Professor Tom Young. First day of this class, since last Monday was MLK day and last Wednesday was cancelled for bad weather. Low class. 13 of 18 students, so far. 16 showed up by the end of class.Young was a CPA, then joined the Air Force, then resumed CPA practice, then moved to teaching.
I already have the textbook, West’s Business Law Tenth Edition. Tests will generally be taken from the concept summaries in each chapter. Need to pay attention to those.
4 Exams are 80% of class grade. Attendance, homework, etc. are 20% of grade. Quizzes are not factored into this grade, so daily or weekly topic tests are effectively bonus points.
There is a project, individual or group. Group sizes are usually no more than 2. Example project: drafting a contract.
Most studies will concern Uniform Commercial Code, or UCC. Only state that doesn’t completely adopt UCC is Louisiana.
Exams will be multiple choice or brief essay. No true/false.
Attendance policy: Must attend class. Assignments will be collected on pre-communicated dates. No late assignments. Make-up exams can be scheduled, but need a reason.
Final exam is not comprehensive; each exam is over a set section of class.
We will be covering civil law, not criminal law.
Chapters 1 & 2
Two ways business law is typically taught:
- Case Basis
- Combined Case and Law
We’ll be using method 2 primarily.
Sources of Law
The primary or first source of U.S. law is the U.S. Constitution. Next body of law is Statutory Law, which is passed by Congress at the federal level and state legislatures at the state level. After that is Administrative Law, which is set by regulatory agencies like the IRS, the EPA, various state bodies, and even local government organizations. Finally, in the United States the last body of law is Common Law, which is “judge-made law”, also referred to as stare decisis. Each level of law overrides the following sources where they conflict.
In England, there existed courts of law and courts of equity. Courts of law determined issues of money; courts of equity determined issues of behavior, and could give injunctions and require performance of specific acts. In the U.S., those two types of courts have mostly merged, but some legacies remain. Issues that would have been the purview of the courts of law can be decided by a judge or a jury, on the preference of the defendant. Issues that would be decided by a court of equity are always decided by judges.
Process of a law suit
- Plaintiff files suit (Called Complaint)
- Defendant files General Denial within 21 days.
- Discovery Process — Interogatory, depositions
- Alternative Dispute Resolution, or ADR
- Trial
- Appellate Courts
- Supreme Court / Federal Courts
If defendant fails to file General Denial, Plaintiff can demand summary judgement based on complaint. Summary judgement is ruling based on all submitted info in accordance with the law. If only one side has submitted info, this will likely go poorly for the other side.
ADR consists of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. It is not an absolutely necessary step, but usually required nowadays because courts are so busy.
Cases can be appealed to Appelate courts and eventually Supreme or Federal courts, but not required.
Tort – French word meaning “wrongdoer”. A Tort Case is a case with a wrongdoer.
Assignment for Wednesday — Look at Chapters 1 & 2, check the questions and concept summaries.