The term Amicus Curiae means “friend of the court”. Specifically, it is a person or group who is not a party to a lawsuit, but has a strong interest in the matter and will petition the court for permission to submit a brief in the action with the intent of influencing the court 's decision (Cornell School of Law, 1995). The briefs provided by the amicus curiae are important in the legal system since they provide insight on particular topics the judge may not be an expert on.
Submission of a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the Court of Appeals of New York in order for the United States Supreme Court to allow admittance of a Brief of Amicus Curiae in support of the petitioners for the case of Tuck-It-Away Storage, …show more content…
An amicus brief contains a compilation of scholarly articles and critiques of the topic at hand. These briefs can contain information, supported by facts, on how a particular ruling will affect the plaintiff in the case. The person that prepares the brief is an attorney representing a corporation, government, or a party that has been through the same legal issues that appear in that particular court case.
Types of Amici Curae
• The Court’s Hand-Picked Lawyer: The court personally assigns a lawyer to represent said position in a case. The Supreme Court utilizes appointed amici curiae to argue perspectives that were never advocated by a party.
• The Invited Friend: is the individual, group, or institutional actor asked to provide its perspective (Anderson, 2015). An example of this would be the court asking the NSA to give their opinion on issues concerning privacy and what is considered public information.
• The Independent: An amicus curia is an organization or individual who does not support either party (Anderson, 2015). The Independent will only interfere with the issue because it is important to …show more content…
Roman law was the legal system of ancient Rome. After a few centuries, British law was incorporated into the Roman law legal system, which then had other common law systems following alongside it. One of the most popular systems that use it is international law. During this time period, many cases concerning human rights had to call upon an amicus curia. The popularity of amicus curiae continued to spread across the courts of many lands, where it finally found a place in the civil law systems. The practice of amicus curia is most exercised by the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (“Origins and Background”,