Drawbacks of the Common Law System

Explain the drawbacks of the common law system in England and Wales. ‘Common law’ originated in England in the 11th century. Today in the United States of America, some common law principles from the original English Law are being applied.Alongside it is the branching body of Common Law which is in the process of being set as a part of stare decisis which itself is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ‘stare decisis et non quieta movere’ which translates as ‘to stand by decisions and not to disturb settled matters’, whereby the judicial systems decisions and interpretation of statutory law provisions by judges, are becoming a part of the common law. Judges too do look to these decisions as a guideline, reference or as a necessary precedent to follow, whilst making their own decisions.Although advantages of the system have been significant in England and Wales, drawbacks of the system gradually came on par. As these decisions are based on past cas es, predictability of the outcome increased and people are more exposed to what should be expected, however so, with the element of predictability, absurdity on deciding cases may occur. In referring to a decided case, if there appears to be no change and the decision is followed again by a judge, a bad decision will eventually be perpetuated.And considering common law systems have been following precedents as a base, changes takes a long time to happen. In the meantime, a bad decision from a past case continues to be upheld. It became a major criticism of common law systems that it can be hard to locate the relevant principles due to the available volume of material. Common law which was based on the principle of binding precedent meant that judges must follow precedent even if they disagree with it.Judges too were not able to distinguish essentially similar cases although they were on grounds decision made would be inappropriate. Lord Denning too criticised the doctrine to stand b y what has been decided by saying, â€Å"if lawyers hold to their precedents too closely, forgetful of the fundamental principles of truth and justice which they should serve, they may find the whole edifice comes tumbling down about them. Just as the scientist seeks for truth, so the lawyer should seek for justice.Just as the scientist takes his instances and from them builds up his general propositions, so the lawyer should take his precedents and from them build up his general principles. Just as the propositions of the scientist fail to be modified when shown not to fit all instances, or even discarded when shown in error, so the principles of the lawyer should be modified when found to be unsuited to the times or discarded when found to work injustice. , which in other words meant accepting the decisions of old law leads to unfairness and injustice. Furthermore, when precedent appears absent the common law legal system will be bound to face difficulties in making judgements. D ifficulties will arise and flood various parties which include judges and those with intention to claim justice will be at lost with the unavailability of a decided precedent to refer to. This has been said on certain occasion to lead to a high degree of unpredictability based on illogical distinctions.

A policy of imperialism in America

A policy of imperialism in America From the late 1800s through the early 1900s, Americans pursued a policy of imperialism that became referenced as Social Darwinism. This Imperialist Age left a positive impact on America through the military and economic worlds. Leading the nations, the United States felt that colonies were crucial to military power. Militarism and imperialism were both connected. They were connected because imperialism meant the stronger taking control of the weaker and having a strong military is what America wanted to have to be the more powerful nation and take control. Europeans have been taking control for years and America didn’t want to be next Imperialism made the military row stronger for its country. In the 19th century, military power was a form of imperial strength. A nation needed a strong military to protect its interests and support its policies. â€Å"Seeing that other nations were establishing a global military presence, American leaders advised that the United States build up its own military strength†(Holt 549) Strong armies and navies were needed to take care of the United States, to protect trade among other countries, and stay strong against threats and rivals. Admiral Alfred T. Mahan of the U.S. Navy urged the government officials to strengthen and put time/money into the American naval power. â€Å"As a result of the urging of Mahan and others, the United States built nine steel-hulled cruisers between 1883 and 1890†(Holt 549). This was done in order to compete with other nations. Governments and leaders who have not been able to maintain their armies and navies are considered less than or weaker than other countries. Americans military strengthened and overcame many obstacles for it to be one of the armies of the leading nations.This wasn’t the only positive effect but also. In the late 19th century, advances in technology enabled American farms and factories to produce more than the average amount of American citizens could consume. The United States needed more material for the factories and new, different markets for its goods. â€Å"Imperialists viewed foreign trade as the solution to American overproduction and the related problems of unemployment and economic depression†(Holt 549). The motive for nineteenth-century European imperialism is that imperialism would benefit the economies of the colonial powers. Some Americans formed the idea that Social Darwinism came into play. â€Å"A belief that free-market competition would lead to the survival of the fittest†(Holt 550). America was growing and reaching to the top of the economy list of the world and many believed that the United States had the responsibility to help the inferior peoples. Because the American economy advanced and produce more goods, the country became richer than ever and helped make the economy boom. Overall imperialism really had a major factor when having the United States military grow stronger as it pushed the country to protect its interests and support its policies. But also help the economy rise, advance in technology, and produce more goods.

