Chapters 1-5 and Ethics Vocabulary

Chapter 1: Critical Thinking and Legal Reasoning Chapter 2: Introduction to Law and Legal Environment of Business Chapter 3: The American Legal System Chapter 4: Alternative Dispute Resolution Chapter 5: Constitutional Principles Ethics

Act-utilitarianism

Whether an act is right or wrong depends upon a case by case examination of each particular action.

Actual consequence utilitarianism

Utilitarianism that is backward looking after greatest good is achieved.

Administrative law

Covers the process by which individuals or businesses can redress grievances against regulatory agencies such as the FTC and the SEC.

Adversarial system

System of litigation in which the judge hears evidence and arguments presented by both sides in a case and then makes an objective decision based on the facts and the law as presented by each side.

Affirm

Term for an appellate court's decision to uphold the decision of a lower court in a case that has been appealed.

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

Resolving legal disputes through methods other than litigation, such as negotiation and settlement, arbitration, mediation, private trials, minitrials, summary jury trials, and early neutral case evaluation.

Ambiguous

Possessing two or more possible interpretations.

American realist school

School of law where the source of law is actors in the legal system and scientific analysis of their actions.

Amoral

Unconcerned with whether something is right or wrong.

Analogy

A comparison based on the assumption that if two things are alike in some respect, they must be alike in other respects.

Appellant

The party appealing who lost the trial in a lower court.

Appellate jurisdiction

The power to review a decision previously made by a trial court

Appellee

The party who is not appealing and won the trial in a lower court.

Arbitration

A dispute resolution method whereby the disputing parties submit their disagreement to a mutually agreed-upon neutral decision maker or one provided for by statute. The decision of the arbitrator is binding on both parties.

Attorney-client privilege

Provides that information furnished by a client to an attorney in confidence, in conjunction with a legal matter, may not be revealed by the attorney without the client's permission.

Award

The arbitrator's decision.

Binding arbitration clause

A provision in a contract mandating that all disputes arising under the contract be settled by arbitration.

Briefs

Written arguments in the court of appeals.

Business ethics

Applied ethics. Ethical components are present in every business decision.

Business law

Enforceable rules of conduct that govern commercial relationships.

Case law

Law resulting from judicial interpretations of constitutions and statutes.

Categorical imperatives

Universal laws created by humans through reason.

Civil law

Law governing litigation between two private parties.

Class action

A case where the plaintiffs are a large group of individuals who may not even know each other but who all share a common complaint against the defendant.

Commerce Clause

Empowers Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations, with Indian tribes, and among the states; found in Article I.

Complaint

The initial pleading in a case that states the names of the parties to the action, the basis for the court's subject matter jurisdiction, the facts on which the party's claim is based, and the relief that the party is seeking.

Conclusions

A position or stance on an issue; the goal toward which reasoning pushes us.

Concurrent authority

Both the state and federal government have the power to regulate the matter in question.

Concurrent jurisdiction

Applies to cases that may be heard in either the federal or the state court system.

Concurring opinion

Written by a judge who agrees with the ultimate decision of the majority but for different reasons.

Consequentialism

Branch of ethics that looks at morality based solely on the outcomes rather than the means to achieve the outcomes.

Constitutional law

Comprises the basic principles and laws of the nation as set forth in the U.S. Constitution. It determines the powers and obligations of the government and guarantees certain rights to citizens.

Corporate commercial speech

Speech by a corporation that conveys information related to the sale of good and services.

Corporate political speech

Speech by a corporation in support of political candidates. States used to be able to restrict corporations from engaging in political speech (McCain-Feingold), but Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission restricted the ability of the government to regulate corporate political speech.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

What society expects of business through economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities.

Counterclaim

Defendant's statement of facts showing cause for action against the plaintiff and a request for appropriate relief.

Criminal law

Composed of federal and state statutes prohibiting wrongful conduct ranging from murder to fraud.

Critical legal studies school

School of law where the source of law is a cluster of legal and nonlegal beliefs that must be critiqued to bring about social and political change.

Critical thinking skills

The ability to understand the structure of an argument and apply a set of evaluative criteria to assess its merits.

Defendant

Party against whom an action is being brought.

Deontological constraints

What you must not do may be stated in a rule, law, principle, prohibition, limitation, constraint, or norm.

Deontology

Includes moral theories that tell us what we ought to do rather than what kind of person we ought to be.

Deposition

Pretrial testimony by witnesses who are examined under oath.

Direct examination

Initial questioning of a witness.

Discovery

The pretrial gathering of information from each other by the parties.

Dissenting opinion

Written by the judge or judges disagreeing with the majority, giving their reasons for reaching a contrary conclusion.

Distributive justice

Justice related to the fairness of how rights and benefits are distributed.

Diversity of citizenship

Occurs when the opponents in a case are from different states. Diversity must be complete, so if any two parties on opposing sides reside in the same state, diversity is lost. When this is the basis for federal jurisdiction, the amount in controversy must be in excess of $75,000.

Dormant commerce clause

Restriction on states' authority to pass laws that substantially affect and unduly burden interstate commerce.

Due Process Clause

Provides that no one can be deprived of life, liberty, or property without "due process of law;" found in the Fifth Amendment.

Early neutral case evaluation

When parties explain their respective positions to a neutral third party who then evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the cases. This evaluation then guides the parties in reaching the settlement.

