why advesarial legalism cant be replaced in the US?
490451
Because, as in Britain, it is at the core of the legal system.
100491
I live in canada and they will not abolish the law they will change it. make it longer to fit with usa (sorry i dont know from what month to what month)
912898
You make a very good point.  Check out the new "the America I believe in" campaign recently lanched by Amnesty International http://believe.amnestyusa.org   AI has launched this new campaign to restore our traditional American values of justice, rule of law, and human dignity.   It even provides simple actions you can take, and ways to raise awareness in your community.\n\nThe America we believe in... leads the world in human rights\nThe America we believe in... does not torture people\nThe America we believe in... does not run secret prisons\nThe America we believe in... would shut down Guantanamo Bay
209813
That is an excellent question! When ever I complain about the USA people say "love it or leave" I tell them that I would rather fix it. Instead of trying to change Americas laws, which they are doing in large numbers in American cities right now, they need to focus on there own country. Go to any V.A. hospital or elderly home and you will see who really needs social service.
754284
Not per se.  There is the 4th, 5th and 9th ammendment which imply that the federal gub'mint can only do certain things, although no such restrictions were originally placed on the states.  For instance, for a long time the establishment clause of the first ammendement was not believed to extend to the states, so a state could establish itself as Christian.  The commerce clause and other vaguaries have been used for good and evil to hugely expand the amount of power that the central government exercises.
94772
Drugs are illegal because of the amount of money the government earns and loses because of them. If we legalized drugs, the government would have great difficulty taxing them. Most drugs are imported illegally from forign countries. Right now, america gets a bunch of money from its war on drugs including busts and payoffs. As a giant corporation, it would be stupid to allow people to purchase outside of your domain. I would never say that america does not allow it because they are bad for you- so are cigarettes, alchohol, most legal diet pills, caffine. Did you know that caffine causes weight gain, the shakes and you can actually overdose and die from it. (granted, that is an extreme and rare case) so, they do allow things that are bad for us as long as it is taxable.
541928
We have tried to get it legalized but the government is very slow when it comes to changing the law. Hopefully, polygamy will be legal by 2008. I hope you agree that this is good news, even if we have to wait awhile.
1135340
One good feature of our laws is that they can be changed. Even the Constitution can be amended. The "Bill of Rights" which guarantee Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Press etc are the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution.  \n\nAnd there is the Supreme Court decision in "Brown v. Board of Ed" which ruled that "separate is not equal" and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against discrimination.\n\nThen there have been laws for social programs which help people like Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal" and the legislation that created the Social Security program.  And there are laws for fair labor standards and establishing the minimum wage. \n\nThere are also anti-trust laws to prevent monopolies although these seem to be mostly ignored these days.\n\nFurthermore, a law can be challenged all the way up to the Supreme Court so if a locality feels their local law is wrong, they can appeal it. \n\nAlthough in our time laws like the Patriot Act are being used against the people, it was not always so.
446204
In a ideal situation we should remove the laws that restrict posession by law abiding citizens.\n\nBut more importantly...\n\nENFORCE the laws we already have.
