Business Law I: Constitutional Law, International Law, Administrative Law, and Legal Ethics

70 vocabulary flashcards reviewing core legal concepts, constitutional provisions, court systems, international law, administrative law, jurisprudence, and ethical theories from Business Law I (SUNY Geneseo, Fall 2026).

Separation of Powers

The division of government responsibilities where Congress passes laws, the President enforces or vetoes them, and the Courts interpret laws and declare unconstitutional ones invalid.

Commerce Clause

Article I, Section 8 constitutional provision empowering Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.

Supremacy Clause

Article VI clause establishing that the U.S. Constitution, federal laws, and treaties are the supreme law of the land, binding state judges regardless of conflicting state laws.

Pre-emption

Doctrine under Article VI establishing that federal law controls and overrides state statutes whenever there is a direct conflict or when Congress intended to preempt the field.

Judicial Review

The authority of the judiciary to determine the legal meaning of statutes in cases of ambiguity and to declare unconstitutional laws void.

Marbury v. Madison

1803 Supreme Court case in which Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of judicial review by finding part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional.

Kennedy v. Louisiana

Supreme Court decision holding that imposing the death penalty for nonhomicide child rape violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

Establishment Clause

First Amendment provision prohibiting the government from establishing an official state religion.

Content-Based Laws

Statutes regulating speech based on its message or subject, which are presumptively unconstitutional and subject to strict scrutiny judicial review.

Brandenburg v. State of Ohio

Supreme Court ruling establishing that abstract teaching of force or violence is protected by the First Amendment unless it is directed to preparing and inciting imminent violent action.

District of Columbia v. Heller

2008 Supreme Court decision affirming that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms.

Fourth Amendment

Constitutional provision protecting individuals against unreasonable searches and seizures and requiring probable cause for warrant issuance.

Kelo v. City of New London

2005 Supreme Court ruling holding that taking private property for economic development satisfies the Fifth Amendment's public use requirement for eminent domain.

Sixth Amendment

Constitutional provision guaranteeing rights in criminal prosecutions, including a public trial, confrontation of witnesses, compulsory process, and right to counsel.

Procedural Due Process

Requirement ensuring that when the government threatens an individual's liberty or property, it employs a fair process with a neutral fact-finder.

Substantive Due Process

Constitutional requirement protecting fundamental rights from government interference, including Fifth Amendment property protections against uncompensated takings.

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

A court's authority to hear and decide a specific category or type of legal case.

Personal Jurisdiction

A court's authority to render a binding legal decision over specific parties involved in a lawsuit.

Minimum Contacts

Standard established in International Shoe v. Washington requiring non-resident defendants to have systematic and continuous ties with a state so that maintaining suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.

Ashcroft v. Iqbal

2009 Supreme Court case ruling that a complaint must contain sufficient factual content accepted as true to state a plausible claim for relief to survive a motion to dismiss.

New York State Appellate Divisions Map

Map depicting the four appellate departments of the New York State court system that hear interlocutory and final appeals from Supreme Court.

CPLR

Civil Practice Law & Rules; the body of statutes governing procedure and practice in civil litigation within New York State courts.

Interrogatories

Discovery instrument consisting of formal written questions submitted by one litigating party to another that must be answered in writing under oath.

Deposition

Pre-trial discovery procedure involving sworn oral testimony given by a witness or party before a court reporter.

Summary Judgment

A pre-trial motion where the court resolves a lawsuit without trial because no genuine issues of material fact exist.

Mediation

Voluntary alternative dispute resolution process where a neutral third party assists litigants in negotiating a settlement, often under strict confidentiality.

Arbitration

Alternative dispute resolution method where disputing parties submit their conflict to an arbitrator who renders a binding decision with streamlined procedures and no right of appeal.

Public International Law

Body of legal rules governing interactions and relations between sovereign national governments and international organizations.

Private International Law

Branch of law dealing with commercial, financial, and legal transactions between private businesses and individuals across international borders.

Common Law System

Precedent-based legal framework originating in England, characterized by an adversarial court process, judicial reliance on stare decisis, and judge-made law.

Civil Law System

Code-based legal system originating in Roman law where judges resolve disputes by interpreting comprehensive written codes rather than binding precedent.

Common Law vs Civil Law World Map

Map showing the global distribution of legal systems, distinguishing between common law, civil law, and combined jurisdictions.

Stare Decisis

Latin doctrine meaning 'let the decision stand,' requiring judges to follow prior court decisions to foster continuity and legal stability.

Treaty

International written agreement between nations; in the U.S., it requires ratification by a two-thirds vote of the Senate to hold federal law force.

Principle of Comity

The practice where courts of one country defer to the laws and judicial decrees of another nation with which they share common values.

