BUSINESS LAW

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 372.

The study of law is the study of people, a civilization, as it has existed and as it currently exists. As a discipline, the law embodies the history, values, and culture of a society. It is a series of concepts and rules that shifts to meet social changes. The productive activity of a society – its business practice – is one of the major facets of this study. The legal environment of business, therefore, involves the legal system, its principal actors, and the major substantive rules of law that influence economic activity.

Law is not separate from the culture, history, and times in which it exists. The study of law is not limited to learning legal rules. Understanding the legal environment of business, therefore, requires a broad understanding of the people and basic trends that influence the relationship between law and business.

Business managers come into contact with law on a daily basis. They are regularly confronted with contracts and the need to comply with government regulations. At times, they may come into conflict in their business relations, necessitating legal help. This legal involvement brings managers in touch with legal jargon and lawyers. To gain an appreciation of law and to be effective as a manager, it is necessary to have some understanding of the legal system – the purpose of law, sources of law, classification of law, the interplay of law and morality, and the place and function of lawyers.

Law impacts business decision making. Many recent surveys of business executives disclose that a chief concern for the coming decades is the legal environment within which business operates. From contracts to products liability to international marketing and new technologies to our environment, the law is the overriding factor in the businessperson's mind.

All the definitions of law imply that law regulates human conduct and that through courts it resolves controversies. The goal of law is justice, but law and justice are not synonymous, just as legal justice and social justice are not synonymous. Justice has been defined as that which is founded in equity, honesty, and righteousness. It is the attempt of honorable persons to do that which is fair. Justice is the purpose of government and civil society. Apparently, the achievement of justice depends upon the concept of right and wrong in the society involved.

Social justice recognizes more rights and duties than does legal justice, although the trend of the law is toward equating these concepts. Perfect justice would require that all persons discharge all their obligations and duties so that all other persons may enjoy all their rights and privileges. Our society through law determines which rights and duties will be protected and strives through its judicial system for perfect justice. Of course, the law is incapable of perfect justice because it is in the hands of imperfect people and operates with imperfect procedures. As law approaches perfect justice, legal and social justice tend to merge.

The law has two basic functions in the conduct of business. First, the law provides the information needed to educate business people. The law's major influence on business decisions is alternative courses of action. The second basic function of the law is to resolve controversies and to impose sanctions for conduct contrary to law. Such conduct may be illegal in the sense that some law or legal principle is violated or it may be illegal in the sense that a party did not perform as agreed or as the law may require.