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Dc Government
The District of Columbia, commonly known as Washington, D.C., has a mayor–council government that operates under Article One of the United States Constitution and the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. The Home Rule Act devolves certain powers of the United States Congress to the local government, which consists of a mayor and a 13-member council. However, Congress retains the right to review and overturn laws created by the council and intervene in local affairs. Organization Similar to the Federal government of the United States, the District of Columbia has an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. Executive The Mayor of the District of Columbia is the head of the executive branch. The Mayor has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the council. In addition, the Mayor oversees all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and the District of Columbia Pu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
District Of Columbia Department Of Parks And Recreation
The District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) is an executive branch agency of the government of the District of Columbia in the United States. The department plans, builds, and maintains publicly owned recreational facilities in District of Columbia, including athletic fields, community centers, parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, spray pools and tennis courts. It also manages publicly run recreational sports leagues for youth and adults as well as provides various outdoor activities (such as boating and camping) for youth, adults, and senior citizens. DPR has principal authority over the construction and maintenance of city-owned (but not federally owned) parks, and over nearly all public recreation facilities in District of Columbia. It oversees of parks and 68 recreational facilities. This includes 25 outdoor pools, eight spray parks, and 10 indoor pools—all offered with no admission fee for residents of the District. In its fiscal 2011 budget, the dep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Probate
In common law jurisdictions, probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased; or whereby, in the absence of a legal will, the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy that apply in the jurisdiction where the deceased resided at the time of their death. The granting of probate is the first step in the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person, resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under a will. A probate court decides the legal validity of a testator's (deceased person's) will and grants its approval, also known as granting probate, to the executor. The probated will then becomes a legal instrument that may be enforced by the executor in the law courts if necessary. A probate also officially appoints the executor (or personal representative), generally named in the will, as having legal power to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leasehold Estate
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a leasehold estate is typically considered personal property. Leasehold is a form of land tenure or property tenure where one party buys the right to occupy land or a building for a given time. As a lease is a legal estate, leasehold estate can be bought and sold on the open market. A leasehold thus differs from a freehold or fee simple where the ownership of a property is purchased outright and after that held for an indeterminate length of time, and also differs from a tenancy where a property is let (rented) periodically such as weekly or monthly. Terminology and types of leasehold vary from country to country. Sometimes, but not always, a residential tenancy under a lease agreement is colloquially known as renting. The leaseholder can r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landlord
A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord applies when a juristic person occupies this position. Alternative terms include lessor and owner. For female property owners, the term landlady may be used. In the United Kingdom, the manager of a pub, officially a licensed victualler, is also referred to as the landlord/landlady. In political economy, landlord specifically refers to someone who owns natural resources (such as land, excluding buildings) from which they derive economic rent, a form of passive income. History The concept of a landlord can be traced to the feudal system of manoralism ( seignorialism), where landed estates were owned by Lords of the Manor ( mesne lords). These lords were typically members of the lower nobility who later formed the rank of knights during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family Court
Family courts were originally created to be a Court of Equity convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, including custody of children, and could disregard certain legal requirements as long as the petitioner/plaintiff came into court with "clean hands" and the request was reasonable, " quantum meruit". Changes in laws and rules have made this distinction superfluous. Family courts hear all cases that relate to familial and domestic relationships. Each US state and each country has a different system utilized to address family law cases including decisions regarding divorce cases. Family courts have been accused of sentencing disparity both discriminating against women and discriminating against men. In the United States Family courts were first established in the United States starting in the late 1910s at the behest of probation officers invested in the success of specialized domestic relations courts. Members of the National Probation Associ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Civil Law (common Law)
