Exam 1I. Sources of the lawa. Constitutional law: the constitution creates rights for you and me. Ex: freedom of speech i. Express rights: read them in literal documentii. Implied rights: assumed or suggested; read between the lines. -> right to privacy -> abortionb. Statute: (statutory law) law that is passed by our elected representatives. Ex: U.S. congress or state legislature; when statue is outdated, it can be appealed and amend the law. (Amend and appealed: update or get rid of it i. Technology races before the law: lawyer struggle to find a precedent because there was nothing before about that technology. c. Common law: based on court decisions that create a precedent. [stare decisis: stand by the decision]: lawyer looks to the past to make his decisions today. Ex: child said you used to let me do that. Followed after many decisions made that way; accepted rule.i. Common law gives stability, consistency, and predictability. ii. But there may not be a precedent for your case. d. The precedents can be changed by technology or society. Ex: 1954 U.S Supreme Court Brown vs. Board of Education- overturned separate but equal. Changingisn’t always dramatic; gives precedents flexibilityII. Due Process: fairnessa. Requirements:i. When you are sued:1. You must be given a notice2. Must be given an opportunity to be heard; tell your side of the story ex: kids get in trouble; why wont you hear my side of the story3. Must have minimum contacts with the forum state where you are being sued. a. Residency: where I live with the present intent to remain permanently.b. Owning land in the forum statec. Doing business in the forum state ex: can make walmart come becausethey do business here; doesn’t have to be a physical building. d. Committing a tort in the forum state: tort= civil wrong; ex: obnoxious lsu fan gets into a fight with a bama fan on the strip. Bama fan sues him. He must come here to defend himself. e. Driving a vehicle through the forum state that results in a wreck. III. Remedies: a solution a. Monitary: involves moneyi. Compensatory: money to make you whole or fix ex: pay medical bills or new carii. Punative: designed to punish the wrongdoing. Ex:ford pento- gas tank was susceptible to exploding upon collision. Ford new it was unsafe and did it anyways. Ford got sued a lot of money.iii. Nominal: small in amount. Token amount. There has been a technical wrong, but there are no realcompensatory damages. Acknowledgment that someone has done you wrong but didn’t really cause you damages.b. Equitable: non-money remedies. Sometimes money won’t solve your problem. i. Injunction: court order that tells someone to stopdoing something or to do something enforced through contempt of court. You can go to jail. ii. Specific performance: An injunction in a contract case that orders one party to preform the contract. Limited to 2 situations: 1. Sale of land or real property= order the seller to sell but it will not order the buyer to buy. Every piece of land is unique. 2. Sale of unique personal property= everything other than land. Not all personalproperty is unique. Ex: Honda accord can easily be found.iii. Rescission: it cancels a transaction; nullifies it. Ex: I lie, you buy; cancels contractiv. Restitution: orders repayment of money.v. Reformation: corrects an innocent mistake in a transaction. Ex: purchase land from seller. Whendeed was drafted, typographical error. Innocent mistake. He was shorted. Seller needed to correct it. He refused. Court ordered deed to be corrected. IV. Typical law suita. 2 parties: plaintiff or π and defendant Δb. Plaintiff begins the process by filing a complaint against the defendant. c. Complaint has to have two things:i. Statement of facts, settling out what you claim that the defendant did wrong.ii. Request for a remedy. d. Summons: filed with the complaint (satisfies due process)i. Notifies the defendant that he’s being sued.ii. Tells him that he has a certain amount of time to file an answer to the complaint if he wants a trial- standard time in Alabama is 30 days.e. Jurisdiction: the power or authority of a court; 2 Typesi. Personal: the power of the court over the person and the property of the plaintiff and defendant.ii. Subject matter: the pour of the court to hear anddecide a particular type of case. (Murder courts cant hear divorces)f. How to get personal?i. The plaintiff consents to it by filing his complaintii. By personal service of the summons and complaint of the defendant =you’ve been served. (Exception to giving to you personally if that person is old enough at the home- only in Alabama) 3 ways:1. Deputy sheriff2. Certified mail3. Special process serveriii. The defendant consents by filing an answer.g. General appearance: filing an answer; the defendant has an option to file and answer if there is a question about serving him. Ex: get served at my house. They give it to my 5yearold son. Im not personally served. I can file a special appearance to contest or challenge that service. Only option when you have incorrect service. You do not consent.h. Avoiding personal servicei. The defendant does not have to make himself available to be served. He can hide or move. ii. If you are found and refuse that is avoiding. 1. The clerk then will mail a copy of the summons and complaint to the defendant by regular mail and the defendant at that point is served.V. Subject matter: type of jurisdiction; the power to hear and decide a particular type of