Lecture Notes & Reminder for March 2010 : LEGAL AND GOVERNMENTAL TERMINOLOGY POLITICAL THEORY

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

Dear students,

1. Please refer these terminologies as well as all articles that have been posted for the past 2 weeks.

2. The class' speaker corner will be as usual ... do get ready to voice out loud !!!

3. Remember the dateline of your assignment !!! Please be informed

TQ

Hamdan

LEGAL AND GOVERNMENTAL TERMINOLOGY
POLITICAL THEORY

A
ACT A bill which has passed through the various legislative steps required for it and which has become law, as in "an Act of the Commonwealth of Australia." Synonymous to statute, legislation or law.


ANARCHISM Political theory that government and laws are undesirable; resistance, sometimes by terrorism, to organize government.

ANARCHY Lawlessness; Complete absence of government.

APARTHEID Segregation of races; The policy of strict racial and political segregation as well as economical discrimination against nonwhites as practiced in South Africa.

ARISTOCRACY Government by a privileged minority or upper class, usually of inherited wealth and social position; a privileged ruling class.

AUTOCRACY Uncontrolled or unlimited authority over others invested in a single person;
An absolute government by one man;
See also Dictatorship.

AUTONOMY Self Government; Independence;
The power or right of self government.

B

BICAMERAL Made up of having two legislative chambers. Eg:
A) Malaysia; 1. Dewan Rakyat and 2. Dewan Negara
B) UK; 1. House of Common and 2. House of Lord
C) US; 1. House of Representative 2. House of Senate

BILL A draft of a law proposed by a lawmaking body

C

CABINET A group of ministers who govern a country

CIVIL LIBERTIES The liberties of an individual to exercise those rights guaranteed by the laws of a country;
Liberties guaranteed to all individuals by law, custom, and judicial interpretation, etc.; rights, as of speaking or acting as one likes, without governmental interference or restraint except as determined necessary for the public welfare.

COLONIALISM The policy of a nation seeking to extend its authority over other territories;
The system by which a country maintains foreign colonies in order to exploit them economically.

COMMUNISM A one-party political structure, and an emphasis on the requirements of the state rather than on individual liberties;
The doctrine that all goods means of production, etc., should be the property of the community.

CONFEDERACY;
CONFEDERATION Nations or states united for some common purpose; A league or mutual agreement; Alliance.

COMMON LAW Judge-made law. Law which exists and applies to a group on the basis of historical legal precedents developed over hundreds of years. Because it is not written by elected politicians but, rather, by judges, it is also referred to as "unwritten" law. Judges seek these principles out when trying a case and apply the precedents to the facts to come up with a judgement.

Common law is often contrasted with civil law systems which require all laws to be written in a code or written collection. Common law has been referred to as the "common sense of the community, crystallized and formulated by our ancestors".

Equity law developed after the common law to offset the rigid interpretations medieval English judges were giving the common law. For hundreds of years, there were separate courts in England and its dependents: one for common law and one for equity and the decisions of the latter, where they conflicted, prevailed. It is a matter of legal debate whether or not common law and equity are now "fused." It is certainly common to speak of the "common law" to refer to the entire body of English law, including common law and equity.


CONSERVATISM The disposition to preserve what is established and to resist change;
The principles and practices of a conservative person or party.

Constitutionalism Government according to a constitution;
Adherence and obedience to constitutional principles of government.

CONSITUTION A form of government involving fundamental principles by which a state is governed and by which the monarch or other head of the state is controlled.

CRIME An act or omission which is prohibited by criminal law. Each state sets out a limited series of acts (crimes) which are prohibited and punishes the commission of these acts by a fine, imprisonment or some other form of punishment. In exceptional cases, an omission to act can constitute a crime, such as failing to give assistance to a person in peril or failing to report a case of child abuse.

CRIMINAL LAW That body of the law that deals with conduct considered so harmful to society as a whole that it is prohibited by statute, prosecuted and punished by the government.

