The 8th Amendment to the US Constitution Research Paper

The 8th Amendment to the US Constitution - Research Paper Example One of the important amendments of the Constitution is the 8th Amendment and its significance lies in the fact that it has, though the years, promoted humane and civilized forms and methods of punishing criminals. This amendment is adopted from an ancient English law and incorporated into the US Constitution at the time its framers were drafting the basic law of the land. The History of the 8th Amendment The 8th Amendment to the US Constitution states thus: â€Å"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed and no cruel, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.† The 8th Amendment was first suggested by James Madison, the fourth president of the US, for inclusion to the US Constitution while the framers were working on its draft. The Commonwealth of Virginia, from where Madison hailed, had its own version of the passage incorporated in its Declaration of Rights. Its origin, however, was the 1689 English Bill of Rights. The inclusion of this passage in t hat law was to limit English courts from imposing punishments and fines that were excessive, cruel and unusual as was the practice of the English courts in the time of the House of Stewarts under King James VI who would impose such punishments such as quartering, boiling alive, disemboweling, decapitation and crushing criminals with heavy weights (Gill 114). On the other hand, the â€Å"excessive bail† clause was included in the 1689 law to prevent the English judges from circumventing the Habeas Corpus Act of 1969 by setting bail at very high amounts so arrested persons were unable to meet them. Finally, the â€Å"excessive fines† clause was also â€Å"intended to limit only those fines directly imposed by, and payable to, the government† (Excessive Bail 2011). Cases Involving the 8th Amendment Most of the cases decided by the US Supreme Court involving the 8th Amendment are related to the issue of the death penalty and its possible infringement of the â€Å"c ruel and unusual punishment† clause of the 8th Amendment. Some of the well-known cases involving the 8th Amendment are: Weems v US 217 US 349 (1910); Stack v Boyle 342 US 1 (1951); Furman v Georgia 408 US 238 (1972); Gregg v Georgia 428 US 153 (1976); Browning-Ferris Industries v Kelco Disposal, Inc 492 US 257 (1989), and; Austin v US 509 US 602 (1993). In Weems v US, the US Supreme Court held that the â€Å"cruel and unusual punishment† clause of the 8th Amendment can apply not only to court punishments, but also to legislative laws and rendered the punishment of 14 years of imprisonment with hard labor on top of civil and political disabilities as disproportionate to the crime of falsifying public documents. In Furman v Georgia, the Court ruled that the manner of imposing the death penalty in which there is an absence of standard to guide the jury as to when to impose the death penalty is â€Å"cruel and unusual† and therefore unconstitutional. However, in Greg g v Georgia, the Court clarified that the death penalty per se does not infringe the 8th Amendment so long as its imposition is not purely discretionary to the jury and laws exist that define the crimes that should be meted with the death penalty. In Stack v Boyle, the Court held that setting bail at an

Financial Modeling analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Modeling analysis - Essay Example Another assumption is progressive growth in sales for the existing stores. As reflected in the financial forecast account, Lowe’s will make increasing sales for the first years, drop the pick-up and maintain a continuous growth of sales till the fifth year. Since the company will bring new products to metropolitan dweller, it will make more sales within the two year. In the third year, 2003, Lowe’s will try to adjust for the long-term investment decision hence leading to drop in sale. However, after adjusting its resources effectively, it will pick up and its sale will be expected to progressively grow. Lowe’s is planning to reach more professional customer using its online website. This means it will be collecting cash instantly thus as reflected by the high receivable turnover rates. In addition to that, it is assumed that Lowe’s will need huge financing if they have a goal of reaching metropolitan markets. In assuming a high receivable turnover rate, the company will minimize debtor ratio and will therefore have more cash at hand for the investment purpose. In addition to that, the model assumes a more that 100% inventory and P&E turn over. Though such a turnover rate may seem unachievable, it is important to set it so that Lowe’s can achieve its goal of competing with Home Depot. The model finally assumes a constant rate in â€Å"other current liabilities / sale† entity. For the company to be able to plan working capital, they need to have a rate that does not change. Financial forecast model developed by Value Line Publishing shows a higher 5 year average gross margin of approximately 30.52% as compared to Lowe’s model whose 5 year average gross margin is 29.3%. this simply means that VLP’s model is focused in seeing Home Depot to make more earning for every dollar it spend is sales while Lowe’s modes is focused to seeing

Financial Modeling analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Modeling analysis - Essay Example Another assumption is progressive growth in sales for the existing stores. As reflected in the financial forecast account, Lowe’s will make increasing sales for the first years, drop the pick-up and maintain a continuous growth of sales till the fifth year. Since the company will bring new products to metropolitan dweller, it will make more sales within the two year. In the third year, 2003, Lowe’s will try to adjust for the long-term investment decision hence leading to drop in sale. However, after adjusting its resources effectively, it will pick up and its sale will be expected to progressively grow. Lowe’s is planning to reach more professional customer using its online website. This means it will be collecting cash instantly thus as reflected by the high receivable turnover rates. In addition to that, it is assumed that Lowe’s will need huge financing if they have a goal of reaching metropolitan markets. In assuming a high receivable turnover rate, the company will minimize debtor ratio and will therefore have more cash at hand for the investment purpose. In addition to that, the model assumes a more that 100% inventory and P&E turn over. Though such a turnover rate may seem unachievable, it is important to set it so that Lowe’s can achieve its goal of competing with Home Depot. The model finally assumes a constant rate in â€Å"other current liabilities / sale† entity. For the company to be able to plan working capital, they need to have a rate that does not change. Financial forecast model developed by Value Line Publishing shows a higher 5 year average gross margin of approximately 30.52% as compared to Lowe’s model whose 5 year average gross margin is 29.3%. this simply means that VLP’s model is focused in seeing Home Depot to make more earning for every dollar it spend is sales while Lowe’s modes is focused to seeing

Financial Modeling analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Modeling analysis - Essay Example Another assumption is progressive growth in sales for the existing stores. As reflected in the financial forecast account, Lowe’s will make increasing sales for the first years, drop the pick-up and maintain a continuous growth of sales till the fifth year. Since the company will bring new products to metropolitan dweller, it will make more sales within the two year. In the third year, 2003, Lowe’s will try to adjust for the long-term investment decision hence leading to drop in sale. However, after adjusting its resources effectively, it will pick up and its sale will be expected to progressively grow. Lowe’s is planning to reach more professional customer using its online website. This means it will be collecting cash instantly thus as reflected by the high receivable turnover rates. In addition to that, it is assumed that Lowe’s will need huge financing if they have a goal of reaching metropolitan markets. In assuming a high receivable turnover rate, the company will minimize debtor ratio and will therefore have more cash at hand for the investment purpose. In addition to that, the model assumes a more that 100% inventory and P&E turn over. Though such a turnover rate may seem unachievable, it is important to set it so that Lowe’s can achieve its goal of competing with Home Depot. The model finally assumes a constant rate in â€Å"other current liabilities / sale† entity. For the company to be able to plan working capital, they need to have a rate that does not change. Financial forecast model developed by Value Line Publishing shows a higher 5 year average gross margin of approximately 30.52% as compared to Lowe’s model whose 5 year average gross margin is 29.3%. this simply means that VLP’s model is focused in seeing Home Depot to make more earning for every dollar it spend is sales while Lowe’s modes is focused to seeing