1 8 14 Chapter 1 Laws in shades of grey Law changes as a reflection of society Stare decisis cases will be decided the way prior cases have been decided but not that easy people disagree court has the right to change its own ruling Doesn t matter what the constitution says but how it s interpreted Punitive purpose is to punish the other party ex company did not stop man from harassing women so they should be punished Brief do a summary of a case so that everyone understand it In a trial court the loser gets the opportunity to appeal the ruling appellate court this class is only looking at appellate court decisions Otis v Clark drunk man escorted out of work and drove and killed two women Need to show that the defendant had a duty to you and that they breached that duty Made a ruling before a trial summary judgment Otis engineering says that even if the judge believes everything the Clark s say they don t have points of law to be disputed so it should be dismissed Clark brothers made an appeal the other judge made a mistake of law by granting the summary judgment because there WAS an issue Intermediate court sided with the Clarks Appellant brings the appeal listed first in name for the appeals case Appellee defends the appeal Always an odd number of justices judges for appeals courts so not to produce a tie Attorney for appellant write the first brief about the mistake made Then a reply brief from appellee Verbal argument between the two then a decision is made Dissent a justice disagrees with the decision made but does not change the outcome of the case they have the right to write down there dissent from the majority Items in a Brief know what the legal question and the answer are Parties Clarks sued the employer of the defendant Prior Legal Proceedings Appealed successfully to intermediate level Relevant Facts women killed foreman sent worker home knowing he was drunk Legal Question Did the lower court improperly grant the motion for summary judgment Do the Clark s have no case Holding Summary judgment was improperly granted Rationale changing social standards made the employer responsible Dissent employer has no responsibility to an off duty employee Ethics vs Morals Morals views of what is right and wrong Ethics study of how moral decisions are justified Ex two people that believe murder is wrong one may be religious the other may be an atheist that believes do onto others what you want done onto you very different beliefs justifying similar morals Ethical Models Cost Benefit Model focus on the costs and benefits of an action to the stakeholder someone who has an interest pick the option that does the greatest good or the least harm to all the stakeholders Stakeholders driver of motorcycle other drivers on the road family of the motor cycle driver The most good would come from being forced to wear a helmet Ex Everyone required wearing a seatbelt Rights Model impact on human rights rights of freedom liberty treated accordingly to how they want to freely be treated people allowed to ride motorcycles without helmets Chapter 3 Juris prudence philosophy of law models that help determine why cases are decided the way they are Philosophical conventions come into play at different time Ideal conception law is part of nature law is the same for everyone comes through reasoned thinking Hard to have a society based on natural law because people don t agree ex Congress with two different parties Positivist conception law is a body of rules ex Law in the US imposed by the government or the sovereign body posit does not mean good but written imposed by authority and immoral law is still law Problem 4 in back of book natural law because of the right to disobey unjust laws 1 13 14 DIFFERENT SOURCES OF LAW statutory law easy to deal with rules and they are written down positive law Common law judge made law evolves over time changes based on society Different states have different laws Historical conception adopt laws that have been in our society a long time and everyone accepts them Embodies the customs of society entrustment provisions if one entrusts ownership of product to a merchant merchant has the power to transfer ownership ex two people buy a ring but only one takes it home told in class if it was given to a repair man and then sold couple one gets to keep it because repair man was not in power to sell Sociological conception law defined by present human conduct changes based on whats happening now ex henningsons and the chevy dealership with wife and faulty steering Realist conception law is the way law is actually enforced ex driving on highway at 65 speed limit but can go up to 72 mph so speed limit is really 72 law is an interpretation and a constant reinterpretation of law Economic conception anything good for the economy is good law Entrustment conception Meinhard v Salmon very prominent families gerrymandering the manipulation of election districts by the party of power to get the results they want named after Gerry in this case Bristol hotel was a rooming house for people who wanted to have a ritzy address Gerry was an attorney and represented livingstons involved in a case where he s married to one side and lead council for the company on the other side Salmon took a 20 year lease and agree to cover costs to transfer to retail space Meinhard gave half the remaining money and he would get 40 of profits for first five years and 50 after Meinhard not told of the negotiations to become a developer as well solely a money lendor Salmon did not need meinhard after the 20 year period Sues and wins because salmon and meinhard were in a fiduciary relationship he had the duty to keep him informed case regarded more for its rhetoric than its result Soldano v O Daniels Darrell soldano was killed and person ran across the street to use the phone to call someone to help only for our customers Soldano died Did the bartender at Circle Inn have the duty to let that person use the phone initially court dismissed case because there was no relationship between soldano and o daniels malfeasance doing something bad ex punching someone nonfeasance non doing dont have to do something ex choosing not to do cpr on someone evidently if a police officer had come when they man wanted to call soldano wouldn t have died sociologically things changed if there will be little cost incurred have the duty to help o daniels was found to have a duty to the soldano s Ethical responsibility became necessary to