Bule

The Nature of Law

•  Law is a body of enforceable rules governing relationships among individuals and between individuals and their society. •  Important schools of legal thought:

–  Natural law tradition. –  Legal positivism. –  Legal realism. •  Sociological School –  Historical School.

Copyright © 2009 South-Western Legal Studies in Business, a part of South-Western Cengage Learning.

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Areas of Law That Affect Decisions

Copyright © 2009 South-Western Legal Studies in Business, a part of South-Western Cengage Learning.

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Sources of American Law

Constitutional Law

Statutory Law

Administrative Law

Case Law and Common Law Doctrines

Copyright © 2009 South-Western Legal Studies in Business, a part of South-Western Cengage Learning.

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Case Law and Common Law Doctrines

•  Case Law: Rules announced in court decisions. Includes the aggregate of reported cases. •  Common Law: The body of law developed from custom or judicial decisions. The doctrines and principles embodied in case law, governs all areas not covered by statutory law or agency regulations.

* Common law includes case law *

Copyright © 2009 South-Western Legal Studies in Business, a part of South-Western Cengage Learning.

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Equity: Procedural Differences

Copyright © 2009 South-Western Legal Studies in Business, a part of South-Western Cengage Learning.

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Classifications of Law

•  The law may be broken down according to several classification systems, such as:

–  Substantive vs. Procedural law. –  Civil vs. Criminal law. –  Federal vs. State law. –  National vs. International law. –  Private vs. Public law.

Copyright © 2009 South-Western Legal Studies in Business, a part of South-Western Cengage Learning.

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Civil vs. Common Law of Nations

Copyright © 2009 South-Western Legal Studies in Business, a part of South-Western Cengage Learning.

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Civil Law System

•  A legal system stemming from Roman “code law,” in which the primary...