Act of State Doctrine

Principle prohibiting domestic courts from reviewing or interfering with official public acts performed by a foreign sovereign government within its own territory.

Sovereign Immunity

Doctrine holding that domestic courts lack jurisdiction to entertain legal actions or lawsuits filed against foreign governments.

Extraterritoriality

The application of a country's domestic statutes to individuals, actions, or corporate entities operating outside its geographic borders.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

U.S. statute prohibiting American citizens and entities from paying or accepting bribes in foreign countries, though non-binding on foreign judiciaries.

Rasul v. Bush

2004 Supreme Court ruling establishing that federal statutory habeas corpus jurisdiction extends to foreign nationals detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

Boumediene v. Bush

2008 Supreme Court decision holding that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay possess constitutional habeas corpus protections to challenge their detention.

Enabling Legislation

Statute passed by Congress creating an administrative agency and defining its regulatory power, structure, and scope of authority.

Executive Agencies

Administrative agencies situated directly under presidential authority whose directors serve at the President's pleasure, such as the IRS, FBI, and FDA.

Independent Agencies

Administrative bodies created by Congress whose leaders are protected from arbitrary executive removal, such as the FTC, SEC, and Federal Reserve.

Chevron Deference

Judicial doctrine established in 1984 requiring courts to defer to executive agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes within their care.

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo

2024 Supreme Court decision overruling Chevron deference and requiring judges to independently interpret statutory provisions.

Boreali v. Axelrod

New York Court of Appeals case holding that administrative agencies cannot use general statutory authority as a license to draft regulations correcting broad social evils.

Regulatory Search Exception

Rule set in United States v. Biswell allowing warrantless inspections of pervasively regulated, federally licensed commercial businesses.

Rule of Law

A principle of governance where all persons and entities, including government, are accountable under fair, publicized, stable, and evenly enforced laws.

Efficacy

The second element of the Rule of Law requiring that legal rules actually successfully guide citizens' conduct and that people obey the law.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Federal law expanding copyright protections to digital media, websites, and online formats, prohibiting unauthorized downloading and file distribution.

Fair Use

Copyright doctrine permitting owners of media to copy or reformat files (such as ripping owned CDs to a personal device) strictly for personal use.

New York Green Amendment

Section 19 added to Article I of the NY Constitution establishing that each person has a right to clean air, clean water, and a healthful environment.

Fresh Air for the Eastside, Inc. v. State of New York

New York appellate decision ruling that the Green Amendment governs state action and does not apply directly to private entities acting without significant state involvement.

Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument 2nd Degree

Class D felony in NY under Penal Law § 170.25 punishable by up to 7 years in prison for possessing a forged official document (such as a fake ID) with intent to deceive.

NY Rules of Professional Conduct

Ethical code adopted by the Appellate Division guiding lawyer conduct and enforced through disciplinary sanctions up to disbarment.

Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent

Settlement document (AWC) in FINRA disciplinary proceedings where a firm or individual consents to fines or suspensions without admitting or denying findings.

Legal Positivism

Jurisprudential philosophy stating that the law is whatever the sovereign commands, regardless of whether it is morally right or wrong.

Natural Law

Jurisprudential philosophy holding that laws must promote the common good and that a morally unjust law is no law at all.

Legal Realism

Jurisprudential perspective arguing that legal outcomes depend less on written rules and more on the personal background and enforcement actions of judges and officials.

Utilitarianism

Ethical theory proposing that moral actions maximize overall social happiness and minimize suffering to achieve the greatest good (summum bonum).

Categorical Imperative

Deontological ethical principle formulated by Immanuel Kant requiring individuals to act only according to principles they would accept as universal laws.

Veil of Ignorance

John Rawls's thought experiment for designing fair societal rules without knowing one's own future status, wealth, or talents in life's lottery.

Moral Universalism

The ethical framework asserting that specific behaviors are inherently right or wrong regardless of context, era, or national culture.

Moral Relativism

Ethical stance asserting that right and wrong are defined by societal customs (cultural relativism) or personal standards (personal relativism).

Zone of Danger Doctrine

New York tort principle permitting emotional distress recovery for a bystander who was personally exposed to bodily danger while witnessing harm to a close relative.

Nuremberg Defense

The rejected defense argument that an individual is relieved of international criminal responsibility because they were simply following government orders.

Malum in Se

Latin legal term referring to conduct that is inherently wrong or illegal by its natural moral character.

Malum Prohibitum

Latin legal term designating conduct that is wrong only because it is expressly forbidden by positive statutory law.

Civil Disobedience

The deliberate, nonviolent refusal to obey unjust laws as advocated by Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. to inspire legal reform.