Business and Ethics

Most people understand the law through personal experiences. Some are exposed to law through traffic tickets. Others encounter the law when a problem arises with a landlord or lease. Many wonder about their rights

when their e-mail is flooded with advertisements. In recent years, many came to under- stand the law as they faced foreclosures on their homes and needed to know their rights. Their understanding of the law may be limited by the anger they feel about the spam or the traffic ticket. However, without traffic laws, the roads would be a study in survival of the fittest. The law is your source of assurance that if you face a foreclosure, you will have not only rights but also time to respond to your lender’s actions. Each day businesses find and face legal and ethical issues in everything from privacy rights on Facebook to proper documentation of employees’ citizenship.

The types of laws and the penalties for violating them vary from state to state and from city to city; but, however much they vary, laws are everywhere and at every level of government. Indeed, law is a universal, necessary foundation of an orderly society. Law helps maintain order, imposing on us certain minimum standards of conduct. When we fall short of those standards, we risk penalties. Law is made up of rules that control people’s conduct and their interrelationships. Traffic laws control not only our conduct when we are driving but also our relationships with other drivers using the roads. In some instances, traffic laws give other drivers a right-of-way and we are liable to them for any injuries we cause by not following those laws.

This chapter offers an introduction to law. How is law defined? What types of laws are there? What are the purposes and characteristics of law? Where are laws found, and who enacts them?

Definition of Law

Philosophers and scholars throughout history have offered definitions of law. Aristotle, the early Greek philosopher, wrote that “the law is reason...