Memorandum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Memorandum - Essay Example This memo focuses into the alarming conditions of present day’s political Middle East mainly centered on the development of cultural disparities and their implications in the international politics. The purpose framing this memorandum is to critically evaluate all the aspects that contributed to the origin, development and intensity of the religious rifts and the involvement of world economies in politicizing the issues for the promotion of the Arab region a profitable market for selling weapons and easy source for petroleum fuels. Cultural disparities and high intensive fanatic views of certain self-styled upper class population had formed their separatist views against the Muslims of the Persian region assumed to have inferior life style and the lenience toward the Zoroastrian mix of Judaist views of the Palestinian regions. The power demonstrations to occupy the positions in their own desired mainland in the oil-rich provinces of the desert terrains of Arabic dominance were becoming vigorous and violent year after year. The intensity of the regional wars contributed to the horror of the scene with several thousands of innocent Muslims from both Sunni and Shiite individuals losing their lives in the battle for outright supremacy of the religious upper hand over the Arabian region. A classified study about the Kurdish population and the influence of their culture in the Muslim nations of the Middle East has been a choice of many scholars. A rather old Kurdish culture evolved by the conversion of a tribal grou p called the Kurds to Islam by 7th century AD. The distribution of converted Kurds formed a proportion that most of them stayed Sunnis while a part of them remained Shiites. The studies done on Kurdish religion and the lifestyle of the people reveal that the Kurdish culture is a mix of almost all forms of religious practices predominant in the West Asian and European countries in the past. Then, with the

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Philosophy - Essay Example Turing’s article discussed the famous Turing test, i.e. the imitation game. A similar take on Turing’s philosophy is John Searle’s Chinese room argument or thought experiment. In this essay, I would like to share something vital that I learned in our discussions in class, as well as something that I learned beyond our class discussions, since the topic was of great value to me. I shall give an overview of Turing and Searle’s philosophy of mind. Afterwards, I shall show how their philosophy is of much value to me, in this present day. For, I do believe that topics such as these are not only valuable inside classrooms but also in the real world, that is, in my life. To begin with, like Turing, the Chinese room argument or thought-experiment, advanced by John Searle (1980), specifically challenges the view of artificial intelligence or what is more commonly known as the computational theory of mind. It challenges the claim that all there is in having a mind i s the implementation of a computer program, and that as a consequence, the mental states of humans are no different in kind from the computational states of a running computer program. The Chinese room argument challenges this claim by showing that, unlike humans, computers do not know what the contents of their computational states (or the symbols they manipulate) are about or represent in the world. What computers only know of these symbols are their shapes and the ways in which they should be combined according to the rules of their programs. The Chinese room argument, in its simple form, goes this way. Imagine a native English speaker who does not understand Chinese is locked in a room with only two outlets. Outside of this room are native Chinese speakers who do not know who or what is inside the room. In one outlet, the Chinese speakers give the person inside the room several manuscripts bearing Chinese symbols and a manual of English instructions for manipulating these Chines e symbols. The person inside the room does not even know that the symbols are Chinese; he only recognizes and individuates the symbols according to their shapes or formal properties. Now imagine that the manual, which the person has immediately mastered, says that if he recognizes certain combinations of symbols in the manuscripts given to him in one outlet, then he should arrange certain combinations of symbols and send them to the persons outside the room through the other outlet. Suppose that what the person inside the room sends to the persons outside the room are correct answers to the questions that the persons outside the room ask him through the manuscripts that they send him. In this case, in so far as the persons outside the room are concerned, the person inside the room understands Chinese. But the fact is the person inside the room does not understand the symbols—he does not even know that they are Chinese; he does not know what they represent; and he simply manip ulates them according to the instructions in the manual. Technically speaking, he does not know the semantics of those symbols; he only knows their syntax. So does that count as intelligence? Similarly, an important thought experiment that is used to defend the views of artificial intelligence is the Turing test as discussed in our previous lessons. It will be recalled that according to this test, if after a series of questions and answers, the human interrogator could not tell, on

