The Legal Environment and Business Law
first Edition
The Legal Environment and Business Law
This textbook provides context and essential concepts across the entire range of legal issues with which managers and business executives must grapple. The text provides the vocabulary and legal acumen necessary for businesspeople to talk in an educated way to their customers, employees, suppliers, government officials—and to their own lawyers.
This book is licensed under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/ 3.0/) license. See the license for more details, but that basically means you can share this book as long as you credit the author (but see below), don't make money from it, and do make it available to everyone else under the same terms.
This book was accessible as of December 29, 2012, and it was downloaded then by Andy Schmitz (http://lardbucket.org) in an effort to preserve the availability of this book. Normally, the author and publisher would be credited here. However, the publisher has asked for the customary Creative Commons attribution to the original publisher, authors, title, and book URI to be removed. Additionally, per the publisher's request, their name has been removed in some passages. More information is available on this project's attribution page (http://2012books.lardbucket.org/attribution.html?utm_source=header).
For more information on the source of this book, or why it is available for free, please see the project's home page (http://2012books.lardbucket.org/). You can browse or download additional books there.
The Legal Environment and Business Law
About the Authors
Acknoledgments
Preface
Chapter One Introduction to Law and Legal Systems
1.1 - What Is Law?
1.2 - Schools of Legal Thought
1.3 - Basic Concepts and Categories of US Positive Law
1.4 - Sources of Law and Their Priority
1.5 - Legal and Political Systems of the World
1.6 - A Sample Case
1.7 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Two Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics
2.1 - What Is Ethics?
2.2 - Major Ethical Perspectives
2.3 - An Ethical Decision Model
2.4 - Corporations and Corporate Governance
2.5 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Three Courts and the Legal Process
3.1 - The Relationship between State and Federal Court Systems in the United States
3.2 - The Problem of Jurisdiction
3.3 - Motions and Discovery
3.4 - The Pretrial and Trial Phase
3.5 - Judgment, Appeal, and Execution
3.6 - When Can Someone Bring a Lawsuit?
3.7 - Relations with Lawyers
3.8 - Alternative Means of Resolving Disputes
3.9 - Cases
Chapter Four Constitutional Law and US Commerce
4.1 - Basic Aspects of the US Constitution
4.2 - The Commerce Clause
4.3 - Dormant Commerce Clause
4.4 - Preemption: The Supremacy Clause
4.5 - Business and the Bill of Rights
4.6 - Cases
4.7 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Five Administrative Law
5.1 - Administrative Agencies: Their Structure and Powers
5.2 - Controlling Administrative Agencies
5.3 - The Administrative Procedure Act
5.4 - Administrative Burdens on Business Operations
5.5 - The Scope of Judicial Review
5.6 - Cases
5.7 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Six Criminal Law
6.1 - The Nature of Criminal Law
6.2 - Types of Crimes
6.3 - The Nature of a Criminal Act
6.4 - Responsibility
6.5 - Procedure
6.6 - Constitutional Rights of the Accused
6.7 - Cases
6.8 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Seven Introduction to Tort Law
7.1 - Purpose of Tort Laws
7.2 - Intentional Torts
7.3 - Negligence
7.4 - Strict Liability
7.5 - Cases
7.6 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Eight Contracts
8.1 - General Perspectives on Contracts
8.2 - Contract Formation
8.3 - Remedies
8.4 - Cases
8.5 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Nine Products Liability
9.1 - Introduction: Why Products-Liability Law Is Important
9.2 - Warranties
9.3 - Negligence
9.4 - Strict Liability in Tort
9.5 - Tort Reform
9.6 - Cases
9.7 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Ten Intellectual Property
10.1 - Patents
10.2 - Trade Secrets
10.3 - Copyright
10.4 - Trademarks
10.5 - Cases
10.6 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Eleven Relationships between Principal and Agent
11.1 - Introduction to Agency and the Types of Agents
11.2 - Duties between Agent and Principal
11.3 - Cases
11.4 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Twelve Liability of Principal and Agent; Termination of Agency
12.1 - Principal’s Contract Liability
12.2 - Principal’s Tort and Criminal Liability
12.3 - Agent’s Personal Liability for Torts and Contracts; Termination of Agency
12.4 - Cases
12.5 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Thirteen Partnerships: General Characteristics and Formation
13.1 - Introduction to Partnerships and Entity Theory
13.2 - Partnership Formation
13.3 - Cases
13.4 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Fourteen Partnership Operation and Termination
14.1 - Operation: Relations among Partners
14.2 - Operation: The Partnership and Third Parties
14.3 - Dissolution and Winding Up
14.4 - Cases
14.5 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Fifteen Hybrid Business Forms
15.1 - Limited Partnerships
15.2 - Limited Liability Companies
15.3 - Other Forms
15.4 - Cases
15.5 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Sixteen Corporation: General Characteristics and Formation
16.1 - Historical Background
16.2 - Partnerships versus Corporations
16.3 - The Corporate Veil: The Corporation as a Legal Entity
16.4 - Classifications of Corporations
16.5 - Corporate Organization
16.6 - Effect of Organization
16.7 - Cases
16.8 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Seventeen Legal Aspects of Corporate Finance
17.1 - General Sources of Corporate Funds
17.2 - Bonds
17.3 - Types of Stock
17.4 - Initial Public Offerings and Consideration for Stock
17.5 - Dividends
17.6 - The Winds of Change
17.7 - Cases
17.8 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Eighteen Corporate Powers and Management
18.1 - Powers of a Corporation
18.2 - Rights of Shareholders
18.3 - Duties and Powers of Directors and Officers
18.4 - Liability of Directors and Officers
18.5 - Cases
18.6 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Nineteen Securities Regulation
19.1 - The Nature of Securities Regulation
19.2 - Liability under Securities Law
19.3 - Cases
19.4 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Twenty Corporate Expansion, State and Federal Regulation of Foreign Corporations, and Corporate Dissolution
20.1 - Corporate Expansion
20.2 - Foreign Corporations
20.3 - Dissolution
20.4 - Cases
20.5 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Twenty-one Antitrust Law
21.1 - History and Basic Framework of Antitrust Laws in the United States
21.2 - Horizontal Restraints of Trade
21.3 - Vertical Restraints of Trade
21.4 - Price Discrimination: The Robinson-Patman Act
21.5 - Exemptions
21.6 - Sherman Act, Section 2: Concentrations of Market Power
21.7 - Acquisitions and Mergers under Section 7 of the Clayton Act
21.8 - Cases
21.9 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Twenty-two Unfair Trade Practices and the Federal Trade Commission
22.1 - The Federal Trade Commission: Powers and Law Governing Deceptive Acts
22.2 - Deceptive Acts and Practices
22.3 - Unfair Trade Practices
22.4 - Remedies
22.5 - Cases
22.6 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Twenty-three Employment Law
23.1 - Federal Employment Discrimination Laws
23.2 - Employment at Will
23.3 - Other Employment-Related Laws
23.4 - Cases
23.5 - Summary and Exercises
Chapter Twenty-four Labor-Management Relations
24.1 - A Brief History of Labor Legislation
24.2 - The National Labor Relations Board: Organization and Functions
24.3 - Labor and Management Rights under the Federal Labor Laws
24.4 - Case
24.5 - Summary and Exercises