Chapter 1-Intro to Law and Legal Reasoning

1. Chapter 1-Intro to Law and Legal Reasoning • Law-consists of enforceable rules governing relationships among individuals and between individuals and their society

2. Jurisprudence-study of law, learning different schools of thought

3. 1: Schools of Jurisprudential Thought • Natural Law view. • Positivist view. • Historical view. • Legal Realism view.

4. The Natural Law School • Assumes that law, rights and ethics are based on universal moral principals inherent in nature discoverable through the human reason. • The oldest view of jurisprudence dating back to Aristotle. • The Declaration assumes natural law, or what Jefferson called “the Laws of Nature.”

5. Natural Law: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from the Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963. “[T]here are two types of laws: just and unjust laws. . . . A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law . . . . An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. . . . An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law.”

6. The Positivist School • Law is the supreme will of the State that applies only to the citizens of that nation at that time. • Law, and therefore rights and ethics, are not universal. The morality of a law, or whether the law is “bad or good,” is irrelevant.

7. The Historical School • Emphasizes the evolutionary process of law. • Concentrates on the origins of the legal system. • Law derives its legitimacy and authority from standards that have withstood the test of time. • Follows decisions of earlier cases.

8. Legal Realism • Jurisprudence that holds law is not simply a result of the written law, but a product of the views of judicial decision makers, as well as social,economic, and contextual influences.

9. 2: Business Activities and the Legal Environment • Law regulates many different areas of business. • Study of business law also involves a knowledge of ethics in decision-making. • Many different laws may affect a single business transaction.

10. 3: Sources of American Law • U.S. and State Constitutions. • Law expressed in the constitutions • Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states that the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land • A law in violation of the Constitution is deemed unconstitutional and will not be enforced • Statutory Law—federal, state and local. • Laws passed by Congress • Also includes local ordinances • City, county, township • Uniform laws-models for states to consider adopting due to the differences among states, made trade between states difficult • Administrative regulations and decisions. • Consists of rules, orders, and decisions of administrative agencies • Agencies are formed to perform a specific function • ie.: Federal Trade Commission • Case Law and Common Law Doctrines. • Early English Courts date back to 1066 • William the Conqueror began the process fo unifying the country under their rule, established kings courts

11. Ethical decision making • You must know the law and be ethical • Ethics is generally defined as the study of what constitutes right or wrong behavior

12. 4: The Common Law Tradition • American law is based largely on English Common Law which was based largely on traditions, social customs, rules, and cases developed over hundreds of years.

13. The Common Law Tradition [2] • At common law, there were two separate court systems with two different types of remedies: • COURTS OF LAW (monetary relief), and • COURTS OF EQUITY (non-monetary relief) based on “notions of justice and fair dealing.”

14. Courts of Law • Also called “king’s courts” where judges were appointed by the king. • Remedies limited to those provided at law, i.e., land, chattel, money. • Judges resolved disputes by application of rules of law to the facts of the case before the court.

15. Courts of Equity • Also called courts of chancery in Delaware. • Equitable relief was sometimes available in instances where a strict application of the law to the facts of the case compelled a result that was legal but unjust. • Equitable Maxims.

16. Legal and Equitable Remedies Today • Today federal and state courts of general jurisdiction have consolidated remedies at law and remedies at equity. • Generally, the same court can fashion a remedy that includes both damages and equitable or injunctive relief. • Legal means to enforce a right or redress a wrong • Damages-money given to a party whose legal interests have been injured • Remedies in equity-specific performance such as an injunction, stop doing something • Look at page 9

17. Stare Decisis • Stare decisis is a Latin phrase meaning “to stand on decided cases.” • Makes the law stable and predictable. • Increases judicial efficiency by relieving courts of having to reinvent legal principles for each case brought before them.

18. Stare Decisis and Precedent • Stare decisis is “judge made law” based on precedent. • Precedents are judicial decisions that give rise to legal principles that can be applied in future cases based upon similar facts. • Precedents and other forms of positive law, such as statutes, constitutions, and regulations, are referred to as binding authority and must be followed.

19. Departures from Precedent In cases of “first impression” where there is no precedent, the court may refer to positive law, public policy, and widely held social values in order to craft the best new precedent.

20. Stare Decisis and Legal Reasoning • Method used by judges to reach a decision. • Many courts and attorneys frame decisions and briefs using the IRAC format: • Issue (What is the question to be resolved?) • Rule (What law governs this matter?) • Application (Apply the law to the facts) • Conclusion (Decision or Verdict)

21. Forms of Legal Reasoning • Deductive-logical relationship • Linear reasoning-proceeds from one point to another • Reasoning by analogy-compare the facts at hand to facts in other cases and apply the same rule of law • There is no one right answer

22. 5: The Common Law Today • Common law today governs transactions not covered by statutory law. • Restatements of the Law: • American Law Institute. • Summarize the common law of most states.

23. 6: Classifications of Law • Every type of law will be either: • Civil or Criminal, and either • Substantive or Procedural, and either • Public or Private.

24. Civil vs. Criminal • Civil law defines the rights between individuals or individuals and governments. • Criminal law defines an individual’s obligations to society as a whole.

25. Substantive vs. Procedural • Substantive law defines or creates the rights and obligations of persons and governments. • Procedural law provides the steps one must follow in order to avail oneself of one’s legal rights or enforce another’s legal obligations.

26. CyberLaw • Emerging, lack of interpretation regarding new cyber situations and transactions. • Traditional legal rules applied to online transactions. • Applies to advertising, contracting, banking, filing documents with courts, employment relations and other transactions.

27. Decisions and opinions • Unanimous-all judges agree • Concurring-judge agrees but for different reasons • Dissenting-presents the views of the judge or judges who disagree with the decision

28. 7: Finding Primary Sources of Law • Finding Statutory Law. • United States Code (USC). • http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml • State Statutes. • Finding Administrative Law. • Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). • http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html • Finding Case Law (at Findlaw.com). • Supreme Court: http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html • Federal Courts: http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/courts/index.html • State Courts: http://www.findlaw.com/11stategov/index.html

29. 8: How to Read & Understand Case Law Legal cases are identified by a “legal citation” (or a “cite”) as the sample below: D.A.B.E., Inc. v. City of Toledo,393 F.3d 692 (6th Cir. 2005). Title: First Party is Plaintiff, second party is Defendant. The parties are either italicized or underlined.

30. 8: How to Read & Understand Case Law Legal cases are identified by a “legal citation” (or a “cite”) as the sample below: D.A.B.E., Inc. v. City of Toledo, 393 F.3d 692 (6th Cir. 2005). Case is found in Volume 393 of the Federal 3rd Supplement at page 692.

31. 8: How to Read & Understand Case Law Legal cases are identified by a “legal citation” (or a “cite”) as the sample below: D.A.B.E., Inc. v. City of Toledo, 393 F.3d 692 (6th Cir. 2005). Case was decided by the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2005.