MGMT 311 Exam 1 - FLASHCARDS - Chapter 1_ Law and legal reasoning
What is a law?
Law consists of enforceable rules governing relationships among individuals and between individuals and their society.
What are the four sources of law?
Constitutions
Statutes (acts)
Administrative rules/regulations
Common law *case law *judge-made law
What are constitutions?
Establishes organization, powers, and limits of governments.
What are characteristics of the U.S. constitution?
Supreme law of the land:
Creates national government.
10th Amendment reserves all powers not granted to federal government to states.
What is the supreme law of the land?
U.S. constitution
What creates national government?
U.S. constitution
What is the 10th amendment?
10th Amendment reserves all powers not granted to federal government to states.
What constitutions create state governments?
State constitutions
What is the highest form of law within borders of a certain state?
State constitutions
What are characteristics of state constitutions?
Create state governments.
Highest form of law within borders of that state.
Subject to U.S. Constitution
What is statutory law created by?
Created by Congress and state legislatures.
What are federal statutes?
Acts of congress. Applies across all 50 states
What are state statutes?
Only apply within jurasidiction of a state.
Found in federal and state code of laws. Divided into family code, penal code, probate code.
What is Municipal/County Government?
organized local governments authorized in state constitutions and statutes, established to provide general government for a defined area, generally corresponding to a population center rather than one of a set of areas into which a county is divided
What does municipal/county government enact?
Enact ordinances, which govern matters not covered by state or federal law. Ordinances cannot violate U.S. or state constitutions
What are uniform laws?
Attempt to create uniformity in subject areas of a law. If adopted, the law becomes part of state statutory law.
What is the UCC?
Uniform commercial code.
What is the most accepted uniform law?
Uniform commercial code
What is the purpose of the UCC?
Set of laws that govern commercial transactions in the United States. Its purpose is to make business transactions more efficient and predictable by creating consistent laws across states. The UCC allows businesses to enter into contracts with confidence that the courts in every state will enforce the terms in the same way.
What agencies does administrative law cover?
Can have local, state or federal agencies
What are the functions of administrative law agencies?
Rulemaking
Investigation and enforcement
Power to judge violations of rules - adjudication
What are federal agencies?
Executive agencies and independent regulatory agencies
What are executive agencies?
Executive branch of the government. Executive cabinet department.
What are independent regulatory agencies?
EPA, SEC, FDA - created when congress passes a statute, which needs an agency to help oversee details. President’s power is less in these independent regulatory agencies
What is common law?
Judges are hearing cases. Refers to English Ancestry of american judicial system. Contrast to this is French neapoleonic code.
What are early courts?
Court of law - King’s court, court of equity - chancellor’s court
What are Legal Remedies (or remedies at law)?
About money. What do you get if you win?
What are compensatory damages?
designed to give sum of money to help compensate plantiffs for their losses to make them whole again.
What are examples of compensatory damages?
Special damages, general damages, and Punitive/Exemplary Damages
What are special damages?
Quantifiable losses - dollar amount
a) Loss of time: current and past earnings
b) Loss of money: any money you paid out
c) Property damages
What are general damages?
not quantifiable
a) Pain and suffering: physical pain
b) Injury to reputation
c) Mental anguish: emotional pain
d) Disfigurement:
e) Loss of earning capacity: ability to earn mony in the future
Whai is the purpose of Punitive/Exemplary Damages?
Purpose is to punish the wrongdoer.
What are Punitive/Exemplary Damages given in conjunction with?
Given in addition to compensatory damages
What are nominal damages?
Small amount of money
What is the only way in which equitable remedies are available?
Equitable remedies are only available if legal remedies (money damages) are legally inadequate.
What are types of equitable remedies?
Specific performance, injunction, and recission
What is the specific performance equitable remedy?
Court order requiring a breaching party to a contract to perform the contract as promised. Specific situations with contract law. Contract has to be over something unique such as land or an antique car
What is the injunction equitable remedy?
Ethical equitible remedy used when money doesn’t fix the legal issue. Court order directing someone to perform or stop performing an act. Restraining order
What is temporary injunction?
Prior to actual litigation. Start off as temporary Haven’t provided all of the proof yet
What is permenant injunction?
After litigation
What is the recission equitable remedy?
Specific situations with contract law. Action to undo an agreement and return the parties to where they were before the agreement. Agree to walk away
What are equitable maxims?
Ethical doctrines that guide courts
What is an example of an equitable maxim?
Statutes of limitations - you shouldn’t always be exposed to liability
What does Stare Decisis stand for?
to stand on decided case
What is the Stare Decisis doctrine?
