My Cousin Vinnie and A Civil Action

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These two movies are about court trials, one is a criminal trial and one a civil trial – which is which should not be too difficult to guess. Both movies are quite accurate with respect to the court procedures depicted. There is some minor inaccuracy (usually exaggeration) in My Cousin Vinnie for the sake of humor, but that usually does not distort the underlying accuracy. A Civil Action is a little more "up front" about the procedural aspects of litigation. Both a narrator and the characters discuss procedural issues and tactics, with a great deal of accuracy. (One should listen carefully to the narrator.)   Write a paper discussing the movies and the legal-procedure rules involved in them (you should review the textbook's discussion of civil and criminal procedure before viewing the movies). You are strongly encouraged to discuss any and all part(s) of the movies that you think significant in terms of court procedures. As suggestions only, your discussion might, for example, comment on: 1. Do the procedures illustrated in the movies conform to those discussed in the text? 2. What part do pre-trial procedures play in the ultimate resolution of the case(s)? 3. Do the procedural differences (criminal vs. civil) just a matter of tradition or do they somehow relate to the nature of the case? 4. Do the differing burden of proof rules (criminal vs. civil) play a significant role (i.e. would the result in either of both cases be different if the other burden of proof rule applied)? 5. Do procedural rules (criminal and/or civil) have any purpose other than to regulate the sequence of events? If "yes", what? In all of that, the result should be an objective, logical analysis.

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