Ch.1 Law and Legal System Flashcards
Business law is divided into general areas:
Tort law - injury to others
Contract law - day-to-day operations of business
Business organizations - formation and operation
Land law - purchasing or leasing of premises
Intellectual and industrial property
Environmental law
Tort law
injury to others
It provides compensation for people who have been injured; or whose property has been damaged by the wrongdoing of others.
Contract law
day-to-day operations of business
A contract is a legally binding agreement between two or more persons for a particular purpose. It is an instrument for the economic exchange of goods and services.
Business organizations
formation and operation
Land law
purchasing or leasing of premises
Intellectual and industrial property
Intellectual property includes all exclusive rights to intellectual creations.
It encompasses two types of rights: industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs and models and designations of origin, and copyright, which includes artistic and literary property.
Environmental law
Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. Environmental law is the collection of laws, regulations, agreements and common law that governs how humans interact with their environment.
Nature of Law
Reflects the society we live in
Determines rights and freedoms of the individual
Historical influences
Definitions of “Law”:
Society’s rules and processes that try to create fair and predictable outcomes in our relationships
Rules of civil conduct, commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong
Right
- things we can do with impunity, with force of the state behind us
Rights often become privileges due to social pressure, public policy, to increase public safety and flow of funds (E.g. Driver’s license)
Privilege
- actions that may be taken under specific circumstances
May be withdrawn or limited by the state
The Common Law
Law as found in the recorded judgements of the courts and known as “case law”
Stare decisis
Creates certainty and predictability
Predictable yet flexible
-More flexible than a civil code
-Can adapt to social changes such as same sex marriage
-Requires familiarity with ongoing evolution of statute and case law
-Willing to borrow from elsewhere or create as necessary to fit a need
Stare decisis
“to stand by a previous decision”
Principle requiring a judge to apply judgment of a previous case when a later case presents similar facts, providing the decision was:
1. From the judge’s own court
2. From a court of equal rank
3. From a court of higher rank
Sources of Law
Canon Law - Church law
Merchant Law
Canon Law - Church law
Original jurisdiction over religion, family, marriage, morals, estates
Influence today (Sunday shopping laws, Ecclesiastical Courts)
