The Court System Educational Resources K12 Learning, United States, Government Lesson Plans, Activities, Experiments, Homeschool Help

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Batman has become one of the most popular and exciting comic book characters to hit the big screen. He doesn't even have any super powers — not even one! He does have a lot of cool technology that helps him in his night job, which is … being a vigilante.

vigilante

A vigilante is someone who goes outside of the law to get justice. That seems great when the line between bad guy and good guy is clear, like it often is in the comic-book world.

In the real world, though, do we really want people running around enforcing their own justice, even in the worst crime cases?

Reflect on the following questions, and discuss with a parent or teacher:

What is the court system for?
How did the court system start?
What would society be like without a court system?

The idea of courts goes way, way back in history.

The ancient Greeks and Romans devised their own legal systems, as did the Islamic world, the Catholic Church, and other cultures and religions. Our legal tradition descends from centuries-old British common law, but the court system that sustains the law in the U.S. is explained in the Constitution.

Let's take a look at the exact passage that forms the foundation of the U.S. Court System. Watch The Constitution for Kids - Article 3 by Freedom Factor:

Reflect on the following questions:

Based on what you know, how many different types or levels of courts are there?
Why have all these different courts and levels?
Why shouldn't we have just one type and one level of court?

There are so many different reasons why someone would need to use a court. As in other areas of life, like in medicine or computer technology, it is necessary to have specialists who know how to deal with certain kinds of issues. There are other reasons to have different levels and types of courts as well.

In the Got It? section, you will explore some of those reasons.