D

DEMOCRACY Government by the people;
Government in which the people hold the ruling power; Majority rule;
The principle of equality of rights, opportunity, and treatment.

DICTATORSHIP Absolute power or authority;
A state ruled by a dictator;
A dictatorial government.

DICTATOR A supreme ruler; one who has absolute authority; one who exercises his power tyrannically.


E

EQUITY A branch of English law which developed hundreds of years ago when litigants would go to the King and complain of harsh or inflexible rules of common law which prevented "justice" from prevailing. For example, strict common law rules would not recognize unjust enrichment, which was a legal relief developed by the equity courts. The typical Court of Equity decision would prevent a person from enforcing a common law court judgment. The kings delegated this special judicial review power over common law court rulings to chancellors. A new branch of law developed known as "equity", with their decisions eventually gaining precedence over those of the common law courts. A whole set of equity law principles were developed based on the predominant "fairness" characteristic of equity such as "equity will not suffer a wrong to be without a remedy" or "he who comes to equity must come with clean hands". Many legal rules, in countries that originated with English law, have equity-based law such as the law of trusts and mortgages.


EXECUTIVE The power or authority in government that carries the laws into effect; The person who administer the government or an organization.

F

FASCISM A system of government characterized by rigid one-party dictatorship, forcible suppression of opposition, private economic enterprise under control of central government, belligerent nationalism, racism, and militarism.

FEDERALISM A system by which several states form one large country but each state retains the right to control its internal affairs;
The federal principle of government or organization in which there is a league between nations or states.

FEDERATION A federal union of states, nations, etc.,
The act of uniting in league; The act of uniting or of forming a union of states, etc., by agreement of each member to subordinate its power to that of the central authority in common affairs.

FUNDAMENTALISM Belief in the literal truth of the religious beliefs based on literal interpretation. Fundamentalist is one who professes this belief.

G

H

I

IDEOLOGY The body of ideas on which a particular political, economic or social system is based.

IMPERIALISM The policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies; imperial government;
An imperial system of government; the policy and practice of seeking to dominate the economic or political affairs of underdeveloped areas or weaker countries.

IMMUNITY An exemption that a person (individual or corporate) enjoys from the normal operation of the law such as a legal duty or liability, either criminal or civil. For example, diplomats enjoy "diplomatic immunity" which means that they cannot be prosecuted for crimes committed during their tenure as diplomat. Another example of immunity is where a witness agrees to testify only if the testimony cannot be used at some later date during a hearing against the witness.


INFLATION Undue increase in quantity of money in proportion to buying power, as on an excessive issue of fiduciary money; an increase in the general price level as a result of an increase in the amount of money and credit in relation to the supply of goods and services; an excessive or persistent increase of price levels, causing a decline in purchasing power.

INTERNATIONAL
LAW A combination of treaties and customs, which regulates the conduct of states amongst themselves. The highest judicial authority of international law is the International Court of Justice and the administrative authority is the United Nations.

J

JUS SANGUINIS [ right of blood] A right, which entitles one to citizen-ship of a nation of which one’s natural parents are citizens.

JUS SOLI [right of land] A right which entitles one to citizen-ship of a nation in which one was born.

K

L

LEGISLATION A Law; A body of laws enacted; Written and approved laws. Also known as "statutes" or "acts." In constitutional law, one would talk of the "power to legislate" or the "legislative arm of government" referring to the power of political bodies (Eg: House of Assembly, Congress, Parliament) to write the laws of the land.

M

MAJORITARIANISM Majoritarian rule; Rule by the majority

MATRIARCHY Government by a mother or by mothers

MERITOCRACY An intellectual elite, based on academic achievement;
A system in which such an elite achieves special status, as in positions of leadership;


MEMBER OF
PARLIAMENT A Person who has been elected to parliament. Eg :
1. Malaysia : Dewan Rakyat
2. 2. UK : House of Common

MONARCHY A kind of government of which there is a monarch; A government or state in which the supreme power is actually or nominally lodged in a monarch i.e. King, Queen, Emperor or Empress.

