Ch. 1 Nature of Law

Question 1

business law class goals

Answer 1

• types of law that apply to business activities
• sources of law
• ways of evaluating law
• role of courts and lawyers

Question 2

sources of law

Answer 2

• constitutions
• treaties
• legislation: statutes and ordinances
• common law (judge-made law)
• executive orders
• regulations and decisions (administrative agency)

Question 3

priority rules

Answer 3

• federal defeats state law
• constitutions defeat all other laws within their domain (state or federal)
• treaties vs. federal statutes (on domestic matter) = most recent prevails
• statutes defeat other laws that depend on a legislative delegation
• statutes (and laws derived from them by delegation) defeat common law rules

Question 4

classifications of law

Answer 4

• law and equity
• criminal and civil law
• substantive and procedural law
• public and private law

Question 5

functions of law

Answer 5

• peacekeeping
• checking government power and promoting personal freedom
• facilitating planning and realization of reasonable expectations
• promote economic growth through free competition
• promote social justice
• protect the environment

Question 6

constitutions

Answer 6

• purpose: set up government and what branches can and cannot do
• state and federal constitutions (both can make laws about commerce)
• Bill of Rights
• state constitutions are very similar to US Constitution
• states are interpreting their constitutions differently than federal
• federal constitution defeats state constitution

Question 7

treaties

Answer 7

• only federal law
• states can’t make treaties according to the Constitution
• contract between countries
• multilateral treaties (e.g., WTO, etc.)
• bilateral investment treaty = contains takings clause (e.g., a country can’t take a company that’s physically located in their country because of high profits)

Question 8

stare decisis

Answer 8

latin: standby decision

Question 9

precedent

Answer 9

• judge’s ruling
• ruling can be used for similar cases
• stare decisis

Question 10

distinguished cases

Answer 10

cases deemed not similar so that precedent can’t be used

Question 11

legislation

Answer 11

• federal (congress) and state
• statutes = made by Congress
• ordinances = made by sub-state / local legislation (county, city, etc.)
• code = collection of statutes

Question 12

collection of statutes

Answer 12

code

Question 13

common law

Answer 13

• judge-made law

- contract, tort, warranty

Question 14

executive orders

Answer 14

• president and governors

- Supreme Court interprets these orders

Question 15

regulations and decisions (administrative agency)

Answer 15

• some agencies have courts built in (must go to their court first before federal court)
• congress/president can delegate some of their power to agencies

Question 16

regulations and decisions (administrative agency)

Answer 16

• some agencies have courts built in (must go to their court first before federal court)
• congress/president can delegate some of their power to agencies

Question 17

civil vs criminal law

Answer 17

• civil = involves money and property
• damages won
• criminal = loss of liberty and/or money (aka fine)
• plaintiff is always the government

Question 18

substantive vs procedural law

Answer 18

• substantive = substance of rights - what needs to be proven during violation
• procedural = process by which rights get adjudicated (how to remedy violation of rights)

Question 19

private vs public law

Answer 19

• private = most are judge-made; between private parties
• contracts, torts, warranty
• public = government or government vs private party
• constitutional law

Question 20

equity

Answer 20

• judge-made law
• appeal to moral values directly
• company law
• Delaware has well known Court of Equity