Business law notes

Primary sources of law

  • Constitutional law (state and country)

  • Statutory law (rules passed by legislature at every level of government) 

  • Administrative law ( rules and regulations)

  • Case law - common law doctrine 



Secondary source of law

  • Explains and helps understand primary sources 



Constitutional law

  • State constitutions can protect things that the US doesnt or cant

  • If US and state constitutions are in a conflict the US wins 

  • If something is a matter of state law it is completely up to the state



Statutory law

  • Laws passed by congress, state legislatures, and local governments

  • There are times when state, federal, and local laws all have conflict with each other



Administrative law

  • rules, orders, and decisions of administrative agencies 

    • An administrative agency is a federal, state, or local government agency established to perform a specific function



Case Law

  • rules of law announced in court decisions 

  • Case law interprets statutes, regulations, constitutional provisions, and other case law

  • the doctrines and principles announced in cases 

    • governs all areas not covered by statutory law or administrative law and is part of our common law tradition



Common law

  • body of law developed from custom or judicial decisions in English and U.S. courts, not attributable to a legislature

  • Kings law/ courts: legal remindy = someone seeking money 

  • Chancery: equity remindy instead of just money 

    • Injunction: an order to stop something and enforcing it 

    • Specific performance: order by court to perform something 

    • Rescission: resend a contractual agreement 



Stare decisis

  • To stand on decision

  • A court should not overturn their own descions unless there is a compelling reason 

4th circuit

  • In richmond virginia 

  • Has to follow decisions of SCOTUS

  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a regional federal appellate court

  • It hears appeals from lower federal district courts and reviews legal errors rather than holding new trials



Legal reasoning 

  • The process of evaluating how various laws apply to a given situation

  • The process by which a judge harmonizes his or her opinion with the judicial decisions in previous cases



IRAC

  • Issue Rule Application Conclusion



Binding authority 

  • court precedents that lower courts must follow



Substantive law

  • Law that defines, describes, regulates, and creates legal rights and obligations

Procedural law

  • Law that establishes the methods of enforcing the rights established by substantive law



Civil law 

  • Persons against persons

  • Persons against governments 

  • Plaintiff vs defendant

  • Monetary punishments 


Criminal law

  • Wrongs against the public as a whole 

  • State prosecuting a defendant 

  • Usually ends up in jail or worse



Citations 

5 US code subsection 551

  • Statutory law

  • Administrative procedures act 

  • CFR (code of federal regulations) 



Plaintiff (starts the lawsuit) is listed first in case name 

Defendant (being sued) is second 

  • Ex: Doe v. Knox county 




Unanomous decision 

  • Everyone agrees of the outcome 

Majority decision 

  • The majority agree of an outcome 

Concurring opinion 

  • Agree with the result but not how they got there 

  • one or more judges or justices who agree with the majority but want to make or emphasize a point that was not made or emphasized in the majority’s opinion

Dissenting opinion 

  • court opinion that presents the views of one or more judges or justices who disagree with the majority’s decision

Plurality opinion 

  • court opinion that is joined by the largest number of the judges or justices hearing the case, but fewer than half of the total number 

Per curiam opinion 

  • By the whole court; a court opinion written by the court as a whole instead of being authored by a judge or justice 



Legal remedy

  • provide money to pay for a loss 

Equitable remedy

  • order a person to do or stop doing an action 





Privileges and immunity clause

  • State government cannot unreasonably discriminate against out of state citizens 



Full faith and credit clause

  • constitutional rule requiring every U.S. state to respect and honor the public acts, records, and court decisions of all other states 



Heart of Atlanta Motel vs US 

  • the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Congress can use the Commerce Clause to ban racial discrimination in public accommodations

  • The Facts

    • The Motel: The Heart of Atlanta Motel refused to rent rooms to Black guests.

    • The Location: It sat near major interstate highways and drew about 75% of its guests from out of state.

    • The Law: Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title II of the Act outlawed racial discrimination in public places that served transient guests. 




  • The Legal Issue

  • The motel owner sued the government. He argued that Congress went beyond its power under the Interstate Commerce Clause. He also claimed the law violated his Fifth Amendment right to run his private business as he saw fit and created involuntary servitude under the Thirteenth Amendment

Preemption 

  • The principle that a higher level of government overrides a lower one 

Dormant commerce clause

  • is an unwritten legal doctrine inferred from the U.S. Constitution that stops states from passing laws that discriminate against or heavily burden trade between states 

Content neutral 

  • law regulates the time, place, or manner of speech without regard to the message, topic, or views expressed  

Strict scrutiny 

  • highest and most stringent standard of judicial review used by U.S. courts to evaluate the constitutionality of government actions and laws 

  • Fundamental rights

Intermediate scrutiny 

  • a standard of review where the law must further an important government interest by means that are substantially related to that interest

Rational basis

  • the most lenient standard of review used by courts to determine if a law is constitutional 

1st amendment

  • Freedom of speech and religion 

4th amendment

  • protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government and requires warrants to be supported by probable cause




5th amendment 

  • guarantees the right to a grand jury, forbids "double jeopardy," protects against self-incrimination, and requires that "due process of law" be part of any proceeding that denies a person life, liberty, or property

  • “Pleading the fifth” only works in criminal cases and not civil

Due process 

  • constitutional guarantee that the government must act fairly and follow established rules before it can take away a person's life, liberty, or property 

  • Need notice 

  • Oppurtunity to be heard 

Jurisdiction

  • official power or authority of a court or government body to make legal decisions, hear cases, and manage a specific geographic area 

Rem jurisdiction

  • court’s legal power to make decisions over a specific piece of property or object rather than over a person 

Sufficient minimum contacts 

  • a legal standard that allows a court in one state to exercise personal jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant without violating the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment 

Writ of certiorari 

  • formal order issued by a higher court directing a lower court to send up the record of a case for review 

  • Rule of 4 (needs less than half to get this matter) 

Venue

  • Proper location where the case will happen and where the jury will be selected

Standing

  • a person's legal right to bring a lawsuit or ask a court to decide a dispute  

    • Injury in fact: You must show that you suffered an actual, concrete, and real harm. This harm can be physical, emotional, or financial. It cannot be just a general complaint

    • Causation (Traceability): You must show that your injury was directly caused by the defendant's illegal action or behavior

    • Redressability: You must show that the court has the power to fix or remedy your harm, usually through money damages or a specific legal order

Long arm statutes 

  • state law that allows a local court to reach out and pull an out-of-state or foreign defendant into its local court system 

Alternative dispute resolution

  • processes and techniques that help parties resolve conflicts outside of traditional court trials, typically with the assistance of a neutral third party 

  • Negotiation: least formal, talking through dispute before more people come in

  • Mediation: neutral third party, guides settlement agreement, cannot impose the decision on the parties 

  • Arbitartion: holds formal hearings, reviews evidence, and issues a decision that is usually legally binding