BLAW UNIT 1 TEST REVIEW

Law

• Dictates how people must behave (legally required)

Morality

• Concerns how people should behave.

Laws vs. Morality

• They do not always overlap (e.g., an act can be legal but unethical).

Common Law

• Judge-made law that developed through court decisions over time

• Originating from English historical tradition.

Stare Decisis

• “Let the decision stand."

• The legal doctrine requiring courts to follow earlier court decisions (precedent) on similar issues to ensure consistency and predictability.

Precedent

• An earlier judicial decision that serves as an authority or rule for deciding subsequent cases with similar facts.

• Binding on lower courts within the same jurisdiction.

Statutory Law

• Laws (statutes) enacted by legislative bodies, such as the U.S. Congress or state legislatures.

Administrative Law

• Rules, regulations, and orders created by government administrative agencies

• (e.g., EPA, SEC, FTC) to carry out statutory duties.

Treaty

• A formal agreement between sovereign nations.

• Negotiated by the President and requires a two-thirds vote of the Senate for ratification.

Criminal Law

• Prohibits behavior that harms society

• Prosecuted exclusively by the government

• Remedies include fines or imprisonment.

Civil Law

• Regulates rights and duties between private parties; brought by private plaintiffs

• Remedies involve financial compensation.

Criminal Law vs. Civil Law

• A single act can result in both a criminal prosecution and a civil lawsuit.

Bystander Rule (Duty to Rescue)

• Rule: Generally, a bystander has no legal duty to assist or rescue someone in danger.

• Exceptions: A legal duty exists if you created the danger (e.g., causing an accident) or if a special relationship exists (e.g., employer-employee, therapist-patient).

Good Samaritan Statues

• State laws that protect rescuers (like off-duty medical staff or ordinary citizens) from civil liability for ordinary negligence when providing emergency aid.

Legal Positivism

• Jurisprudential philosophy holding that law is strictly whatever the sovereign command dictates, regardless of morality.

Natural Law

• Jurisprudential philosophy holds that law must have a moral basis

• An unjust law is no law at all and need not be obeyed.

Legal Realism

• Jurisprudential philosophy holding that law is defined by how enforcement officers, judges, and society actually apply and execute it in practice.

Shareholders

• Owners who hold stock in a company

• Focus is on maximizing financial returns.

Stakeholders

• All groups affected by a business’s decisions (employees, customers, suppliers, local community).

Utilitarianism (Mill & Bentham)

• Ethical theory focused on outcomes: the right decision is the one that maximizes overall utility (happiness/good) and minimizes pain for the greatest number of people.

Deontology (Kant)

• Ethical theory focused on duty and rules: actions are inherently right or wrong regardless of the consequences.

• Uses the Categorical Imperative (act only if you would want your action to become a universal law).

Rawlsian Justice (Veil of Ignorance)

• Ethical framework proposing that rules should be made behind a "veil of ignorance" where decision-makers do not know their own status, wealth, or background, ensuring fair rules for all.

Front Page Test

• An ethical guideline asking how you would feel if your decision were reported on the front page of the news or went viral online.

Universalism

• Fundamental ethical principles are universally true regardless of culture.

Relativism

• Ethical standards depend on cultural norms (Cultural Relativism) or individual beliefs (Individual Relativism).

Common Ethics Traps

• Cognitive pitfalls that lead to unethical behavior include rationalization, Conformity, Following Orders, Euphemisms (reframing bad actions), and being lost in a Crowd (diffusion of responsibility).

Congressional Override

• If the President vetoes a bill, Congress can pass the bill into law anyway with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate.

Plain Meaning Rule

• The primary principle of statutory interpretation: courts must apply clear, ordinary statutory words as written.

Legislative History & Intent

• The background materials (committee reports, floor debates) examined by judges to determine legislative intent when statutory text is ambiguous.

Executive Agencies

• Directly under the President's authority

• Agency heads can be removed at will (e.g., IRS).

Independent Agencies

• Separate from executive control

• Agency heads can only be removed for cause (e.g., FTC, SEC).

Subpoena

• An official order commanding a witness to appear and testify.

Subpoena Duces Tecum

• An official order commanding a person or organization to produce specific physical documents or evidence.

Informal Rulemaking

• "Notice-and-comment" process where an agency publishes a proposed rule and invites public written comments.

Formal Rulemaking

• Requires the agency to hold a formal public hearing with testimony and cross-examination before adopting a rule.

