BUS 340 Lecture 16: Bus 340 - Lecture 16
Michael Le
Arc
Bus 340
Business Law
● Federalism – Federal/State
○ Legal Traditions Pyramid – the base is the US Constitution and the peak is Private
Law
■ Act = Law = State
○ Common Law – Power given by the constitution
■ The loophole = Language - flawed because of ambiguity
● Legislative acts
● Cases – Dispute between company and law usually based on the
loophole
● Sister States – court views decision of other states for advice
● Common Law Nations – courts seek other nations for advice
○ Common Law countries are the minority
○ We are technically common law because of our breakaway
from Britain but we kept their judicial system
■ A body of all past court decisions from our courts including/beginning with
court cases of Britain hundreds of years ago
● Starè Decisis Process
■ Not a law, act, or statute but a process
■ Never written in any Federal document
○ The application of preceding cases
■ Decide a case the same as a prior case was decided
● Also held through sister states or common law nations
■ However, no two cases are identical
■ Original cases become decision #1
● Case #2 will look back and decide the same as case #1 and so on…
■ What decides if details are similar enough to look at previous cases?
● Separation of Powers
○ Common Law
● An entire system
● Unwritten Law
● Contrast to Equity – fair way to protect rights of two parties
■ Case Brief – Judge gets plaintiff’s opinion and defendant’s opinion
○ The same language must be used
○ Every judge opinion is in the same format as the case brief
● Facts – Plaintiff and Defendant
● Issue – What are we arguing about?
● Finding (Ruling) – becomes part of common law
● Reasoning – Find similarities in common law
○ With common law and Starè Decisis, we get:
■ Predictability
■ Consistency
Document Summary
Legal traditions pyramid the base is the us constitution and the peak is private. Common law power given by the constitution. The loophole = language - flawed because of ambiguity. Cases dispute between company and law usually based on the loophole. Sister states court views decision of other states for advice. Common law nations courts seek other nations for advice. We are technically common law because of our breakaway. A body of all past court decisions from our courts including/beginning with from britain but we kept their judicial system court cases of britain hundreds of years ago. Not a law, act, or statute but a process. Decide a case the same as a prior case was decided. Also held through sister states or common law nations. Case #2 will look back and decide the same as case #1 and so on . Contrast to equity fair way to protect rights of two parties.