Civil law is a major "branch of the law", in common law legal systems such as those in England and Wales and in the United States, where it stands in contrast to criminal law. Glanville Williams. '' Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2.W J Stewart and Robert Burgess. ''Collins Dictionary of Law''. HarperCollins Publishers. 1996. . Page 68. Definition 4 of "civil law". Private law, which relates to civil wrongs and quasi-contracts, is part of civil law, as is contract law and law of property (excluding property-related crimes, such as theft or vandalism). Civil law may, like criminal law, be divided into substantive law and procedural law. The rights and duties of persons ( natural persons and legal persons) amongst themselves is the primary concern of civil law. The common law is today as fertile a source for theoretical inquiry as it has ever been. Around the English-speaking world, many scholars of law, philosophy, politics, and history study the t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Criminal Justice
Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other crimes, and moral support for victims. The primary institutions of the criminal justice system are the police, prosecution and defense lawyers, the courts and the prisons system. Criminal justice system Definition The criminal justice system consists of three main parts: #Law enforcement agencies, usually the police #Courts ,accompanying prosecution and defence lawyers #Agencies for detaining and supervising offenders, such as prisons and probation agencies. In the criminal justice system, these distinct agencies operate together as the principal means of maintaining the rule of law within society. Law enforcement The first contact a defendant has with the criminal justice system is usually with the police (or ''law enforcement'') wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trial Court
A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually heard by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). Most appellate courts do not have the authority to hear testimony or take evidence, but instead rule solely on matters of law. In the trial court, Evidence (law), evidence and testimony are admitted under the rules of evidence established by applicable procedural law and determinations called ''findings of fact'' are made based on the evidence. The court, presided over by one or more judges, makes ''findings of law'' based upon the applicable law. In most common law jurisdictions, the trial court often sits with a jury and one judge; in such jury trials, the jury acts as trier of fact. In some cases, the judge or judges act as triers of both fact and law, by either statute, custom, or agreement of the parties; this is referred to as a benc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superior Court Of The District Of Columbia
The Superior Court of the District of Columbia, commonly referred to as DC Superior Court, is the trial court for the District of Columbia, in the United States. It hears cases involving Criminal justice, criminal, Civil law (common law), civil law, family court, landlord, Leasehold estate, tenant, probate, tax, and driving violations. All appeals of Superior Court decisions go to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, though magistrate judge opinions are first appealed to a Superior Court Associate Judge. History 19th century The first judicial systems in the new District of Columbia were established by the United States Congress in 1801. The Circuit Court of the District of Columbia (not to be confused with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which it later evolved into) was both a trial court of general jurisdiction and an appellate court, and it heard cases under both local and federal law. Congress also established justices of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ward (United States)
In the United States, a ward is an optional division of a city or town for administrative and representative purposes, especially for purposes of an election. Depending upon the state and local laws, the term ''ward'' can mean any of: * an electoral district of a city council or town board, created for the purpose of providing more direct representation, from which one or more council members are elected; or * a division used in political party leadership elections; or * an administrative division, as in the wards of Newark, New Jersey or the six wards of Houston. The ward system was the primary method used to elect city council members until the early 20th century when municipal reformers sought to replace it due to its control by political machines in major cities. In Wisconsin, a 'ward' is what in most other states would be a precinct. See also * Political machine in the history of the USA *Ward (electoral subdivision) A ward is a local authority area, typically ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Department Of Youth Rehabilitation Services
The Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) is the juvenile justice agency of the District of Columbia, in the United States. History Marc A Schindler was the interim Director of DYRS from January 2010 to July 2010. He succeeded Vincent Schiraldi, who wrote in an op-ed column after leaving his post, that his tenure was marked by "both controversy and promises kept." He also mentions that at the time he left DYRS, "just 7 percent of DYRS-supervised youths are on runaway status today, compared with 26 percent in 2003. Homicides by youths in DYRS's care have fallen, from 1.1 percent of our youth in 2007 and 2008 to 0.7 percent in 2009, and in the past year juvenile homicide arrests citywide have declined at more than twice the rate of adult homicide arrests. Most important, the rate of recidivism for youths released from Oak Hill decreased 47 percent from 2004 to 2007." In 2009, DYRS employees were investigated by the district's Attorney General for possibly having had se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
