Korea was a primitive society and the King had ultimate until after the Korean War, when basics of a legal system were introduced by the United States, as they did in Japan by influencing the writing of the Constitution.
The judicial system of South Korea is composed of the Supreme Court of South Korea, the Constitutional Court of South Korea, six (6) High Courts, thirteen (13) District Courts, and several courts of specialized jurisdiction, such as the Family Court and Administrative Court.
In addition, branches of District Courts may be established, as well as Municipal Courts. South Korean courts are organized and empowered in chapters V and VI of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea. There is no system of juries in the judicial system of South Korea.
(Chapter 7: The Courts and Legal Professionals, pg. 173)
The United States of America
Democracy
In the United States, the law is derived from four sources. These four (4) sources are constitutional law, statutory law, administrative regulations, and the common law (which includes case law). The most important source of law is the United States Constitution.
The Constitution gives Americans many rights that have been formulated into laws and must be abided by. The highest court in America is the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, or apex court. Generally speaking, the decisions of a supreme court are not subject to further review by any other court.
Civil Rights in South Korea
Citizens of the Republic of Korea are guaranteed several rights by Chapter II of the Constitution. Some of these rights include but aren’t limited to : freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and the press; the rights to vote, hold public office, and petition the government; protection against double jeopardy, involuntary labor, ex post facto laws, and warrantless searches of residences; and the rights of education, work, marriage, and health.
In South Korea it is illegal for a woman to have an abortion. The law allows for abortion only in cases where the mother's health is at risk, if the baby could be born with severe birth defects or the pregnancy was caused by rape or other sexual crime.
Doctors in South Korea can be fined or go to prison for performing abortions under any other circumstance. Some doctors were performing abortions if women were found to be pregnant with girls because great values are placed on boys rather than girls in that society. In 1953, abortions were outlawed but by the 1970s abortions were on the rise again. Roe vs. Wade
On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court made a landmark decision by ruling that the first trimester of pregnancy, state laws and regulations may not interfere with a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy. This means that the decision to have an abortion is left in the hands of the woman and her health care provider. During the second trimester, state laws and regulations can regulate abortion in order to protect the woman's health. During the last trimester, and after the fetus is viable (developed enough to survive outside the mother's womb), state laws and regulations may prohibit abortion except when it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the woman. The court applied what is known as "strict scrutiny" analysis, the most stringent level of review. This means that a woman's right to an abortion could only be outweighed by a compelling state interest, and that the state law needed to be narrowly drawn so as not to interfere with a woman's right to an abortion more than necessary. Many laws that have been passed to restrict women's access to legal abortion fail the strict scrutiny test and are therefore invalidated or struck down. (Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
Marijuana
In most U.S. states it is illegal to use marijuana.