MONOCRACY Government by one person. See AUTOCRACY


N

NATION A group or race of people that share history, traditions and culture. The United Kingdom is comprised of four nations or national groups: the English, Scots, Irish and Welsh. Canada includes French-Canadians, English-Canadians and a number of aboriginal nations. Thus, states may be comprised of one or several nations. It is common English to use the word "nation" when referring to what is known in law as "states."


NEGLIGENCE Not only are people responsible for the intentional harm they cause, but their failure to act as a reasonable person would be expected to act in similar circumstances (i.e. "negligence") will also give rise to compensation. Negligence, if it causes injury to another, can give rise to a liability suit under tort. Negligence is always assessed having regards to the circumstances and to the standard of care which would reasonably be expected of a person in similar circumstances. Everybody has a duty to ensure that their actions do not cause harm to others. Between negligence and the intentional act there lies yet another, more serious type of negligence which is called gross negligence. Gross negligence is any action or an omission in reckless disregard of the consequences to the safety or property of another. See also contributory negligence and comparative negligence.


NEPOTISM Favoritism shown on the basis of family relationship whether in business or politic.


O

OLIGARCHY Government by a small exclusive class; the person ruling such a state.

P

PARLIAMENT The national legislative body for a state, whether in the form of unicameral or bicameral.

PATRIARCHY Government, rule or domination by men as in a family or tribe. See MATRIARCHY

PORTFOLIO The office of each minister of a state.

PUBLIC LAW Those laws which regulate (1) the structure and administration of the government, (2) the conduct of the government in its relations with its citizens, (3) the responsibilities of government employees and (4) the relationships with foreign governments. Good examples are criminal and constitutional law. It can be distinguished from private law, which regulates the private conduct between individuals, without direct involvement of the government. For example, an unsolicited punch in the nose would constitute a crime for which the government would prosecute under criminal law but for which there would also be a private legal action possible by the injured party under tort law, which is private law although governments can be held responsible under tort law. As you can see, the line is often hard to draw between public and private law.
PRIVATE LAW Law which regulates the relationships between individuals. Family, commercial and labor law are examples of private law because the focus of those kinds of laws is the relationships between individuals or between corporations or organizations and individual, with the government a bystander. They are the counter part to public law.

Q

R

REPUBLIC A state in which the supremacy of the people or its elected representatives is formally acknowledged;
A state or nation with a president as its titular head.

S

SECULARISM A system of doctrines and practices that disregards or rejects any form of religious faith and worship; a system of political or social philosophy that rejects all forms of religious faith.

SHADOW CABINET Those members of the opposition party who function as unofficial counterparts to the cabinet ministers of the ruling party.

SOCIALISM A theory or system of social organization that advocates the ownership and control of industry, capital, land etc., by the community as a whole;
The stage following the capitalism in the transition of a society to Communism;
The stage of society in Marxist doctrine coming between the capitalist and the communist stage, in which private ownership of the means of production and distribution has been eliminated.

T

TECHNOCRACY Government by technicians;
The theory of a system of government in which all economic resources, and hence the entire social system, would be controlled by scientists and engineers.

TORT Derived from the Latin word tortus which meant wrong. In French, "tort" means a wrong". Tort refers to that body of the law which will allow an injured person to obtain compensation from the person who caused the injury. Every person is expected to conduct themselves without injuring others. When they do so, either intentionally or by negligence, they can be required by a court to pay money to the injured party ("damages") so that, ultimately, they will suffer the pain cause by their action. Tort also serves as a deterrent by sending a message to the community as to what is unacceptable conduct.

U

ULTRA VIRES Beyond the legal power or authority of a person.

UNICAMERAL Single legislative chamber