for production of documents, information, or data
5.3.4. 4. Request for admission that seek to narrow issues of trial
5.3.5. 5. Request for physical or mental exams
5.4. Disposition without Trial
5.4.1. Dispose of case before trial
5.5. Trial
5.5.1. Tried before jury
5.6. Judgement and Remedy
5.6.1. Damages (money awarded)
5.6.2. Restitution
5.6.3. Coercive remedy
6. Higher Education Law
6.1. Public Institutions define rules and regulations within the limits defined by legislature
6.1.1. These rules and regulations usually fall under statutory sources of law