BMGT380 Exam 1 Study Guide Chapter One The Types of Law o Constitutions Exist at the state and federal levels 51 constitutions DC has a charter Federal equivalent State is modeled by Federal gov Two general functions Set up the structure of government for the political unit they control stating the powers given to each o Creates branches and subdivisions of the government and o Separation of powers in certain areas function is to execute enforce law Establishes the Congress and gives it power to make law Provides for a chief executive the president whose Creates the federal judiciary to interpret the law o Federalism recognizing the states power to make laws in certain areas Prevent other units of government from taking certain actions or passing certain laws o Prohibiting government action that restricts certain individual rights Ex Bill of Rights to the US Constitution o Statutes o Common Law Uniform Acts model statutes drafted by private bodies of lawyers and do not Laws created by elected representatives in Congress or a state legislature stated in authoritative form in statute books or codes become law until legislature enacts them Purpose is to produce state by state uniformity on the subjects they address serve as a model for state to adopt o The states may modify them or alter them o Ex Limited partnership act Law made and applied by judges as they decide cases not governed by statutes or other types of law become involved in applying it Exists only at the state level however both state courts and federal courts Precedents judges used to follow decisions of other judges in similar cases Process became formalized in doctrine of stare decisis meaning let the decision stand Restatement collections of common law rules covering various areas of the law Not law and do not bind courts suggestion of what law should be However state courts often find restatement rules persuasive and Usually are the rules followed by a majority of the state adopt them as common law Fills in gaps left by other legal rules if sound social and public policy reasons call for those gaps to be filled Provides adequate relief Nearly all states have abolished separate equity Injunction court order forbidding a party to do some act or commanding him to perform some act o Equity o Administrative Regulations and Decisions grant of power from the legislature make the law and the scope of its power Administrative agencies obtain ability to make law through a delegation or Normal created y statute that specifies the areas in which the agency can Two types of law made Administrative regulations appear in precise form in one authoritative o Different from statutes because the body enacting regulations is source not an elected body Agency decisions legally binding o Treaties o Ordinance Treaties made by the president with foreign governments and approved by 2 3 of US senate become the supreme law of the land State governments have subordinate units that exercise certain functions just as school districts that have limited powers Ex No smoking zones o Executive Orders President or state governor enforces law but has no law making powers However sometimes have limited power to issue laws which normally result Ex Corruption orders from a legislative delegation Priority Rules Because different types of law conflict rules for determining which type takes priority is necessary 1 According to the principle of federal supremacy the US constitution federal laws enacted to pursuant to it and treaties are the supreme law of the land Federal law beats conflicting state law measure that is later in time prevails validity In class version 2 Constitutions defeat other types of law 3 When a treaty conflicts with federal statute over a purely domestic matter 4 Statutes defeat conflicting laws that depend on a legislative delegation for 5 Statute or administrative regulation defeats conflicting common law rule 1 Constitutions trump over all other kinds of law 2 Federal statures trump conflicting state statures 3 Statures trump common law and administrative regulations 4 Administrative regulations trump common law Classifications of Law o Criminal and Civil Law Criminal law law under which the government prosecutes someone for Civil law mainly concerns obligations that private parties owe each other committing a crime Government may also be a party to a civil case o Substantive Law and Procedural Law Substantive law sets the rights and duties of people as they act in society Procedural law controls the behavior of government bodies mainly courts Ex Statute making murder a crime substantive law as they establish and enforce rules of substantive law Ex Rules describing proper conduct of a trial procedural law Public Law Concerns the powers of government and the relations between government and private parties o Public and Private Law Private Law establishes a framework of legal rules that enables parties to set the rights and duties they owe each other What is the law designed to do o Peace keeping o Control government power o Promoting peoples reasonable expectations o Promoting economic growth through free enterprise o Promoting social justice o Protecting the environment o Legal rule is major premise facts are minor premise and result is the product of o Two most important types of legal reasoning Precedent is key based on idea Case Law Reasoning State decisis standard for choosing and applying prior cases to o Courts find appropriate legal rules in prior cases combining the two Legal Reasoning decide present cases states cases should be decided alike If earlier case is different can ignore precedent If no applicable precedent exists court is free to develop new common law assuming the court believes that sound public policy reasons call for the development of a new rule Statutory Interpretation How does a judge deal with ambiguous statutes o Plain meaning interpret words to their conventional meaning Interpret the words as they are typically interpretative o Legislative history refuse to follow statute s plain meaning when its legislative history suggests a different result statutes language is ambiguous Almost all courts resort to legislative history when the Committee reports assessed Widely accepted general notions of public policy What other courts have done in order to promote stability o General Public Purpose interpret in sight of general policies o Prior Interpretations and certainty o Maxims general rules of thumb
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