Business Law Terms

common law

- judges refer to other law cases to make sure they have the same law ‘in common’

precedent

- ensures judges follow the order of an earlier court decision
- if a court situation is new, you are setting the new __________

Statutes

- a written law passed by a legislative body
- _______ laws can be federal or state laws
- federal _________ laws, acts are passed by Congress and signed by the president
- for state _________ laws, acts are passed by state legislator and signed by the state governor

Legislature

- a body of lawmakers
- has the job of creating statutory laws under the powers given to the federal government by Article I of the Constitution

unconstitutional

- are laws that conflict w/ the u.s constitution
- nobody should pass any laws that are ___________ b/c it will go to the supreme court

administrative law

- the laws created by the agencies and departments of the government
- they carry out the laws passed by Congress or a state legislature
- examples include the fda, epa, and department of homeland security
- those agencies help to make decisions and determine rules in order to minimize the legal entanglement of the process

Bill of Rights

- set of rights that everyone has
- first 10 amendments
- made so that the government cannot take them away

statute of limitations

- a statute prescribing the time period during which legal action can be taken
- only crimes that do not have ________ are murder & rape

Sources of Today’s Law

- administrative law
- english common law (except louisiana)
- statutes
- court decisions
- federal & state constitutions