79
votes
Accepted
Why is murder considered a more serious crime than attempted murder?
Your question is the subject of longstanding and ongoing debate that has generated countless articles and books and dissertations, so you're probably not going to get a fully satisfactory answer here.
...
- 57.2k
63
votes
In which European countries is illegal to publicly state an opinion that in the US would be protected by the first amendment?
Almost every European nation has a "hate speech" law that makes the use of offensive bigoted words of phrases illegal. The U.S. does not have any such laws, and the First Amendment makes ...
- 22.8k
41
votes
Are there any criminal jurisdictions where burden of proof rests so entirely on prosecution that defense does not need to deal with evidence?
The common law adversarial system is just that: the prosecution must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The defense is not obliged to call evidence at all. They are allowed to though: they will ...
- 25.8k
39
votes
Why does the U.S. have much higher litigation cost than other countries?
Litigation Costs v. Liability Insurance Cost
It is worth noting that what the Institute for Legal Reform, a tort reform lobbying group, is stating, is not that the U.S. has "higher litigation ...
- 195k
38
votes
In which European countries is illegal to publicly state an opinion that in the US would be protected by the first amendment?
The US believes it's exceptional about freedom of speech
It isn't; it's just different.
For example, a European employer may ban the hijab providing they ban all other visible signs of political, ...
- 198k
26
votes
Why is murder considered a more serious crime than attempted murder?
You may get more effective murderers that way
I would frame the question from the perspective from the criminal.
If they know they will be punished equally from attempted murder from actual murder, ...
- 377
26
votes
In which European countries is illegal to publicly state an opinion that in the US would be protected by the first amendment?
Insulting opinions can be actionable defamation in the United Kingdom. In Berkoff v Burchill & Anor [1996], for instance, a reporter wrote that an actor in The Frankenstein Chronicles was "...
- 57.2k
24
votes
In which European countries is illegal to publicly state an opinion that in the US would be protected by the first amendment?
A Norwegian woman, Christina Ellingsen, currently faces up to 3 years in prison for the following statement:
“Why [does] FRI teach young people that males can be lesbians? Isn’t
that conversion ...
- 404
21
votes
A person owes money to the state but has changed ownership on all estates to from hers/his to that of relatives
united-states
Meet the word "clawback".
The general rule is that anything you do simply for asset protection can be undone by the government or courts. See the excellent book by Adkisson ...
21
votes
How willing is the US Supreme Court to declare itself wrong?
As for SCOTUS being willing to overrule itself, here is a table of such cases, starting with Hudson v. Guestier 10 U.S. (6 Cr.) 281 (1810) which overturned Rose v. Himely,
8 U.S. (4 Cr.) 241 (1808) up ...
- 210k
20
votes
A person owes money to the state but has changed ownership on all estates to from hers/his to that of relatives
A bankruptcy trustee can reverse non-commercial transactions
australia
Assuming that creditors pursue the debt to the point that the person must be declared bankrupt (or be liquidated if a company), ...
- 198k
18
votes
Are there any criminal jurisdictions where burden of proof rests so entirely on prosecution that defense does not need to deal with evidence?
Yes
The common law legal systems all require proof beyond reasonable doubt of each of the elements of the crime. If the prosecution fails to provide enough evidence to meet that burden on any of the ...
- 198k
16
votes
What is a municipal court?
It depends on the state. Unlike France, a unitary nation, American Federalism typically means States may define different legal concepts differently. In California for example, Municipal courts ...
- 22.8k
13
votes
How willing is the US Supreme Court to declare itself wrong?
Less than 1% of the time
From this article:
In my forthcoming book, “Constitutional Precedent in Supreme Court Reasoning,” I point out that from 1789 to 2020 there were 25,544 Supreme Court opinions ...
- 198k
13
votes
In which European countries is illegal to publicly state an opinion that in the US would be protected by the first amendment?
The Criminal Code of Czechia (Chapter X, section 365) provides that "whoever publically approves of a committed criminal offense [...] shall be sentenced to imprisonment for up to one year."
...
- 701
12
votes
Accepted
Constitutional limitations on criminalizing behavior in US law?
There are a number of specific limitation on what can be made criminal in US law, derived from constitutional protection.
Specific Rights
Expressions of free speech, for example, cannot be made ...
- 113k
10
votes
What is a municipal court?
Each state in the United States sets up their courts as the legislature sees fit. Some have courts for less important matters that are officially part of a municipality such as a town or a city. ...
- 4,237
9
votes
Accepted
Is there any "delik aduan" like laws in the west?
That sounds a lot like the German Antragsdelikt (literally "crime by request"). That is a crime (defined in the criminal code), that can only be prosecuted if the victim requests it.
Antragsdelikt ...
- 7,839
9
votes
Accepted
Any solid research on error rate of criminal conviction system: jury vs judges?
It is hard to measure accuracy in absolute terms because figuring out the truth is the problem that trials seek to solve in the first place.
This is especially true of cases that go to trial. Cases ...
- 195k
9
votes
Are there any criminal jurisdictions where burden of proof rests so entirely on prosecution that defense does not need to deal with evidence?
"burden of proof is nominally with the prosecution in most circumstances, but in practice it seems to be somewhat shared"
The issue is in your interpretation of the phrase "burden of ...
- 6,325
9
votes
Accepted
Why is the US Constitution so open to interpretation compared to constitutions of European countries?
There are several reasons. But a major one is the difference between the civil-law and common-law legal systems. Most European legal systems are civil-law systems, and were significantly influenced by ...
- 113k
9
votes
What is a municipal court?
Is it like our "Tribunal de Police" for speeding on the road, noises
during the night and others petty things of the same kind?
Or is it more like "Tribunal correctionnel", when it ...
- 195k
9
votes
In which European countries is illegal to publicly state an opinion that in the US would be protected by the first amendment?
In some European jurisdictions there are laws against or more strict than the USA about:
criminal proceedings, court reporting, reporting juror/jury interviews
defamation
threatening, abusive or ...
- 14.8k
9
votes
In which European countries is illegal to publicly state an opinion that in the US would be protected by the first amendment?
I don't want to offer a full answer, but more of a framework for thinking about differences between EU and US law, particularly on areas of free speech.
In the U.S., freedom of speech is seen as an ...
- 391
7
votes
Can contracts include irrevocable terms of imprisonment for breach?
Generally speaking, the law in almost every common law and civil law jurisdiction does not allow incarceration to be a punishment for a mere breach of contract (when that breach of the contract was ...
- 195k
7
votes
A person owes money to the state but has changed ownership on all estates to from hers/his to that of relatives
germany
In Germany, the situation is mostly the same, independent of whether the creditor is the state, a person or some other legal entity such as a corporation.
According to the Anfechtungsgesetz (...
- 7,839
7
votes
Judicial federalism outside the US
While this isn't a simple and direct answer, it should point you in the right direction.
There are countries which like the United States have parallel national and subnational court system, including ...
- 195k
6
votes
Accepted
What different legal systems are there?
I can't do much better than the opening to Wikipedia's article on this:
The contemporary legal systems of the world are generally based on one of four basic systems: civil law, common law, ...
- 198k
6
votes
Can contracts include irrevocable terms of imprisonment for breach?
My vote is that the (prison, contract) term would not be enforceable. In Williams v. Walker-Thomas 350 F.2d 445, multiple items of furniture were purchased on credit, and the payments were "...
- 210k
6
votes
A person owes money to the state but has changed ownership on all estates to from hers/his to that of relatives
Is the law about this pretty much identical in any state or are there
some radically different examples from various states (i.e. in one
state would never be able to confiscate, in one it wouldn't ...
- 195k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible