Undergraduate Laws
Pre-Course Exercises: Exercise 2
This is an exercise which uses examples of social and legal rules. As you know, some rules are given the force of law and some are not. You might, at this stage, ask yourself why this is the case bearing in mind, that some rules will be given the force of law in some cultures whilst these same rules, in another culture, might not be legal rules.
The scenario below exemplifies some of the varied contexts in which rules govern our behaviour. See if you can identify the occasions in which a rule might have been broken. Some will be more obvious than others so don’t worry if you don’t identify them all.
Consider also the type of rule which may have been broken i.e. a social or a legal rule. The term ‘social rule’ includes moral rules, household rules, rules of etiquette etc.
So far as any legal rules in this exercise are concerned, you will need to consider whether they might be rules of civil law or rules of criminal law. Very briefly, the civil law governs relationships between individuals. If you make a contract with another person that contract will be governed by civil law rules. If you break the contract you will be in breach of the civil law and the other party (the claimant) may sue you (the defendant) in a civil court for a remedy. The remedy is frequently damages; a sum of money paid as compensation for the wrong done. Unlike criminal law, the object of the civil law is not to punish. Criminal law governs relationships between the individual and the state. If a person breaches a criminal law rule this is much more serious than a breach of the civil law. Here, the state will intervene and bring a prosecution in a criminal court. If the defendant is found guilty of the crime then that defendant will be punished by the state
Please now read the following passage and consider the questions at the end.
Obviously, we do not expect that, at this stage, you will be able to identify exactly what rules of civil or criminal law might have broken although you might be familiar with some of them.
Benjie had been told by his wife, Sarah, that he could not have a cake as it was nearly lunchtime.
As soon as she left the kitchen Benjie took three cakes from the packet and went into the garden.
He saw his son Oliver, aged 10, climbing up an apple tree in their neighbour Nita’s garden. His son was picking the apples and putting them in his pocket. Benjie called Oliver and when Oliver came back into their own garden, Benjie smacked Oliver very hard.
Oliver burst into tears and ran into the street. His father had told him to take the apples back to Nita but Oliver was angry and threw them into her garden. One of them broke a window of Nita’s house.
After lunch Sarah said that she wanted to go shopping but did not have any money. Benjie did have money but would not give her any so she took £50 from his pocket when he was not looking.
Sarah did not go shopping but went to see David. She and David loved each other and were having a relationship but Sarah would not ask Benjie for a divorce because she was frightened of him. She and David had secretly gone through a marriage ceremony about a year ago.
She and David went to a café for a cup of coffee. They ordered the coffee but when the waitress went to get it for them, they changed their minds and left the café.
Sarah felt hungry so she bought some bananas. She peeled one and ate it, dropping the skin on the pavement.
Meanwhile Jenny, who was running to catch a bus, slipped on the banana skin Sarah had discarded and hurt herself.
When Sarah arrived home she became very angry as Oliver was feeding a stray cat in the kitchen. Sarah had told him many times that the cat was not allowed in the house.
In order to soothe herself, she played her favourite music at full volume. Nita had complained many times about this, as she liked to sleep in the afternoon, but Sarah did not care as she hated Nita.
What rules do you think have been broken?
Which of these do you think are legal rules and which are social rules?