Administrative Law Judge (ALJ)

• An agency employee who acts as an impartial judge in administrative adjudication hearings without a jury.

Judicial Review of Agencies (Loper Bright Enterprise v. Raimondo)

• Rule: Courts must exercise independent judgment when interpreting statutes administered by agencies rather than automatically deferring to agency interpretations.

Separation of Powers

• Division of federal government powers into three branches:

  • Legislative (Art. I - makes laws)

  • Executive (Art. II - enforces laws)

  • Judicial (Art. III - interprets laws).

State Action Requirement

• Rule: Constitutional guarantees (e.g., First Amendment free speech) protect individuals only against government actions, not private corporations or private citizens.

Commerce Clause (Interstate Commerce)

• Rule: Article I, Section 8 grants Congress the authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states.

Substantial Effect Test

• Congress can regulate purely local activities if, in the aggregate, they exert a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce (Wickard v. Filburn).

Dormant Commerce Clause

• Rule: States cannot enact statutes that discriminate against or unduly burden interstate commerce (Granholm v. Heald).

Supremacy Clause

• Rule: Article VI states that the U.S. Constitution, federal statutes, and treaties are the supreme law of the land, preempting conflicting state statutes.

Judicial Review (Marbury v. Madison)

• The power of federal courts to declare statutes or executive actions unconstitutional and void.

Establishment Clause

• Rule: First Amendment provision prohibiting the government from establishing a state religion or favoring one religion over another.

Free Exercise Clause

• Rule: First Amendment provision prohibiting the government from interfering with or penalizing religious beliefs and practices (Masterpiece Cakeshop).

Political Speech / Brandenburg Test

• Rule: Political speech receives the highest constitutional protection and cannot be banned unless it is intended and likely to incite imminent lawless action.

Time, Place, and Manner Restrictions

• Rule: Government may regulate the conditions of speech if the regulations are content-neutral, narrowly tailored, and leave open alternative channels of communication.

Commercial Speech

• Rule: Communication that proposes a commercial transaction (ads).

• Can be regulated if rules directly advance a substantial government interest and are not overly restrictive.

Procedural Due Process

• Rule: Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments requirement that the government must provide fair procedures (notice and a hearing before a neutral judge) before depriving a person of life, liberty, or property.

Taking Clause & Eminent Domain

• Rule: Fifth Amendment clause allowing the government to take private land for public use, provided it pays just compensation (Kelo v. City of New London).

Equal Protection Standards of Review: Rational Basis (Minimal Scrutiny)

• Applied to economic/social laws

• Upheld if rationally related to a legitimate goal.

Equal Protection Standards of Review: Intermediate Scrutiny

• Applied to gender classifications

• Must substantially relate to an important government objective.

Equal Protection Standards of Review: Strict Scrutiny

• Applied to race, ethnicity, and fundamental rights; presumed invalid unless necessary to promote a compelling state interest (Students for Fair Admissions).

Litigation

• Formal lawsuit process in court.

ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution)

• Out-of-court methods to resolve conflicts (Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration).

Mediation

• ADR method where a neutral third party facilitates voluntary agreement.

• The mediator cannot impose a binding decision.

Arbitration

• ADR method where a neutral arbitrator conducts a hearing and issues a legally binding decision (award).

• Waives trial and appeal rights.

Personal Jurisdiction & Long-Arm Statutes

• Rule: A court has authority over a defendant if the defendant resides in the state, is served in the state, consents, or has minimum contacts with the state under a Long-Arm Statute (International Shoe Co.).

Federal Jurisdiction

• Rule: Federal courts hear cases under

  • Federal Question

  • Diversity Jurisdiction

Federal Question

• Disputes involving the U.S. Constitution, federal statutes, or treaties.

Diversity Jurisdiction

• Plaintiff and defendant are citizens of different states AND the claim exceeds $75,000.

Complaint

• Short statement of facts and legal claims filed by plaintiff.

Summons

• Official court notice ordering the defendant to answer the complaint.

Default Judgment

• Automatic court win awarded to the plaintiff when a defendant fails to file an answer to a complaint within the required timeframe.

Motion to Dismiss

• Request asking the judge to throw out a lawsuit because the complaint fails to state a legal claim, even if all allegations are true (Ashcroft v. Iqbal plausibility standard).

Discovery Methods

• Interrogatories

• Depositions

• Production of Documents

Interrogatories

• Written questions answered under oath.

Depositions

• Live, oral questioning of a witness under oath before trial.

