Why do businesses require attorney services?

• contracts

• real estate

• mergers, acquisitions

• criminal defenses (liabilities)

• labor laws

• intellectual property, copyright

• legal structures

• worker compensation

law: enforceable rules that govern how a society acts. the purpose is to keep peace, moral standards, and provide a basis for compromise

jurisprudence: science of studying schools of legal thought

Law does not necessarily signal justice.

• Jim Crow laws

• Nazi ruling

• North Korea

• internment camps

There is historical reasoning behind modern day laws formed by ideas, customs, logic, and history. This creates a legal precedent.

natural law: based on religious, moral, and ethical principles inherent in human nature (laws against murder, stealing, etc)

positive law: within written law, human-made construct of mind (speed limits, etc)

legal positivism: idea that law and moral values are separate. there is no such thing as natural law, as the government dictates all rules to be obeyed.

landmark case: legal precedent that changes interpretation of law and/or establishes a new definition

common law: unwritten laws / precedents made by courts

stare decisis: principle of following legal precedents to establish new courts

• all courts have to adhere to SCOTUS’s interpretations and past case rulings

• if the pattern of interpretation changes, the precedent changes

EXAMPLES OF LANDMARK CASES

• Anon. v Sheriff of London (defines larceny)

• Hulle v. Orynge (defines trespassing)

  • nominal damage: symbolic award for wronging without real damage

• Wearer v. Ward

  • assumption of risk: if a potentially damaging scenario is actively entered, there is no ground to sue

• Butterfield v. Forrester (comparative v. contributory negligence varies in state)

  • contributory negligence: plaintiff’s negligence contributes to injury, so the plaintiff cannot collect as much

  • comparative negligence: plaintiff and defense is assigned damage based on the degree of fault

• Hadley v. Baxendale

  • time is of the essence: in a contract, what is lost if a contract is breached must be specified in order to collect funds if either party takes too much time to fulfill their end

civil law: private relations within a community brought to court

• disputes

• claimant / plaintiff vs defendant

• remedy

• judgement

• probability

• private

criminal law: concerned with crimes (breaking of laws)

• wrongs

• prosecutor vs defendant

• verdict

• conviction

• acquittal

• sentence

• punishment

• burden of proof: proof beyond all doubt must be provided for defendant to be considered guilty, as such would cause their civil liberties’ to be lost

• public

Starting a court case

1. plaintiff - summons and complaint - defendant replies

2. determine court jurisdiction (state, federal, etc)

3. issue claim

4. defend claim

5. allocation of cases

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

federal jurisdiction: matters of the Constitution, interstate dealings, cases that involve >$75,000 claim, etc. go to federal court

commerce clause: federal ability to regulate interstate commerce, instate commerce if one state is causing a burden on another state

“dormant” commerce clause: states cannot burden other states or regulate interstate commerce

Relevant Court Cases

• Granholm v. Heald (economic discrimination)

• Gibbons v. Ogden (federal authority over interstate waters)

• Heart of Atlanta Motel v. US (commerce clause includes local regulation which might hurt commerce on interstate/federal territory)

Corps & First Amendment

• false and inaccurate information is not protected

• political speech is highly protected

• commercial speech (printed, online, TV) is somewhat protected under some guidelines

Guidelines to be Protected Under the First Amendment

Speech

• political speech is highly protected

• time, manner, place restrictions

  • actual content is not restricted, but safety

  • don’t yell fire in a crowded movie theater

• Central Hudson Test

  • “First, in order for the commercial speech to be considered protected speech under the First Amendment, the speech must concern lawful activity and the speech must not be misleading.

    • If this step is met and the commercial speech is considered speech, then the court will use steps 2-4 below to determine whether the government regulation is constitutional

  • Second, the alleged governmental interest in regulating the speech must be substantial

  • Third, the regulation must directly advance the governmental interest asserted

  • Fourth, the regulation must not be more extensive than is necessary to serve the interested expressed in step 3” — Cornell law school

Religion

• establishment clause

• lemon test used to determine if a law violates the first amendment

  • entangles government with religion (if so, violation)

  • prohibits / inhibits religious practice (if so, violation)

  • secular legislative purpose (if so, not a violation)

• free exercise clause: no congressional law can prohibit religion

Press

• no law abridging freedom of press

• libel (written slander) is not protected

Petition: allow people to express grievances

Assembly: to (reasonably) gather (consider time, place, etc.)