A Brief Introduction to Our System of Law and Legal Citations for Non-Attorney

Title 9 Advocates

Agnes Lintz, J.D., Patients’ Rights Specialist

California Office of Patients’ Rights

PRAT February 2013

The American system of law is divided into two layers: federal and state

Federal laws affect the U.S. as a whole while state laws are specific to a particular state

If there are both relevant federal and state laws, whichever gives the individual more rights governs.

There are three departments or branches of both the federal and state systems of law—Executive Legislative and Judicial

The Legislative Branch—makes the laws

The Executive Branch—carries out the laws

The Judicial Branch--interprets the laws

A third and separate legal system is the Native American Tribal System operating Native American lands. Government of a tribe’s internal affairs is beyond the reach of federal or state power.

Within each system of law (federal and state), there are four types of lawConstitutionStatutesAdministrative regulationsCases

Four Types of Laws

Constitution A constitution is a document

containing the fundamental laws and principles of a government or society

No law can be enacted that conflicts with anything the Constitution says

The first ten amendments of the federal Constitution are often referred to as the Bill of Rights

There is both a federal and a state constitution

Statutes

Generally statutes are written by the legislature whom we elect

There are two houses in both the federal and California legislature In California, the houses are called

the Senate and the Assembly The federal legislature consists of

the Senate and Congress

Initiative Process

In California, the initiative process allows citizens to create statutes without the aid of the legislature by putting a measure (Proposition) on the ballot.

The Mental Health Services Act (Prop. 63) is an example of a law that was passed by voters.

Form of California Statutory Cites

California statutes are divided into 29 topics or “codes”.

To find a particular statute, it is easiest to know the name of the code (Welfare and Institutions, Health and Safety, Civil, etc.) and the section of the statute.

Example: Welf. & Inst. Code § 5150

Form of Federal Statutes

Like California statutes, federal statutes are divided by subject then specific statute number.

Unlike its state counterpart, the federal law uses numbered titles of the U.S. Code not named codes.

Example: 29 U.S.C § 1181

Alternate Way of Citing Statutes

Each federal law receives a number with two parts; the number of the U.S. Congress and a sequentially assigned number (Ex. Public Law 108-45 , 107 Stat. 25, is the 45th law passed during the 108th Congress, found at page 25 of volume 107 of US Statutes at Large).

When signed by the Governor, Calif. Statutes are given a chapter number, sequential by year, plus a page and section number (Ex., Stats. 1967, c. 1667, p. 4074, § 36)

Regulations Regulations are written by

government agencies and approved through a public comment process

They cover the day to day running of the agency

An agency’s own regulations are binding and controlling on them

Citations for State Regulations

Regulations are in volumes (called titles grouped by topic) of the California Code of Regulations or CCR

Within each volumes the regulations are grouped by section number

So 15 CCR § 1207 would be title 15, section 1207

Title 5 concerns regulations regarding Special Education

Title 9 contains regulations regarding the Short-Doyle Act, LPS, Duties of the PRA , and Non-LPS Patients Rights

Title 15 contains regulations regarding correctional facilities

Title 17 concerns Regional Centers /Developmental Disabilities

Title 22 contains regulations regarding licensing of hospitals and other facilities

Citations of Federal Regs.

Can be found in the Federal Register (FR) and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

Similar to the federal codes, regulations are by title number and section (Ex., 45 CFR 160.102)

Courts

A court is an institution that the government sets up to settle disputes through the legal process

People, businesses and in certain cases government entities, can come to court to settle their disputes

Courts decide what happened and what should be done about it

Impact of Court Decisions

Court decisions may impact many people besides those directly involved in the lawsuit.

They not only tell those involved in the case what their rights are, but also tell other people how the courts would probably decide similar cases.

They may help people resolve their dispute without going to court.

State Cases

Each county has municipal and superior courts that issue decisions

Those decisions can be appealed to the court of appeal responsible for the district that the particular county is in

Court of Appeals decisions can be appealed to the State Supreme Court

Citations for California Cases Case law is compiled in volumes

called “reporters” or “reports” The court itself publishes the

California Reports (Supreme Court) and the California Appellate Reports

The West Publishing Company publishes the California Reporter which contains both the California Supreme Court and Appellate Court decisions in one volume.

Each reporter has 2nd, 3rd, etc. series

Citations for California Cases The same cases are found in both sources,

resulting in parallel citations Cases can easily be found if you know what

page of which volume of which reporter a case is on.

The order is

Vol. # Reporter Name Page #

Example:

Riese v. St. Mary’s Hospital and Medical Center (1987) 209 Cal.App.3d 1303, 271 Cal.Rptr. 199

Federal Cases Federal Cases start at the District

Court level—California is divided into several geographical districts

A California district court decision can be appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is responsible for several states

Court of Appeals cases can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court

Citations for Federal Cases

Opinions of the district trial courts may be published in the Federal Supplement (F. Supp.)

Opinions of the circuit courts of appeal are cited in the Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, etc.)

Only cases authorized (or approved) for publication by the court are published

Opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court are published in three separate reporters, the United States Reports, the Supreme Court Reporter and the United States Supreme Court Reports—Lawyers Edition.

The official reports are the United States Reports

Questions?

Agnes Lintz, J.D.Patients’ Rights Specialist

California Office of Patients’ Rights916-504-5993

agnes.lintz@disabilityrightsca.org