Consequences of Neoliberalism. Economic Consequences of Neoliberalism Essay

Consequences of Neoliberalism. Economic Consequences of Neoliberalism - Essay Example Neoliberalism supports maximum role of the private sector in determining the dimensions of the political and economic policies and priorities of a country (Klak, 1998, p76). Neoliberalism stresses upon the shift of control from the public to the private sector because it is based upon the belief that the greater involvement of public sector will allow efficient government and eventually the overall economic condition will also be improved by giving more control to the private sector. Neoliberalism proposes some crucial principles and policy proposals for transforming the traditional economic system (Touraine, 2001, p11). Neoliberal approach asserts that deficits should be avoided and used only for occasional stabilization purpose because large deficits little effect upon the employment level of the country whereas constant deficits generate high inflation and lower productivity. Similarly, this approach also demands transformation in the taxation system, floating exchange rate, redir ection of public spending towards infrastructure development, education and healthcare etc. Privatization of the state enterprises is an important proposition of neoliberal approach because it is demonstrated by the neoliberal theorists that privatization will promote competition and increase the choices available to the people in several sectors like banking and telecommunication etc. Trade liberalization is proposed by suspending the regulations that act as barrier in market entry and restrict competition in the sector. These basic principles draw some very important and transformational impacts upon the societies and economies and after the implementation of neoliberal policies the world community has experiences some significant and critical impacts of this approach within their political and social system. The global spread of neoliberalism indicates its wide acceptance and popularity across the world however, despite this approbation there is consistent increase in the questio ns raised against neoliberal policies and the claimed benefits of this ideology have also frequently been challenged. There is mixed support for the neoliberal policies among the developed nations of the world and their economies and societies also reflect its benefits whereas the developing countries are not as open towards the neoliberalism as developed ones. The neoliberal policies are often challenged and questioned at global level. It is widely argues that neoliberalism has brought several positive and negative consequences to the economic, political and social systems of the countries. These consequences differ from country to country depending upon the level of enactment of the neoliberal policies. The consequences of neoliberalism could be examines from social, political and economic point of views because the systems of different countries have been responded towards neoliberal policies in distinct manner (Chomsky, 1999, p32). In the modern economic system the neoliberal po licies are often challenged by the new institutional economics and evolving concepts of economies of information, risk and uncertainty. In developed countries like U.S and U.K. neoliberalism is often blamed for damaging the social safety nets whereas the developing nations including some African countries complain that adopting neoliberalism policies provide little benefit to their economies and there is inclusive or significant contribution made by these policies to the economic, social and political growth of these countries. In fact, it is also claimed that neoliberal policies have negatively affected the development policies and growth process initiated before the

