Business Law Exam 5 Mini-Final Flashcards
- Is a criminal offense which is injurious to society as a whole
- Punishable offense against society
Crime
Private or civil wrong, either intentional or caused by negligence, for which there may be action for damages
•Private wrong for which damages might be recovered
•Tort
- Land and objects permanently attached to land
- Also known as REAL ESTATE
- Land, buildings, fences, trees, ect.
Real Property
- All property which is not real
* Car, furniture, jewelry, insurance, stocks, bonds, ect.
Personal Property
- A contract which will be enforceable by the court
* Contract enforceable by law
Valid Contract
- Agreement with no legal effect
- Contract to rob a bank
- Sometimes referred to as a: Void Contract
Void Agreement
- Contract which would be an enforceable agreement, but due to circumstances, may be set aside by one of the parties
- Party to a contract is declared “mentally incompetent”
- Adult contracts with a minor
- Minor contracts with another minor
Voidable Contract
- Agreement which is not in the form required by law, but can be made so by the parties
- A contract that is not currently binding
- Simple contract made into a formal contract
Unenforceable
- Failure to exercise or ordinary care
- “Act of omission”
- “Act of commission”
Negligence
•Laws specifying how actions are filed and what trial procedure to follow
Procedural Law
Stare Decisis Case Law Ordinances Administrative Law Police Power Statutory Law Constitutional Law Common Law
The Pyramid of Law
- Customs which have become recognized by the courts as binding on the community
- Forms the historical foundation of United States Law
- Based on human experience and the “Common good” of all members of society
- Rooted in English and early colonial law
- “If it makes sense, it must be good law”
Common Law
- Written document containing fundamental principles of a government
- It determines the powers and duties of a government
- Guarantees certain rights to the people
- “Law of the Land”
- Examples
- Federal Constitution of the U.S. of America
- Individual state constitutions
Constitutional Law
- Laws enacted by legislative bodies
- Also know as: STATUTES
- Legislative bodies include federal, state, and local governments
- Federal Statutes
- U.S. Congress
- State Statutes
- Individual state legislatures
Statutory Law
- Body of law created by federal and state administrative agencies to implement their powers and duties in the form of rules, regulations, orders, and decisions
- Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- Texas Funeral Service Commission (TFSC)
Administrative Law
- Laws enacted by local municipalities
- Village, town, or city
- Parking ordinances
- No Smoking in public buildings
- Levels of Music
Ordinances
- Court decisions that establish precedent principles
- Laws based on a court’s interpretation of federal, state, and local laws
- Determines “constitutionality” of the law
Case Law
- Principle that decisions of a court should serve as a guide or precedent and control the decision of a similar case in the future
- Reliance on authority of established law
- “LIKE CASES ARE DECIDED IN LIKE MANNER”
- Applicable to mortuary law and court cases
Stare Decisis
o Expression of willingness of the offeror to enter a contractual agreement
Offer
• Person/party who initiates, or makes, an offer
Offeror
• Person/party whom an offer is made
Offeree
• Intended acceptance which changes or qualifies the offer, and is a rejection of the original offer.
Counteroffer
- Mistake by one party to a contract
- Mistake as to quality, value, or price
- Mistake as to terms of contract
- Generally will not render agreement defective
Unilateral Mistake
- Mistake by both parties to a contract
- Mistake as to nature of transaction
- Mistake as to identity or existence of subject matter
- Generally render agreement defective
Mutual Mistake
- Refraining from doing something
* Example: Promising not to rob a bank
Forbearance
o Improper influence that is asserted by one dominant person over another, without threat of harm
o Often with a fiduciary relationship
Undue influence
o Means of removing one’s free will
o Obtaining consent by threat to do harm to the person, his/her family or property
o Element of coercion or force
o Physical, emotional, and financial
Duress
o Intentional or reckless false statement of a material fact, upon which the injured party relied, which induced the injured party to enter into a contract, at his/her detriment
Fraud
stipulated by the contract, generally expressed in money or money’s worth;
EX:can be: money, goods, services
Consideration
Recognized as most important statute in business law; Includes provisions which regulate certain sales of goods
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
o Document drawn in a special form which can be transferred from person to person as a substitute for money or as an instrument of credit
Commercial paper (Negotiable Instrument)
o Is the receipt and contract existing between CONSIGNOR (SHIPPER) AND CARRIER
o Is documentary evidence of title of goods
Bill of Lading
• One who ships goods by a common carrier
Consignor
• One to whom goods are shipped to by a common carrier
Consignee
o Transports under special arrangements for a fee
• Moving vans
• Delivery services
• Funeral Home A transports a body for Funeral Home B
Private Carrier
- One that undertakes to transport without discrimination for all who apply for service
- Airlines, trains, buses, etc.
Public Carrier (common carrier)
o Those held to “normal” standard of care for bailed property
Ordinary Bailment
o Those held to higher than normal standard of care for bailed property
• Common carriers
• Hotelkeepers
• Funeral directors
Extraordinary Bailment
o Bailment benefits only property owner
o Bailee must exercise “slight care”
o Liable only for gross negligence
Sole Benefit of Bailor
o Occurs when borrowing someone’s property
o Bailee must exercise “great care”
Sole Benefit of Bailee
o Bailee renders a service
o Charges for the service
o Bailee must exercise “reasonable care under the circumstances”
Mutual Benefit
• Party who gives up possession, but not title of property
Bailor
• Party who acquires possession, but not title of personal property
Bailee
• Enforceable promise whereby one party justifiably acts in reliance upon the promise of another
Promissory Estoppel
• Confirming of an act which was executed without authority or an act which was voidable
Ratification
those goods which are, at the time of the contract, in existence and owned by the seller
Existing Goods
those goods which are not in existence at the time a contract is agreed to
Future Goods
a contract which the parties express their intentions, either orally or in writing, at the time of the sale
Expressed Contract
one in which the terms of the contract are implied by acts or conduct of the parties.
Implied Contract
o The signature or statement of purpose by the owner on the back of a negotiable instrument, which indicates future control of the instrument
Endorsement/ Indorsement
o The payee of a note or draft transferring the instrument to another party
Endorser/ Indorser
o Person who becomes the holder of a negotiable instrument by endorsement which names him/her as the person to whom the instrument is negotiated
Endorsee/ Indorsee
- Having no words other than signature of endorser
* “Mary A. Johnson”
Blank endorsement
- An endorsement which designates the particular person to whom payment is to be made
- “Pay to the order of John Q. Jones”
Special Endorsement
- An endorsement which prevents the use of the instrument for anything except stated use
- “For deposit only”
Restrictive Endorsement
- Limits liability of endorser
- Endorser signs the bill or promissory note and adds “Without recourse”
- This limits the endorser’s liability
- Endorsee accepts the liability
Qualified Endorsement
a situation in which one of the parties to a contract fails or otherwise refuses to perform the obligations established in that contract
Breach of Contract
- Inherent power of every government to make reasonable laws to protect the safety, health, morals, and general welfare of its citizens
- Mortuary Law
- Licensure
- Health standards
- Business operations
police power
