Law, Justice and Society: Chapter Seven

It is crazy to think about law and how far it has come over the years. Some aspects of it haven’t even changed and other aspects have changed so much that you would have no idea how they used to be. During our class discussions on property law and family law I was very intrigued by how different they are in the sense that one has changed so much and the other is very old and barely changed.
Property law has to do with the interest of property. There are three different areas: real, personal and intellectual. Real property is land and anything attached to that land. For instance, homes, barns, buildings, farm land, etc. It is usually anything that can not be lifted up and taken away. Next, there is personal property. This has to do with physical things, belongings of yours you can touch. Examples can be a car, your purse, clothing, jewelry, set of cutlery, etc. And lastly, there is intellectual/abstract property. This is anything which is not physical, for instance, ideas or concepts developed by one individual or group. One discussion on class was about this kind of property and as I recall they asked about how a student can be charged with plagiarism of their own work. I personally think this is absolutely ridiculous. I believe that if you write something yourself that you should have the right to do whatever you desire with it. If it just so happens to be that you are assigned a new paper in a class which you have previous paper for, then you should be able to use it and turn it in without having to correctly cite your own paper you have already written. Property law has been around for a very long time and is similar now to even what it was back then. This is why it is considered the oldest law.
Family law has to do with there being no judgment of right and wrong, but instead there everything is worked out so that every single person involved is pleased with the overall outcome and result of the situation. Family law is considered the newest law because it is constantly changing. It seems like everyday, somewhere, there is a change to the rules dealing with gay marriage or what is considered a marriage and how will the benefits work this kind of couple. Today there is certain eligibility to marriage. The first rule is each person must be of age or you must have consent for a parental guardian. Next, you must be mentally competent with what you are doing. Each individual must understand they are getting married and what that means. You also can not marry close or direct family and each person who is to be married, can not be married already. Lastly, same sex marriage at not allowed in several states. This is where I get frustrated and upset. Same sex marriage is no new news to anyone. Homosexuals have been fighting for years to have equal rights to marriage as man and woman have. Considering it is almost 2009, it is time that the world wakes up and accepts people for who they and provides every citizen with what they deserve. You can find plenty of information on same sex marriages at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/cyf/samesex.htm.