American Law

What you will learn

• Compare the common law with the civil law tradition and explain the role of precedent.
• Explain federalism: the three branches at the federal level and in each state, and the place of the territories.
• Rank the sources of federal, state and local law, and apply the Supremacy Clause to a simple conflict.
• Describe the three levels of the federal courts and of Florida's courts, and follow a case's path to the Supreme Court.
• Determine, in a simple case, the proper court by subject matter, amount in controversy and personal jurisdiction.
• Describe the basic stages of a civil case: demand letter, complaint, service of process, answer and judgment.
• Distinguish the matters each state regulates, such as family and housing, from those that are federal, such as immigration.
• Recognize who regulates each legal profession and avoid the false friends of legal terminology.
• Write a short comparative essay that cites official sources.

Before you start

No prior training in U.S. law is needed. It helps to have taken Legal English (L101), whose first weeks cover the terminology of courts and procedure, to read Spanish comfortably and to know the basics of the virtual classroom (Moodle).

Syllabus

Tap each week to see its topics.

1. Week 1The common law and the civil law tradition

   Precedent and stare decisis, jury and bench trials; Louisiana's mixed system, and Puerto Rico, with its Civil Code.

2. Week 2Federalism: fifty states in one republic

   The three branches at the federal level and in each state, the District of Columbia and the territories, and what each level regulates.

3. Week 3The sources of law and their hierarchy

   The Constitution, statutes, regulations and treaties; Florida law; local ordinances; case law.

4. Week 4The federal courts: the three-tier system

   The 94 district courts, the 13 courts of appeals and the Supreme Court; Florida in the Eleventh Circuit. First essay.

5. Week 5Supremacy, immigration and administrative courts

   The Supremacy Clause and Arizona v. United States; the Department of Justice's immigration courts.

6. Week 6State courts: the Florida model

   County and circuit courts, the six district courts of appeal and the Florida Supreme Court; the names that change from state to state.

7. Week 7Jurisdiction: subject matter, amount and person

   Federal question and diversity; Florida's amount-in-controversy limits; personal jurisdiction and due process. Second essay.

8. Week 8Small claims and self-representation

   The most accessible court: typical cases, forms, help from the clerk of court and the money judgment.

9. Week 9Civil procedure: from complaint to judgment

   Demand letter, complaint, service of process, deadlines to answer, default judgment and eviction. The practice file is due.

10. Week 10State law in daily life: family and housing

    No-fault divorce in Florida, custody and property, without a jury; leases. Third essay.

11. Week 11Counties, municipalities and ordinances

    Florida's 67 counties, local government, the difference between an ordinance and a code, and where to look them up.

12. Week 12The legal professions, review and final assessment

    Who grants each license, why a notary public is not a Latin American notario, and the final integrative essay.

Materials

• Required text: an introduction to Florida's system of government, laws and courts, written for NAFA by Edwin A. Bayó, a former NAFA professor (two parts, in the virtual classroom in PDF; printed on request).
• Recommended: E. Allan Farnsworth, An Introduction to the Legal System of the United States, 4th edition, edited by Steve Sheppard (Oxford University Press, 2010).
• Recommended: Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 3rd edition (Oxford University Press, 2017).
• Official sources: the federal courts (uscourts.gov), the Florida courts (flcourts.gov), the Florida Statutes and the federal rules of procedure.
• In the virtual classroom: presentations, court maps, a fictitious small-claims file, quizzes and recordings of every class.

How you are assessed

Your grade combines attendance and participation, short quizzes, three essays of at least three pages comparing what you studied with your country's system, a practical small-claims file and a final integrative essay. At the start of the course you receive the syllabus, with the weight of each part.

When you pass the course, you receive a NAFA certificate of completion.