The Law is reason from passion.

1
FUNDAMENTALS OF LAW

• The Law is reason from passion.
• 
  - Aristotle

2
The Preamble

• We the People of the United States, in Order to
  form a more perfect Union, establish Justice,
  insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the
  common defence, promote the general Welfare, and
  secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and
  our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
  Constitution for the United States of America.

3
INSTITUTIONS OF A SOCIETY

• FAMILY
• EDUCATION
• RELIGION
• ECONOMY
• GOVERNMENT

4
Laws are Created

• At all three levels
• Federal
• State
• local

5
Sources of Laws

• Statutes
• Case law
• Constitutions
• Administrative regulations

6
Constitution

• Document that sets forth the framework of a
  government and its relationship to the people it
  governs.
• Highest source of law
• Federal constitution is the supreme law of the
  land.

7
Constitutions distribute powers

• Between the people and their governments
• Between state governments and the federal
  government
• Among the branches of the government

8
Allocation of Power Between People and their
Government

• Federal constitution is main instrument for
  distributing powers between people and their
  government.
• Does this with the Bill of Rights

9
Bill of Rights

• The first 10 amendments to the US Constitution.
• Protects people from actions of their governments
• Was proposed to ensure that individuals would
  have civil rights and could avoid the tyranny of
  an overly-powerful central government.

10
Allocation of Power between Federal and State

• Many governmental powers over business are
  divided between state governments and the federal
  governments on the basis of commerce.
• Constitution gives federal government power to
  regulate both foreign and interstate commerce.

11
Interstate Commerce

• Business that occurs between two or more states.

12
Intrastate Commerce

• Business that is conducted within one state.
• Power to regulate is left to the state in which
  the business has taken place.

13
Allocation of Power among the Branches of
Government

• Distributes governmental powers among the three
  branches of government.
• Used to create a system of checks and balances
  between each branch.

14
Three Branches of Government

• Executive
• branch of the Government is responsible for
  enforcing the laws of the land
• Legislative
• law making branch of government
• Judicial
• Supreme Court

15
Statutes

• Formal, written law of a country or state,
  written and enacted by its legislative authority
• Typically, statutes command, prohibit, or declare
  something
• Inferior to the U.S. Constitution

16
Ordinances

• Pieces of legislation created by a town or city
  council or by a county board.
• Only effective within the boundary of the local
  governments that enacted them.

17
Case Law

• Created by the judicial branch of governments.
• Made after a trial has ended and has been
  appealed to a higher court.
• Appellate court opinion may state new rules to be
  used in deciding the case and others like it.

18
Stare Decisis

• let the decision stand
• Requires that lower courts must follow
  established case law in deciding similar cases.

19
Administrative Regulations

• Federal, state, and local legislatures all create
  administrative agencies.

20
Administrative Agencies

• Governmental bodies formed to carry out
  particular laws.
• Examples
• Social Security Administration
• Fayette Countys zoning commission
• Created by legislatures controlled by the
  executive branch.

21
Main Types of Laws

• Common classifications
• Civil
• Criminal laws
• Procedural laws
• Substantive laws
• Business law

22
Civil Law

• When private legal rights of an individual are
  violated, the matter is governed by civil law.
• Group of laws that make up for wrongs against
  individual people.

23
Crime

• An offense against society rather than
  individuals.
• When citizens rights to live in peace are
  violated, the offense is governed by criminal
  law.
• Conviction of a crime can result in a fine,
  imprisonment, and sometimes execution.

24
Procedural Law

• Deals with methods of enforcing legal rights and
  duties. Examples
• Laws that say how an arrest can be made.
• Procedures that can be used during trials.
• Stare Decisis is a procedural law.

25
Substantive Law

• Defines rights and duties.
• Defines offenses, such as murder, theft, breach
  of contract, and negligence.

26
Two types of procedural Law

• Civil procedure
• Criminal procedure

27
Criminal Procedures

• Defines the process for enforcing the law when
  someone is charged with a crime.

28
Civil Procedure

• Used when a civil law has been violated.
• Civil law is concerned only with private
  offenses.
• Injured party is entitled to protect his or her
  rights.
• Police and public prosecutors generally dont get
  involved in the dispute.

29
Law leaves room for interpretation

• The LETTER of The Law
• VS.
•  
• The SPIRIT of The Law

30

• The Law is REASON free from PASSION

DO YOU AGREE?
31

• FIDELITY TO LAW

32
The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
reads

• No person shall be ... deprived of life,
  liberty, or property, without due process of
  law.
•  
•  

33
ETHICS

• What is the Right Thing To Do?
• - best interest whose?
• - majority
• - greatest good
• - able to go public
• - rationalize it

34
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

• IS THERE AN OBLIGATION TO SOCIETY AND TO GIVE
  BACK TO THE COMMUNITY?
• At what cost?
• - White-collar crimes/scandals.

35
Business Law

• Covers rules that apply to business situations
  and transactions.
• Concerned with civil lawespecially contracts.
• The area of the law pertaining to commercial torts