BMGT380 Business Law Chapter 1 Types of Law Constitutional each state has a constitution Each is a source of law Statutory law that is created either by the US Congress or by the individual state legislatures in each of the states Statute Law synonym o Uniform Acts model statutes that sometimes become actual statutes if they are adopted by Congress or individual state legislature Common Law law that is created by judges when they are deciding a case and there is nothing in the Constitution in his state If there s no law to help decide he could create a law to decide the case Can occur in state and federal court o Precedent Decisions in similar earlier cases should control the outcome in subsequent similar cases o Restatements collections of rules about specific subject areas of law Not actually law they are persuasive to judges who are deciding cases They are persuasive because major lawyers and law professors have written them Administrative Regulations and Agency Decisions o Administrative Regulations a lot like statutes except an elected body does not create them Come from administrative agencies ex SEC Dodd Frank Act massive revision of financial regulation After it was passed the SEC was put in charge of administering regulations to help implement the act o Agency Decisions don t come from courts they come from administrative agencies Ex SEC Can administer a decision that fines a company for violations in the Securities Act Treaties require 2 3 senate approval Ordinances like a statute but at the local level Ex zoning ordinance in Executive Orders issued either by the President or by governors of College Park individual states Equity Used to be that if you went into court and wanted them to do something you were limited Some could only give you damages other could only give you kinds of relief If you wanted an injunction that required your neighbor to stop blasting loud music you d go to a certain court for that type of relief Now you can go to any court and get any kind of relief you want Priority Rules Which source of law trumps another source of law Suppose constitution conflicts with a statue does constitution trump statute What is judge supposed to do 4 Rules 1 Constitution trumps all other types of law 2 Federal statutes trump conflicting state statutes 3 Statutes trump both Common Law and administrative regulations 4 Administrative regulations trump Common Law Classifications of the Law Criminal vs Civil o Criminal deals with prosecution by either state or federal government against someone or an organization for the commitment of a crime o Civil deals with the obligations that private parties owe to each other Substantive vs Procedural o Substantive Establishes rights and duties to people in society o Procedural Establishes the rules of the game under which courts enforce substantive law How long can you wait to sue someone if they did something Public vs Private bad to you o Public deals with relations between governments and private parties Ex constitutional law criminal law o Private relations between private parties Ex breach of contract Functions of Law Peacekeeping criminal law Controlling government power what constitutional law is designed to do Promoting peoples reasonable expectations contract law Promoting economic growth through free competition antitrust laws Promoting social justice employer employee law equal rights o Ex unpaid interns Protecting the environment environmental law Legal Reasoning Case Law Reasoning o Deals with the situation where there isn t a constitutional provision law that applies Judge has to figure out the law Common Law Precedent is the key Stare Decisis Like cases should be decided alike Statutory Interpretation o A lot of statutes are ambiguous A lot of people who go to Congress are not confident so they write laws but don t do a good job Deliberately unclear because Congress doesn t want to make hard decisions so they leave it loose so court can interpret it o How does judge interpret statute 1 Plain Meaning court should interpret statute according to its usual or conventional meaning 2 Legislative History different kinds of sources different degrees of usefulness Some are hearings committee reports amendments and proposed but defeated amendments 3 General Public Purpose judge would try and figure out what the law was designed to do If that was the general purpose was than the statute should be interpreted in light of that purpose and try and accomplish that purpose 4 Prior Interpretation if some other judge has already looked at the statute and issued an opinion and the opinion seems persuasive than the new judge can go along with it Limits on the Power of Courts Courts are not supposed to issue advisory opinions o Ripeness has to be an actual controversy If not ripe can t decide on it o Mootness controversy has already been resolved If it s moot the judge can t decide on it o Plaintiff has to have standing Has to have tangible stake in the outcome Ex VMA category Best Female Video Taylor Swift Kanye West controversy o Declaratory Judgment an exception to the fact that courts don t issue advisory opinions Exception that you can try and get this judgment before you ve been sued as a preemptive move MORE LIMITS 1 No Advisory Opinions 2 Precedent limited power because have to follow precedent if there is one 3 Scrutiny of Public Opinions anyone can read them Judges don t like to expose themselves to ridicule so they try and do the right thing 4 Fear of Reversal judges don t like to be reversed on appeal Embarrassing 5 Political Factors operate to control judicial power Some judges are elected have to stand for reelection don t want to mess up In federal court all judges are appointed term lifetime Recall can force state judges to stand for a special election to decide to kick someone out of office sign a petition Only happens in states where judges are subject to being elected Impeachment federal judges can be removed from the court Discipline that doesn t rise to level of impeachment but is still significant enough to operate as a restriction on judges power o Ex censure fellow judges issue public statement that criticizes you State Courts and Their Jurisdiction Chapter 2 1 Courts of Limited Jurisdiction a Traffic courts b Probate courts wills c Small claims court cases involving limited amount of money 2 Trial Court limit restriction No subject matter restriction not limited to just one thing and No dollar Courts of record
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