Political institutions deal primarily with broad policy questions. They are not intended to deal with the large number of disputes which inevitably arise over the implementation of broad political policies and, especially, the enforcement of laws enacted by the political process. For dealing with these day-to-day conflicts, virtually all societies have enacted establish some type of legal or judicial system whose judgments are backed up by the power of the police. In addition to the enforcement of political decisions, the legal system also provides a mechanism for resolving the many civil disputes which arise between individual citizens.
Different societies organize their legal institutions in very different ways. For example, legal systems in current use include those based upon English Common Law, religious law, or traditional approaches in which community elders are responsible for arranging just settlements.
In most societies, extensive legal institutions have developed which employ substantial resources and large numbers of skilled people who receive extensive training in professional schools. While further discussion of legal systems is beyond the scope of this training program, we do include the following links to Web accessible resources on the subject.
Links to Outside Sources of Information:
HGI Alternate Dispute Resolution
UNCITRAL (UN Commission on International
Trade Laws)
This offers extensive resources on its page including the background of the Commission,
texts that have been developed by the Commission, case law related to the texts, the
current status of its conventions and model laws, and documents from the Commission and
its working groups. The page is also available in French and Spanish.
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