Human Rights Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Rights - Research Paper Example This paper provides a brief detail of them along with human right practices in different nations. Introduction The concept of human rights was first introduced to the world by United Nations Charter in 1945 (Freeman, 2011, p 4). The elements or doctrines of human rights which were declared by United Nations are accepted across the globe as standard human rights. The human rights include a host of provisions or aspects. Some of these are- freedom by birth, equality of rights and dignity, promotion of universal peace and brotherhood, eradication of any discrimination in theory and practice, general right to lead one’s own life with liberty and security, general right of not entertaining any extreme punishment or degrading treatment, right to recognition, equality before law and State, right to fair trials and public hearing, right of doing social and cultural duties, right to opine and express, freedom of thought and conscience, freedom of exercising ones free will regarding sel ection of religion, political party, philosophy, and many others (Preamble, n.d.). This paper examines general characteristic features of human rights, its historical background, international bodies supporting its cause and finally its implication in present times. Human rights: general attributes The concept of human rights emerged as early as seventeenth and eighteenth century when the liberal doctrines were propagated by different socialists and philosophers. Capitalism got introduced in Europe during this time and resulted in major change in socio- economic structure. Due to capitalism, more precisely mercantilism, working class people suffered a lot. They were not only exploited on monetary and physical terms, but at the same time were also tortured, beaten, abused and even murdered. The idea of human rights initiated since then with an objective to initiate a protest against capitalist social order (Pollis and Schwab, 2000, p 11). As general people perceive it, human rights a re a set of principles bestowed upon every individual on this earth. Human rights ensure that every person, irrespective of caste, creed, age, color and nationality enjoy some specific rights and freedoms. Often, the human rights are also considered as a ‘concept’ which is adopted for real- thinking and expressing those thoughts. Furthermore, it is expressed that human rights are nothing but a mode of ‘ethnic cleansing’. This implies that the more the interests and welfare of individuals are violated, the more implication of human rights becomes essential. In present times, human rights are mostly associated with social and economic issues like illegal transactions, terror, massacres, unfair trail, execution, mass rapes- wherever the relative security of individuals are compromised (Freeman, 2011, p 3-4). From traditional point of view, human rights could be classified into two groups- human rights associated with democracy and human rights associated with individual rights and freedom. Democratic human rights incorporate rights of individual person and masses regarding civil aspects and also aspects related to politics, economy, society, culture and religion. In practice, this concept of freedom and independence supported by human right varies across different nations (Duxbury, 2011, p. 46). Reasons behind formulation of human rights Out of the several reasons due to which the human rights were framed, one is being abused by prosecution by legal bodies or tribunals on behalf

Sociology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Sociology - Essay Example Humans acquire of their behavioural traits from nurture thus come a philosophy called tabula rasa or blank slate. In recent years, both nature and nurture have been recognized to play interacting roles in development. These two are tied in mutually in ways that many of us do not see. Both are important influences to a person as they are developing their traits. What we have inherited is essential basis of what kind of person we are, but our environment can alter and develop us even more. In acquiring or altering traits in a person, these two factors are important. Some psychologists agree that nature and nurture are both major influences to the development of behaviour. Psychologist Robert Plomin said, "†¦. But the genetic influence on traits and behaviors is only partial: Genetics account, on average, for half of the variance of most traits. That means the environment accounts for the rest." Though we receive genes from our family, our surroundings and nurturing can alter that if strong enough, as an influence. We might not notice it, but  nature  and  nurture  are mixed in with each other, influencing traits of everyone. 2. What are the common themes in the ideas of Freud, Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan, Mead and Erickson? In what ways do their theories differ? The common theme in the idea of the Freud, Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan, Mead and Erickson is child development. They all believed that society played a vital role in the development of the person. However, they all developed variety of concepts in the psychoanalytic point of view. Sigmund Freud developed the elements of personality. He declared humans had two basic needs or drives:  eros, a need for bonding and  thanatos, which related to a drive for death. Freud's perspective combined both these basic needs and the influence of society into a unique model of personality. Freud’s work highlights the internalization of social norms and the importance of childhood experiences in the so cialization process and the development of personality. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development centred on human cognition or how people think and understand. He identified four major stages of cognitive development: sensory motor stage, post-industrial societies, concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. Lawrence Kohlberg developed a theory of moral development. He used Piaget’s theory as a facilitator for a study of moral reasoning. He suggested three stages: preconventional stage  based on pain and pleasure, a  conventional stage  (in the teenage years), where right and wrong is understood within cultural norms, and a  postconventional stage, where abstract critique of the social order is possible. However, his work is gender limited to boys only. Carol Gilligan in response to Kohlberg’s theory developed the theory of gender and moral development. She concludes that males and females make moral judgments in different ways. Ma les use a  justice perspective:  "It's wrong if the rules define it that way". Females use a  care and responsibility perspective:  "It's wrong if it damages relationships." Her recent research on self-esteem demonstrates that female self-esteem begins to slip during adolescence as they encounter more authority figures who are men. George Mead developed the theory of social self. Mead's analysis focuses on mental processes and is often referred to as  social behaviourism. He emphasized that the key to developing the