BIOM 121 1nd Edition Lecture 1 Outline of Last Lecture None Outline of Current Lecture II Introduction III Sources of Law IV Classification of Law Current Lecture Chapter 1 Introduction to Law and Sources of Law I II Introduction A Two Major Roles of Law in Business World 1 Dispute Resolution going to court being sued a Settles differences between two or more parties b Mainly covered in Business Law class 2 Regulatory Role Government Regulation this is an issue that often comes up during elections Gov should get out of businesses way a Government interference with private business b Directs and standardizes business activities c Government is like referee in football B Law Definition 1 Law is the 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 a Without enforcement the law is useless b Enforcement leads to 1 PREDICTABILITY knowledge that if violating law you will be punished 2 STABILITY keeps society from upturning its self 3 UNIFORMITY hopefully law is not always uniform a Racial and age profiling exist Sources of Law A Constitutional Law 1 Most important source of law 2 Supreme Law of the land a If a law isn t constitutional then it can t exist 3 Comes from the US Constitution These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute 4 Covered in chapter 2 B Statutory Law Legislative Law 1 Written down and tells you what s there and what will happen 2 US Congress passes laws statutes as per the Constitution Article I a Each House Senate and House of Representatives must pass bill in identical language b Sent to President 1 If signs becomes law 2 Can veto 3 Congress can override veto a Two thirds vote of membership of both Houses b If does bill becomes law without the President s signature almost never happens 3 State governments and other legislative bodies can also pass laws C Executive 1 Executive Order law by President to control the policies of the Executive Branch a Affirmative Action Lyndon Johnson Discrimination b Don t Ask Don t Tell Clinton and repealed by Obama Gays 2 President also controls executive branch agencies and bureaus a Oversees their spending b Appoints leaders usually with similar political ideology 3 Appoints Federal Judge a Normally nominates someone with similar political ideology b Once confirmed Judge does not have to follow political ideology D Judiciary Courts 1 Introduction a Interpret the law b Determine facts if no jury appellate courts 2 The Common Law System law that is commonly known and not necessarily written down AKA judge made law a Common law is overruled by contracts or lease b Common law follows the decisions in previous cases this is called Stare Decisis Doctrine and isn t changed unless there is a good legal reason to change 1 Following Stare Decisis sets Precedent decisions made by previous courts a Precedent can either be upheld or over turned b However there is a lot of pressure to uphold precedent especially in the case of reelection c Common law is set by each individual state 1 Majority Rule most of the sates follow this common law 2 Minority Rule fewer states follow this common law d Common Law leads to PREDICTABILITY and UNIFORMITY 3 Interpretation of Statutes and Review of Agency Decisions a Judicial Activism courts interpret a law differently than the legislatures intended it III b Judicial Passivism courts interpret a law the same as legislatures meant happens more often 1 EX John Robert a US Supreme Court Justice and Republican demonstrated judicial passivism when he declared the Affordable Care Act Obamacare Constitutional 4 Judicial Review a Began with Marbury v Madison 1 John Marshal the Father of the American Court System declared former President John Adams executive order unconstitutional giving the Supreme Court more power and preventing President Thomas Jefferson from complaining 2 Allows the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution and declare laws unconstitutional judicial review b Texas v Johnson and the resulting flag burning controversy E Administrative Law created by regulatory agencies 1 National Administrative Law will be primary concern in this class 2 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 Laws 1 Each State has own Constitution Legislature and Courts 2 Each state can also create Administrative Laws 3 Police Powers are reserved to the States a Tenth Amendment b Power of a state to place restraints on personal freedom and property rights of persons for the protection of the public safety health and morals or the promotion of the public convenience and general prosperity c Sometimes delegated to local governments by States 4 Business Regulation power to regulate business to protect the public health and safety and to promote for public welfare can be a Federal b State 1 Part of police powers given to states by the 10 th Amendment 2 Not supposed to interfere with interstate commerce c Municipal 1 Can be important 2 Part of state government Classifications of Law A Federal Law and State Law 1 Federal Law Constitution Congress President Federal Regulatory Agencies 2 State Law Municipal ordinances state legislators state regulatory agencies sometimes county governments 3 State Law varies from state to state a States can experiment with different aspects or versions of the law b National Law often copies pre existing State Law c State law is getting more uniform B Private and Public Law 1 Public government is involved as a litigate criminal law is always public 2 Private between individuals government is not DIRECTLY involved C Civil Law and Criminal Law not always easily distinguishable 1 Purpose of civil law is restitution or reimbursement comes from common law and statutory law 2 Purpose of criminal law is punishment and prevent crime comes from ONLY statutory law 3 Burden of Proof is different a Criminal beyond reasonable doubt and falls to state b Civil preponderance of the evidence is more likely than not 4 Businesses are usually involved in Civil Law a Leads to adverse publicity b Costly 1 Can result in settlement 2 Also gives business incentive to play by the rules