The Big Three: Categories of Law

AuthorScott A. Hatch/Lisa Zimmer Hatch
ProfessionFounders of The Center for Legal Studies and developed their award-winning paralegal curriculum in 1980, offering it through 600 colleges nationwide
Pages57-78
CHAPTER 5 The Big Three: Categories of Law 57
Chapter5
The Big Three: Categories
of Law
In your paralegal career, you need to know the dierence between procedural law,
which governs the processes of how the law is applied through courts and other
tribunals, and substantive law, which consists of the actual rules that govern
society. You can nd out about procedural law in Chapters6 and7, but this chapter
focuses on the three general areas of the substantive law: administrative, crimi-
nal, and civil.
Administrative law concerns the operations of agencies within the executive
branch of government, like social services, worker’s compensation, and unem-
ployment benets. Criminal actions occur when the federal or state government
(or both, if someone has been really, really bad!) les charges against a person
alleged to have committed a public oense and an injustice against the “peace and
dignity” of the “people of the state.”
Civil law consists of personal actions used to compel payment, such as money
damages, or some other action. A signicant dierence between a criminal and a
civil suit is that plaintis bring civil lawsuits as private citizens against other pri-
vate citizens or entities to nd a remedy for a perceived wrong that was done to
them. Almost all civil law actions fall under two major categories: torts and
breaches of contract. And these areas provide most of the work for paralegals.
IN THIS CHAPTER
»
Tackling the bureaucracy of
administrative agencies
»
Getting a grip on criminal law
»
Deciphering civil law and the
essentials of tort and contract law
58 PART 2 Important Legal Concepts Every Paralegal Should Know
Cutting Through the Red Tape:
Administrative Law
Administrative law is still one of the fastest growing areas of governmental activ-
ity. The number of administrative agencies has increased dramatically since their
inception, and especially since President Franklin D.Roosevelt initiated the New
Deal in the 1930s.
Building the bureaucracy:
Government agencies
Legislatures pass laws to govern society, and provisions of those same laws create
agencies to administer them. Administrative agencies aren’t mentioned in the
Constitution, and critics often speak of them as the “fourth branch” of govern-
ment with too much power and no basis in the law.
At the federal level, the president’s cabinet contains the best-known agencies.
The Department of the Treasury, for example, touches just about everyone’s life
through its very own sublevel agency, the Internal Revenue Service. The Treasury
Department also oversees minting currency. Over the years, Congress has created
15 cabinet-level departments to assist chief executives in carrying out their duties.
The president appoints the cabinet heads, who are subject to Senate conrmation.
These agencies undergo constant reorganization as the president reorders
priorities and sets the agenda for the administration of the executive branch of
government.
In addition to the 15 cabinet departments, which could change with new presiden-
tial administrations, the federal government also has dozens of independent agen-
cies that oversee and regulate various activities. Examples of these agencies are the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Social Security Administration (SSA), and
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Although the president appoints
the directors of these agencies just like cabinet ocials, these agency directors
have a bit more independence. They have set terms of oce and can’t be removed
just because the president has tired of them. Thus, they don’t answer directly to
the chief executive as say, for example, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of
Defense, or the Attorney General do.
For a chart of the federal cabinet departments and other administrative agencies,
see Chapter4. The online content (www.dummies.com/go/paralegalcareer2e)
contains a PDF of the chart as well as links to other related websites.

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