What I Think Of The Legal System

Although our legal system at times may seem very cumbersome, and at times completely overwhelmed, it is important to know its value to America. America’s legal system is older than America itself. The very legal system we use has been used in England for hundreds of years. The most important practice that was borrowed from the English is known as “Stare Decisis, which means to stand on decided cases” (Essentials of Business Law, Liuzzo, pg.5). This is a very simple, but powerful practice. Of the millions of cases that have been tried over the last two-hundred and thirty years, all of them have been influenced one way or another by stare decisis. We live in a country of ever-changing technology and ideas; meanwhile our legal system has stayed the same. Why is this? The main reason nothing has changed, simply put, is how do you judge a case not using practices previously used? If you did, the outcome would probably not be very thorough. Also, at some point you would lose consistency from decision to decision. The old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke; don’t fix it.” This could not be more true for our legal system. As our country grows in age, we all will see many new inventions and ideas that will blow us away. Even though I’ve been saying all along that our legal system hasn’t changed; it actually changes every day. In my previous blog, I wrote about a girl who committed suicide in her bedroom after being emotionally distressed about a boy who broke her heart. The mother who was brought up on charges was found to be innocent. Suicide is nothing new to our country, but using a computer to torment an innocent child is uncharted waters. Whether good or bad, this case will always be looked back upon to help decide the outcome of future cases like it.