Management 211 Chapter 1 Introduction to Law and Sources of Law I Introduction A Two Major Rules of Law in Business World 1 Dispute Resolution Role settles differences between two or more parties Mainly covered in a Business Law class 2 Regulatory Role Governmental interference with private business Directs and standardizes business activities to improve society B Law Definition 1 Law is a collection of rules and regulations that determines how the government will treat its citizens and how the citizens will treat the government as well as other citizens AND the enforcement thereof without enforcement law is useless Enforcement leads to 1 Stability 2 Predictability 3 Uniformity hopefully 2 Law is difficult to define called an abstract term can mean different things to different people at different times II Sources of Law A Constitutional Law 1 Most important source of Law 2 Supreme Law of the Land 3 Comes from US Constitution 4 Covered in Chapter 2 B Statutory Law 1 Also called Legislative Law 2 US Congress passes laws statutes as per the Constitution Article 1 each House Senate and House of Representatives must pass bill in identical language sent to president 1 if signs becomes law 2 can veto 3 Congress can override veto a two third vote of membership of both Houses b if does bill becomes law without the President s signature C Executive 1 Executive Order law by President to control the policies of the Executive Branch a Affirmative Action b Don t Ask Don t Tell and repeal of it by Obama 2 President also controls executive branch agencies and bureaus a oversees their spending b appoints leaders 3 Appoints federal judges by Senate a normally nominates someone with similar political ideology must be confirmed b once confirmed Judge does not have to follow political ideology D Judiciary Courts 1 Introduction a Interpret Law b Determine facts of nor jury 2 The Common Law system a Stare Decisis Follow previously decided cases unless there is a good legal reason to change Plessy being overturned by Brown b The Court follows stare decisis doctrine it is setting precedent c Judges are reluctant to change precedent but change does occur d Leads to predictability and uniformity e Common Law is called judge made law 3 Interpretation of Statutes and Review of Agency Decisions a Courts interpret statutes Usually follows legislative intent judicial passivism Obamacare one judge was against it but voted for it with democrats to get 5 4 majority but not bound by legislative intent and can change legislative intent judicial activism b Judiciary also reviews Agency decisions 4 Judicial Review a Marbury v Madison Supreme Court assumed the power of judicial review b Judicial Review is the power of the Courts to declare an act of Congress or the President unconstitutional c There is a strong presumption of Constitutionality d Can be overruled by Constitutional Amendment rare but example Texas v Johnsons Resulting flag burning controversy E Administrative Law 1 Administrative Law Law created by regulatory agencies 2 National Administrative Law will be primary concern in this class 3 State Law vast majority of litigation a State Court System 1 Varies greatly from State to State 2 Handles bulk of judicial work b State Statutory and Administrative Law 1 Each State has own Constitution Legislature and Courts 2 Each state can also create Administrative Law 3 Police Power are reserved to the States a Tenth Amendment power to the states b Power of a state to place restraints on personal freedom and property rights of persons for the protection of public safety health and morals or the promotion of the public convenience and general prosperity 4 Business Regulation power to regulate business to protect the public health and safety and to promote for public welfare can be c sometimes delegated to local governments by States part of police powers given to states by the 10th amendment not supposed to interfere with interstate commerce a Federal b State c Municipal can be important part of state government III Classification of Law A Federal Law and State Law 1 Federal Law includes law from a Constitution b Congress c President Treaties d Federal Regulatory Agencies 2 State Law includes law from a Municipal ordinance b State legislators c State regulatory agencies d sometimes county government 3 State Law varies from State to State a states can experiment with different aspects or versions of law b makes states laboratory for the development of law c national law often copies pre existing state law d often there is uniformity of laws from state to state maybe because states pick the best option e however state can also be a disagreement of the best options 1 Majority Rule majority of states follow that rule of law 2 Minority Rule only a few states choose to follow that rule of law 4 State can be testing ground for new National Laws 5 State law is getting more uniform a can be due to codification passing of statutory laws b example Uniform Commercial Code B Private and Public Law 1 Public government is involved 2 Private between individuals government is not involved has nothing to with the publicity that the case generates C Civil Law and Criminal Law 1 Criminal Law a designated to protect society from activities that upset social order by preventing crime 2 Civil Law b purpose is to punish criminals c exclusively statutory law d Intent is not to provide remedies for victims of crime a designated to compensate individuals for wrongs suffered b purpose is reimbursement c comes from both common law and statutory law 3 Same facts can give rise to both civil and criminal law Car Accident DWI 4 Burden of proof is different a Criminal is beyond a reasonable doubt much higher than civil burden society places higher respect for individual liberty so to deprive someone of crime and deprive them of their liberty needs more proof b Civil is preponderance of the evidence more likely than not 5 Businesses are usually involved in civil law so this course will concentrate on civil law a leads to adverse publicity b costly can result in settlement also gives business incentive to play by rules D Substantive and Procedural Law 1 Substantive Law a defines rights and duties b meat or heart of law 2 Procedural Law a defines the procedural means to enforce rights established by substantive law b how to of the law 3 Example murder ans subsequent prosecution E Equitable an Legal Remedies 1 Equity equitable remedies a Origin is