Ethic of care

Takes into account the needs of others who are in a close relationship to the caregiver.

Ethical dilemma

Occurs when an ethical analysis using different theories produces inconsistent answers.

Ethical norms

Standards of conduct that we consider good or virtuous.

Ethical values neglect

Failure to recognize that business decisions have an ethical component.

Ethics

Philosophy that seeks to determine what is right or wrong, good or bad, ethical or unethical, or moral or immoral.

Exclusive federal jurisdiction

Applies to cases that may be heard only in the federal court system.

Fact pattern

Particular factual situation that stimulated disagreement between parties. Brings the issue to our attention and limits the extent to which the court's conclusion can be applied to other situations.

Facts

Most basic building blocks in a legal decision or argument.

Federal preemption

Constitutional doctrine stating that in an area in which federal regulation is pervasive, state legislation cannot stand.

Federal question case

A case that requires an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, a federal statute, or a federal treaty.

Federal supremacy

Principles declaring that any state or local law that directly conflicts with the federal Constitution, laws, or treaties is void.

Federalism

A system of government in which power is divided between a central authority and constituent political units.

Felonies

Serious crimes that are punishable by incarceration in a state penitentiary.

Feminist school

School of law where it's believed that jurisprudence reflects a male-dominated executive, legislative, and judicial system in which women's perspectives are ignored and women are victimized.

Fifth Amendment

Protects individuals against self-incrimination and double jeopardy and guarantees them the right to trial by jury; protects both individuals and businesses through the Due Process Clause and the Takings Clause.

First Amendment

Guarantees freedom of speech, press, and religion and the right to peacefully assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances.

Fourteenth Amendment

Applies the entire Bill of Rights, excepting parts of the Fifth Amendment, to the states.

Fourth Amendment

Protects the right of individuals to be secure in their persons, homes, and personal property by prohibiting the government from conducting unreasonable searches of individuals and seizing their property.

General jurisdiction

The court has the power to hear cases involving a ide variety of subject matter and is not limited in the types of remedies it can grant. All cases to be heard in the federal system are filed in these courts except those cases for which Congress has established special trial courts of limited jurisdiction.

Grand jury

A group of 12 to 23 citizens convened in private to decide whether enough evidence exists to try the defendant for a felony.

Immoral

Intentionally committing unethical acts.

In personam jurisdiction

Jurisdiction over the person; the power of a court to render a decision that affects the legal rights of a specific person.

In rem jurisdiction

The power of a court to render a decision that affects the property directly rather than the owner of the property.

Indictment

A formal written accusation in a felony case.

Interrogatories

A series of written questions that are sent to the opposing party who must truthfully answer them under oath. Frequently accompanied by a request to admit certain facts.

Issue

The stimulus that kickstarts legal reasoning for lawyers and judges. Stated as a question because it is a call for action.

Judicial activism

A judicial philosophy that says the courts should take an active role in encouraging political, economic, and social change.

Judicial restraint

A judicial philosophy that says courts should refrain from determining the constitutionality of a legislative act unless absolutely necessary and that social, political, and economic change should be products of the political process.

Jurisdiction

The power of a court to hear a case and render a binding decision.

Jurisprudence

The science or philosophy of law; law in its most generalized form.

Jury instructions

The court's explanation to the jury of what legal decision they must make if they find certain facts to be true. Each attorney presents to the judge a set of jury instructions, and then the judge draws up the instructions for the jury.

Justice

Ethics most concerned with whether or not individuals are treated fairly.

Law and economics school

School of law where classical economic theory and empirical methods are applied to all areas of law in order to arrive at decisions.

Legal precedents

Pertinent prior judicial decisions.

Long-arm statute

A statute authorizing a state court to obtain jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant when that party has sufficient minimum contacts with the state.

Majority opinion

Record of the court's decision and their reasons for their decision, written by one of the judges who votes with the majority. These have precedential value.

Mediation

An alternative dispute resolution method in which the disputant parties select a neutral party to help them reconcile their differences by facilitating communication and suggesting ways to solve their problems.

Minitrial

An alternative dispute resolution method in which lawyers for each side present the case for their side at a proceeding refereed by a neutral adviser, but settlement authority usually resides with senior executives of the disputing corporations.

Misdemeanors

Less serious crimes that are usually punishable by shorter periods of imprisonment in a county or city jail or by fines. An act that is a misdemeanor in one state could be a felony in another state.

Mock jury

Group of individuals, demographically matched to the actual jurors in a case, in front of whom lawyers practice their arguments before presenting the case to the actual jury.

Modify

Term for an appellate court's decision that, although he lower court's decision was correct, it granted an inappropriate remedy that should be changed.

Motion

A party's request for the court to do something.

Motion to dismiss

Defendant's application to the court to put the case out of judicial consideration because even if the plaintiff's factual allegations are true, the plaintiff is not entitled to relief.

Natural law school

School of law where the source of law is absolute (nature, God, or reason).

Negotiation and settlement

An alternative dispute resolution method in which the disputant parties come together informally to try to resolve their differences.

Norm

An expected standard of conduct.

Original jurisdiction

The power to initially hear and decide (try) a case.

Peremptory challenges

Ability of an attorney to reject a minimal number of potential jurors without giving a reason.

Petit jury

A jury of 12 citizens impaneled to decide on the facts at issue in a criminal case and to pronounce the defendant guilty or not guilty.