chapter 01: business and its legal environment

Chapter 1: Business and

Its Legal Environment

Form teams

• 4 teams: count off 1 through 4

• Introductions

• Team Name

• Roster

Quiz

• Closed book/closed notes

• Put away phones until I take up the quiz

• You may collaborate with your team

• You are responsible for the answers on

your quiz

• You do not have to choose the same

answers as your team

Natural law

• “the Laws of Nature”

• “We hold these truths to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal, that they

are endowed by their Creator with certain

unalienable Rights, that among these are

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Positive Law

• “We, the People, in order to form a more

perfect union . . . do ordain and establish

this constitution.”

• 5th Amendment: “No person . . . shall be

deprived of life, liberty, or property without

due process of law.”

SO?!?

In re: Troy Davis

• Convicted of murder

• No physical evidence

• Eyewitness testimony only

• 7 of 9 witnesses recanted

• Number one cause of false convictions?

In re: Troy Davis • Scalia: “This Court has never held that the

Constitution forbids the execution of a

convicted defendant who has had a full

and fair trial but is later able to convince a

habeas court that he is 'actually' innocent.”

• Stevens: “The substantial risk of putting an

innocent man to death clearly provides an

adequate justification for holding an

evidentiary hearing. Simply put, the case

is sufficiently 'exceptional' to warrant our

original habeas jurisdiction.”

Sources of Law

Common Law

Stare decisis

• “To stand by things decided”

• Precedent: similar cases ought to have

similar results

• Mandatory

– Issued by a superior court in the same

jurisdiction

• Persuasive

– Issued by a different jurisdiction

Precedent

• Case of first impression

– No precedent

• Factual Distinction

– Different facts = different results

• Overruling

Law Courts

Equitable remedies

• Injunction

• Specific performance

• Recission

Photo credits Law: http://www.flickr.com/photos/biscuitsmlp/

Jefferson: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonythemisfit/

Madison: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/

Eyewitness: http://www.flickr.com/photos/floridaconference/

Langdell Hall: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaniac/

William the Conqueror: National Portrait Gallery, London

Bayeux Tapestry: Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux

Day Glow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevec77/

Fishpool coins: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/

One Way Street: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/

Lawn: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grahamking/

Muddy Tracks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tupwanders/

extras: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuschia_foot/

Stop: http://www.flickr.com/photos/misteraitch/

Cromwell: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/

Court of Chancery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/

United States: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tom1231/

Napoleonic Code: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zilavy/

National Constitution Center: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jvinocur

United States Statutes at large: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Coolcaesar