US, Israeli, and Saudi Arabian Legal Systems. Research Paper

United States, Israeli and Saudi Arabian Legal Systems
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United States, Israeli and Saudi Arabian Legal Systems A legal system is understood as a process or procedure that is used to interpret and enforce the law. Legal systems elaborate the responsibilities and rights in various ways. The main legal systems in the world today include religious law, common law, and the civil law.  These legal systems differ in many ways. The purpose of this research paper is to analyze, compare and evaluate the differences between the legal systems of three countries. These are Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.  United States Legal System: Common Law In America today, a legal system exists for the federal government at the national level. Moreover, a separate legal system has been put in place for each of the country’s states and territories. The legal systems in America largely fall within the common law system. Even so, there are civil law influences in some states, particularly in the State of Louisiana and other jurisdictions and territories which used to be under Mexican, Spanish, or French rule.  In formal adjudications, this common law legal system is heavily dependent upon court precedent. America’s common law system, in essence, is not reliant upon some scattered statutes that are legislative decisions. It relies on precedents which are judicial decisions already made in similar cases in the past. The precedents are upheld over time through court records. The precedents are also historically documented in collections of case law commonly referred to as reports and yearbooks.  Judges in the United States therefore play a big role in shaping the country’s legal system. On the whole, this legal system functions as an adversarial system, in which there is a contest between two conflicting individuals before a judge who acts as the moderator. The facts of the case are decided on by a jury of ordinary people who do not have any legal training. Basing upon the verdict of the jury, the judges will then determine a suitable sentence.  In America’s common law legal system, judicial determinations in the previous court cases are very important to the courthouse’s resolution of the case before it, even when a statute is at issue. The body of law in common law system is usually formed by means of court decisions, as opposed to law formed by means of written legislation or statutes.  The common law system is founded upon the doctrine of judicial precedent, which is the principle under which the lower court has to follow the decisions reached by the higher court. It is not based upon statutory laws.  Therefore, if judges are trying a case of manslaughter, for example, they will look up similar cases from the past that have gone before, in order to see how the judges at the time dealt with those cases and the type of sentence that was given.This legal system began in England before being adopted in America. Even though the English common law legal system has its roots in the eleventh century, it is worth mentioning that the America’s current legal system has evolved over the last 3 and a half centuries, with judge...