When a court faces a legal argument, if a previous court has ruled on the same or a closely related issue, then the court will make their decision in alignment with the previous court’s decision.
True or false: With stare decisis, high courts have the power to overrule precident?
TRUE
What are functions of stare decisis?
a. Court eficiency
b. Creates a more just and uniform system
c. Makes the law stable and predictable. Does not mean it is unchanging
d. Allows us to use lessons learned in the past
True or false: use of precedent is similar and past cases?
True
What is binding precedent?
Following the decisions made by higher courts. Lower courts must follow the precedents set by the decisions of higher courts.
What is persuasive precedent?
A legal decision that a court can consider when making a ruling, but it is not required to follow it. It is like a suggestion or advice from another court. A prior similar case, but not from a high court in their jurisdiction
Was Plessy v. Fergeson binding or persuasive precedent?
Binding
What are departures from precedent?
a. Prior ruling was incorrect
b. Prior ruling is outdated
What is Brown v. Board of Education?
- The Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case
What is Plessy v. Ferguson?
- The Supreme Court upheld a Louisiana state law that allowed for seperate but equal accommodations for white and black people.
What is Dobbs v. Jackson women’s health?
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on June 24, 2022, taking away the constitutional right to abortion, abandoning almost 50 years of precedent, and paving the way for states to ban abortion.
What is a case of first impression?
A case of first impression is a case that presents a legal issue that has never been decided by the governing jurisdiction. There is no legal precedent on which to base a decision
What are factors used when a court is faced with a case of first impression or when conflicting precedents exist?
a. Persuasive precedent
b. legal principles and policies underlying previous court decisions and current statutes
c. Consider fairness
d. Social values and customs
e. Public policy
f. Social science data
What is the IRAC method of legal reasoning?
A. What are the key facts and issues?
B. What rules of law apply to the case?
C. How do the rules of law apply to the particular facts of this case?
D. What conclusion should be drawn?
Is there always one right answer to legal reasoning?
- Good arguments can be made on both sides.
- Laws can be flexibly interpreted.
- Personal beliefs and moral philosophies play a role.
It is about who can prove the case
True or false: there are numerous ways to classify laws?
TRUE
True or false: Classifications of laws are not mutually exclusive; they overlap?
TRUE
What are the three most common law classification systems?
Substantive vs. Procedural.
Public vs. Private
Civil vs. Criminal.
What type of laws define and describe your rights? Examples: divorce and adoption
Substantive
What type of laws are methods for enforcing your rights?
Procedural
What type of laws involve issues between the government and people or businesses?
Public
True or false: If the government is in the case at all, it is public?
TRUE
What type of laws involve cases involving legal issues between people, businesses, or people in businesses?
Private
What type of laws involve rights and duties between people or between people and the government in non criminal matters?
Civil
Who brings the case in a civil law suit?
Plantiff
Who defends themselves in a civil law suit?
Defendant
What is the main purpose of a civil case?
Compensation for loss
What is burden of proof?
requires a party to produce evidence to establish the truth of facts needed to satisfy all the required legal elements of the dispute
What is burden of proof in a civil case?
Plantiff has the burden to prove their case by a preponderance of the evidence
What type of laws involve cases where wrongs are committed against the public as a whole?
Criminal
Who are the two parties in a criminal case?
Government (state or federal) vs whoever they have accused of the crime
What is the main purpose of a criminal case?
Punishment such as fines, jail time, etc
What is burden of proof in a criminal case?
The government has the burden to prove the criminal case. The defendant must be found guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt,” which means the evidence must be so strong that there is no reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime.
What type of court has the plantiff listed first and the defendant listed second?
Trial court
What are the party names in a court of appeals?
Appellant first and then appellee
What is the appellant in a court of appeals?
Files the appeal. Whoever lost at the lower court
What is the appellee in a court of appeals?
Responds against the appeal. Whoever won at the lower court
If the appellee loses in the court of appeals, what do the high courts change the names to?
Petitioner first and then respondent
What is the petitioner?
Party appealing to the high court
What is the respondent?
won at court of appeals level and defends against petition to Supreme Court
What is unanimous opinion?
All of the judges are in agreement
What is a majority opinion?
A majority of the justices hearing the case agree and join in the reasoning of the decision. Three need to agree on the who and why. If not a unanimous decision, majority determines the winner
What is a concurring opinion?
Justice or justices on the court file a seperate opinion because he or they agree with the result of the decision but not the reasoning behind it
What is a dissenting opinion?
When a justice is in disagreement with the majority
