In
government there are three branches which are the following, the Executive, the
Legislature and the Judiciary. These are
all erected through the Constitution and the rule of law. The Constitution originates from an imperial
Britain under the Magna Carta. Through
the Magna Carta, individuals become subjects of the Crown. However, it is this origin which provides
uncertainty and indeterminacy in Law as it's provisions get delegated through a hierarchy between the nations.
Citizens in Canadian society live in the shadow of the law. This means that they operate in society
according to the laws of the land per the rule of law. When a legal problem exists a certainty of
law then occurs through an adversarial premise designed to create two sides by
which they begin confrontation through the justice system at which point either
side experiences an uncertainty in law.
In the judicial system this leads to indeterminant outcomes. This means that “instead of a single, predictable result, only a range of possible decisions can be foreseen” (Zariski, A. 2014).
The uncertainty and indeterminacy in law generates doubt about the
legitimacy of the modern legal system. Adversarial
procedures challenge the scientific facts brought in by both sides as the facts
of a case in a legal matter come into question.
Therefore, the uncertainty and indeterminacy of law occurs both because
of the origin of the law in which citizens are required to live in the shadow
of the law and also through legal matters within the adversarial nature of
litigation. In litigation both sides
challenge uncertainty and in this generate an indeterminacy through
precedents. Precedents are distinguished
from the present case via a judge who renders a decision via ratio
decendendi. Laws are also interpreted
via the following method: “read the
statute literally; read it in its context and; read it in accordance with its
intentions” (Boyd, N. 2015). In the
common law system, precedents serve as previous decisions rendered by Judges
whom are tasked to be impartial when presented with two legal explanations of a
case. Adjudication, means that the
parties have the responsibility to pursue their own case through collecting
evidence and the production of an argument for presentation to a Judge so that
a decision can be rendered and than a precedent can possibly be created
resulting in litigation. The judge
decides on which side is true and correct “based upon the strength of the cases researched, organized, and presented by the parties” (Zariski, A. 2014).
In
trial a confrontation occurs where the parties debate in front of a Judge and
in this the Judge is tasked with making a scientific inquiry on the case. Legal Literacy is the legal capability- the
knowledge, skills and ability an individual has when faced with a legal
issue. Procedural justice is a concept
that serves to ensure that fairness is maintained. This judicial process ensures that citizens
in society are being treated fairly and through that it achieves legitimacy of
the law and its origin the idea of the rule of law. Procedural justice is a very important
concept in legal literacy as it serves as a basis by which individuals in
society that experience infringements to their rights can avail of. In litigation, law is supposed to provide
order and predictability to society.
Just like a hypothesis, the law becomes a means by which citizens can
expect that their actions can have predictable residual effects. The law is the control and the variable is
the citizen. This is because the law
does not change according to the citizen at the time of the legal issue is
occurring. And even before the legal
issue occurs, the parties can use the law as hypothesis for their actions. Therefore, then, before the legal issue, both
sides have the ability to use the law as a scientific inquiry through
hypothesis. And when the legal issue has
been completed, the law itself becomes the dependent variable malleable to the
rendered decisions of Judges where then the parties both become variables (independent)
as they go through litigation in the adversarial system of the common law
system. The formulation of evidence and the production of an
argument results in the Judge inquiring about a matter of facts or truths. During litigation, the independent variable
becomes the plaintiff because it’s the variable that is changed because of the
dependent variable. The dependent
variable then becomes the defendant.
This party is tested by the Judge who is the researcher of Law against
the control (the Law).
The
certainty in law through the many Laws, Acts and Statutes serve as a means by
which individuals can predict the consequences of their actions. It also serves to increase people’s awareness
to interferences and the possible deterrent reciprocation by the Law and law
enforcement. It is a means by which the
government enforces order and civility within the community that it
serves. In litigation the parties must
find facts about the phenomena or legal infringement. They then use these facts to create an
argument in a bid to persuade the Judge to “use the appropriate rules (the law) in order to reach a rational decision (the judgment) that does justice to the parties” (Zariski, A. 2014)
In short, The Judge selects the correct process within the Law by which
procedures can be followed. The parties
with their counsels must generate their claim and present it as a fact where
then this results in a dispute within the adversarial design of litigation.
With all of the above mentioned, legal
literacy must use the following tools to properly navigate through the
Judiciary and the Legislature, legal analysis, legal planning, legal research and legal
communication. Legal analysis looks at
the legal matter. It determines the
causation and the facts that relate to that.
It looks at the harm that has happened and in that it creates the
dispute. Legal analysis also
involves knowing about how to get a dispute into court through the right legal
procedures. Legal planning is a way to
chart the trajectory of the litigation matter.
It follows the steps towards litigation.
Legal planning is also a form of contingency planning where individuals
use strategy and tactics to defend or prosecute their opponent. Legal research involves reflecting on the
facts collected during the legal analysis.
It expands upon the dispute in question and attempts to find legal
precedents that are relevant. Legal
research also involves consulting with other members in the community including
legal professionals. Legal Research also
uses the interpretation methods explained above to add substance to an argument
in Law. And, legal communication is the
presentation of a matter both written and oral (Zariski, A. 2014).
With all of this mentioned, it becomes clear that citizens are
living in the shadow of law. As
explained this creates uncertainty and indeterminacy. This means that citizens are expected to live
under the framework of the Constitution from cradle to grave. This results in a legitimacy issue because
the legal literacy of a country is not as high as people would like to think
because Law is not a mandatory subject studied in the education system. Law is introduced as an elective however in
secondary studies. This means that with
the frameworks of the law under the Legislator and the Judiciary the government
needs to mandate Law as a mandatory subject otherwise they risk
negligence. And negligence is palpable
if there is a harm and or the accused does not pass the reasonable foreseeable
test and if the person didn’t act reasonably (Yates, R. 2017). The fact that such education is not mandated
means that the legitimacy of the existing legal system comes into
question. Hence Erations Conglomerate
provides Learning Activities as a means by which to increase legal
literacy.
WORK CITED
Boyd. (2015). Canadian Law. Ontario, Canada. Nelson.
Helmenstine, T. (2022).
Difference Between Independent and Dependent Variables. Retrieved from: https://www.thoughtco.com/independent-and-dependent-variables-differences-606115
Yates, R., et al. (2017). Business Law in Canada. Ontario, Canada. Pearson.
Zariski,
A. (2014). Uncertainty and Indeterminacy in Law. Canlii.
Retrieved from: https://www.canlii.org/en/commentary/doc/2014CanLIIDocs355#!fragment/zoupio-_Tocpdf_bk_7/BQCwhgziBcwMYgK4DsDWszIQewE4BUBTADwBdoAvbRABwEtsBaAfX2zhoBMAzZgI1TMA7AEoANMmylCEAIqJCuAJ7QA5KrERCYXAnmKV6zdt0gAynlIAhFQCUAogBl7ANQCCAOQDC9saTB80KTsIiJAA
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