Contemporary Business and Online Commerce Law - Chapter 1

Contemporary Business and Online Commerce Law
Chapter 1.

Legal heritage and critical legal thinking.
The United States is primarily based on English common law influenced by Spanish and French civil law. The sources of law in this country are the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions, federal and state statutes, ordinances, administrative agency rules and regulations, executive orders, and judicial decisions by federal and state courts.
Businesses are subject to the laws of the countries they do business in.

Definition of law
Law is a body of rules of action or conduct that has binding legal force. Laws must be obeyed by citizens subject to sanction or legal consequences

Functions of the Law

The primary functions served by the law in this country are:

• keeping the peace, which includes making certain activities crimes.
• Shaping moral standards, and (enacting laws that discourage drug and alcohol abuse).
• Promoting social justice (enacting statutes that prohibit discrimination in employment).
• Maintaining the status quo (passing laws preventing the forceful overthrow of the government).
• Facilitating orderly change (passing statutes only after considerable study, debate, and public input).
• Facilitating planning (well-designed commercial walls allow businesses to plan activities, allocate their productive resources, and assesses the risks they take).
• Provide a basis for compromise (approximately 90% of all the lawsuits are settled prior to trial).
• Maximizing individual freedom (the rights of freedom of speech, religion, and association granted by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution).

Flexibility and fairness of the law.

• Flexibility -- the law must be flexible to meet social, technological, and economic changes in the United States and the world.
• Fairness -- although the US legal system is one of the fairest and most democratic systems of law, abuses of process and mistakes in the application of the law do occur

Schools of Jurisprudential Thought

The philosophy or science of the law is referred to as jurisprudence.

Legal philosophies can generally be grouped into the major categories that follow:

• Natural law -- based on what is "correct". It emphasizes a moral theory of law -- that is, law should be based on morality and ethics.
• Historical -- believes that law is an aggregate of social traditions and customs.
• Analytical -- maintains that law is shaped by logic.
• Sociological -- asserts that the wall is a means of achieving in advancing certain sociological needs.
• Command -- believe that the law is a set of rules developed, communicated, enforced by the ruling party.
• Critical legal studies -- maintains that legal rules are unnecessary and that legal disputes should be solved by applying arbitrary rules based on fairness.
• Law of economics -- believes that promoting market efficiency should be the central concern of legal decision-making

Constitutions.
The U.S. Constitution established the structure of the federal government. It created the following three branches of government gave them the following powers:

• Legislative (Congress): power to make or enact the law.
• Executive (President): power to enforce the law.
• Judicial (courts): power to interpret and determine the validity of the law.

Powers not given to the federal government by the Constitution reserved for the state. Have their own constitutions. State constitutions established the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of state government and establish the powers of each branch. Provisions of state constitutions are valid unless they conflict with the U.S. Constitution or any valid federal law.

Treaties.

The U.S. Constitution provides that the president, with the advice and consent of two thirds of the Senate, may enter into treaties with foreign governments. Treaties become part of the supreme law of the land.

Codified Law.
Statutes are written laws that established courses of conduct that must be adhered to by covered parties.

Federal statutes include:

• antitrust laws
• security laws
• bankruptcy laws
• labor laws
• equal employment opportunity laws
• environmental protection laws
• consumer protection laws
• and more

State statutes include:

• corporation laws
• partnership laws
• workers compensation laws
• Uniform Commercial Code

The statutes enacted by the legislative branches of the federal and state governments are organized by topic into code books. This often called codified law.

State legislatures, often delegate lawmaking authority to local government bodies:

• cities.
• Municipalities.
• Countries.
• School districts.
• Water districts.
• And so forth.

These governmental units are empowered to adopt ordinances. Examples:

• traffic laws.
• Local building codes.
• Zoning laws.
  Ordinances are also codified.

Concept summary -- sources of laws in the United States.

• Constitutions -- the U.S. Constitution establishes the federal government, and enumerates its powers. Powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states. State constitutions as establish state governments and enumerate their powers.
• Treaties -- the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate, may enter into treaties with foreign countries.
• Codified law/statutes and ordinances -- statutes are enacted by Congress and state legislatures. Ordinances all are enacted by municipalities and local government agencies. They established courses of conduct that covered parties must follow.
• Administrative agency rules and regulations -- administrative agencies are created by the legislative and executive branches of government. They may adopt rules and regulations that regulate the conduct of covered parties.
• Executive orders -- issued by the president and governors of states, executive orders regulate the conduct of covered parties.
• Judicial decisions -- courts decide controversies. In doing so, a core issues decisions that state. The holding of the case and the rationale, the court used in reaching that decision.
  

Plaintiff -- the party who originally brought the lawsuit.
Defendant -- the party in the lawsuit has been brought.
Petitioner or appellant -- the party who has appealed the decision of the trial court were low work work. The petitioner may be either the plaintiff or the defendant, depending on who lost the case at the trial court or lower court level.
Respondent or appellee -- the party who must answer the petitioners appeal. The respondent may either be the plaintiff or the defendant, depending on which party is the petitioner. In some cases, both the plaintiff and the defendant may disagree with the trial courts or lower court's decision, and both parties may appeal the decision.