Production of Documents

• Request for physical or electronic records.

Summary Judgment

• Pre-trial ruling where the judge decides the case without a trial because there are no essential facts in dispute (Jones v. Clinton).

Voir Dire

• The jury selection process ("to speak the truth").

• Includes Challenges for Cause (proven bias, unlimited)

• Peremptory Challenges (no reason needed, limited, cannot be race/gender-based).

Burden of Proof

• Civil

• Criminal

Civil Burden of Proof

• Preponderance of the evidence (plaintiff's claim is more likely true than not, >50%).

Criminal Burden of Proof

• Beyond a reasonable doubt.

JNOV (Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict)

• Post-trial motion where the judge overrules the jury's verdict because no reasonable jury could have reached that decision based on the evidence (Ferlito v. J&J)

Tort

• A civil wrong resulting from a breach of a legal duty imposed by civil law (other than a breach of contract).

Defamation (Libel vs. Slander)

• Elements:

  • (1) False statement of fact

  • (2) Defamatory nature,

  • (3) Communicated to a 3rd party

  • (4) Injury/damages.

• Types: Libel (written/recorded)

• Slander (spoken).

Slander Per Se / Libel Per Se

• Statements so harmful that injury is automatically presumed (claims regarding serious crimes, loathsome diseases, professional incompetence, or sexual misconduct).

Actual Malice ( NYT v. Sullivan )

• Rule: Public officials and public figures must prove the defendant published a defamatory statement with knowledge of its falsity OR with reckless disregard for the truth.

False Imprisonment

• Intentional restraint of another person without consent and without reasonable cause.

Shopkeeper’s Privilege

• Merchants may detain suspected shoplifters only with reasonable suspicion AND for a reasonable time/manner.

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED)

• Rule: Liability requires extreme and outrageous conduct that intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional harm (Turley v. ISG Lackawanna).

Assault

• An intentional act that creates reasonable apprehension of an imminent battery (no physical touching required).

Battery

• Intentional touching of another person that is harmful or offensive.

Transferred Intent

• Rule: If a defendant intends to commit a tort against one person but harms a different person instead, the intent transfers to the actual victim.

Trespass

• Intentionally entering or remaining on land belonging to another without permission.

Single Recovery Principle

• Rule: Courts must award a single lump sum covering all past and future expenses, lost wages, and pain/suffering.

• Plaintiffs cannot return to court later for additional damages.

Punitive Damages Guideposts ( State Farm v. Campbell )

• Rule: Punitive damages punish extreme conduct.

• Due Process requires considering:

  • (1) Reprehensibility

  • (2) Ratio of harm to punitive award (single-digit multipliers like 9:1 max in Boeken)

  • (3) Civil penalties in similar cases.

Tortious Interference with a Contract

• Elements:

  • (1) Contract existed between plaintiff and 3rd party

  • (2) Defendant knew of contract

  • (3) Defendant improperly induced breach

  • (4) Injury (Pennzoil v. Texaco).

Negligence

• Harm that arises by accident through neglect or oversight rather than deliberate action.

The Five Elements of Negligence

• A plaintiff MUST prove all 5 elements to win:

  • Duty of Due Care

  • Breach of Duty

  • Factual Cause

  • Proximate Cause

  • Damages

Duty of Due Care

• Each person has a legal obligation to behave as a reasonable person would under the circumstances.

• The general standard is foreseeability

Special Duty of Professionals

• While on the job, professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants) are held to a higher standard and must act as a reasonable person in their specific profession.

Breach of Duty

• A defendant breaches their duty of due care by failing to act the way a reasonable person would under similar circumstances.

Negligence Per Se

• Occurs when a legislature passes a statute setting a minimum standard of care to protect a specific group.

• If a violation injures a member of that group, the plaintiff does not need to prove breach of duty.

Proximate Cause

• The type of harm suffered by the plaintiff must have been reasonably foreseeable for the defendant to be held liable.

Res Ipsa Loquitur ("The Thing Speaks for Itself")

• Shifts the burden of proof from plaintiff to defendant.

• Applies when:

  • 1) defendant had exclusive control over what caused harm

  • (2) harm wouldn't normally occur without negligence

  • 3) plaintiff had no role in causing it. (Common on exams for medical malpractice!)

Damages (Negligence)

• The plaintiff must prove genuine, measurable loss or physical/economic harm (speculative harm is not recoverable).

Contributory Negligence

• If the plaintiff is even 1% at fault, they recover $0.