357955
The American Court System is an offshoot of Englands. However, we made some important changes. For example in England there were two differant sets of rules and law for those who were Aristocrates and those who were not. We saw this as inherently unfair. We changed it to make everybody equal under the law. Well we are trying to do this. \n\nWe also made laws which resulted in the Miranda Rights. To be free of arrest without basis or warrent, to be allowed an attorney, to be allowed to not incriminate ourselves, to be allowed an attorney, to be free from abusive and undully long interogation, etc. We are read these rights when arrested and if they are not read what we say can not be held against us and usually result in cases getting thrown out of court. The police are very carefull to read individuals these rights.\n\nI will not go into how these can be abused as well. Any Justice System will not be perfect. For example: While we are provided an attorney if we can not afford one, that attorney probably does not have the ability to give as good a defense as one we pay for ourselves. This is due to how overworked public defenders are, The fact they are paid from the same source as the prosocution, and have much more limited resources to defend us with.\n\nThere is a much higher rate of the poor going to jail than those who are more financial able to attain the best defense possibe.\n\nDid you know that an innocent person can be bankrupt durring a trail? That if found innocent or not guilty they do not receive a refund of their attorney costs? I find this wrong. I understand it would be difficult to refund every persons attorney fees if not found quilty. But if it was a requirment then less hasty arrests would occurr as police made double sure they had a good case. It would benifit our justice system if this were a requirement as less arrests without real probable cause would occurr and people who were innocent would not unfairly lose all their money just defending against wrongfully brought charges. We would also be much more inclined to get back to the belief of "innocent untill proven guilty" instead of the current trend of "guily untill proven innocent".\n\nWhile in theory we are considered innocent untill proven guilty, those who get arrested are really assummed to be guilty or they would not have been arrested in the first place. While this is simply untrue, basically this is what society and the press believes now.\n\nI kind of got off track here, sorry. I really do belive our justice system is better than most in the world. Like I said earlier, no justice system can be perfect.\n\nWe took much of our justice system from the "common law" of England. From there we "improved" upon it, untill we are where we are today. Hope this helps in some small way.
853040
Ah, the same reason why California has a very confusing ( and constantly changing ) gun law.\n\nYou see, there's a Federal constitution and a State Constitution.  The Federal Constitution is the minimum, the standard for all states.  But, since there is nothing written down in the Federal constitution that says same sex marriages are allowed, the individual states can out law them with in their own borders.\nYes, I understand your point, but it's not about morality.  It's about politics.  Which basically translates to votes.  The leaders need to be popular with the masses to keep their jobs.
352024
They want us to cross because we spend money there and we don't stay to live.  Besides we can't go buy land there either because of the 99 year thing.  If they abolished that law people would go down there and spend more money and it might even eliminate the issue with immigration.
398783
Yes the Repuglicans should change to include all of America in their plans. A move toward the middle would help. As for the independents they should pick a side. Either side. They are the real problem here. Because they usually vote for the best Rhetoric and never mind the best person for the job. I would like to know why Repuglicans have a lock on the moral issue. I am against abortion, I just feel that government has no business in either moral issues or religious issues. Every time that a government has tried to legislate morality it has failed. It just drives it under ground and people do that behavior anyway. It actually has brought down governments as with the Roman empire and even England and many others. That is why we declared our Independence from England as they were trying to legislate their morality on us.
221489
You're question is very interesting.  As you know we are in a globalized world.  This is not the first wave of globalization--it's the third.  The other waves happened centuries ago.  Anyway, because something is sold to someone living outside the borders of the US, doesn't necessarily mean that you will lose your freedoms.  They still have to operate under American law & standards here in the US.
478985
The United States must abide by laws that govern such things as international trade and human rights.  The United States, as is with every other nation, is not required to abide by the edicts passed by the United Nations.  \n\nIf they elect not to abide by a law that it feels is unfair or against the United States' interests they can refuse to uphold that law.  The consequences could include cooled relationships with other countries, embargos and even U N sanctioned war.
1185558
It begins with the constitution when that is perfect the legal system still won't be. Feel me, now why beer is legal and kills many people via drunk driving is beyond me. It killed my brother when I was 7. Now if he had been puffing the Chiba he'd still be alive. So why is it illegal. It's far from cigarettes. Which kill people everyday and yet manage to not only get sold, but get their taxes upped. Which in turn means the government makes more and more off a killer. Back to the point if we are truly innocent until proven guilty how come no one ever tries to prove our innocence? If laws get broke people get punished. But if those laws in turn allow people to be punished even after punishing them who gets the blame. No one power overshadows everything. They won't check it so there will be no balance. But there will always be a deficit. So money makes America go round and will always be welcome. What is fair and what is fair enough is the unbreakable answer.
580792
Sure it is. How else will an individual or a Country change ? Or how else do you convince some one to do something different ? Rules.... Ethics.... laws.... change along with social changes. Hence how can there be permanent friend or foes ?