This document discusses the sources and classifications of American law. It covers the four primary sources of law: constitutional law, statutory law, administrative law, and case law/common law. It also describes the common law tradition, including precedent, stare decisis, and remedies at law and in equity. Additionally, it distinguishes between civil law and criminal law, noting that civil law deals with private rights while criminal law defines and punishes wrongful actions against society.

1. ESSENTIALS OF THE LEGAL
ENVIRONMENT TODAY, 5E
ROGER LEROY MILLER
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2. C H A P T E R 1
BUSINESS AND THE LEGAL
ENVIRONMENT
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3. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. What are the four primary sources of law in
the United States?
2. What is the common law tradition?
3. What is a precedent? When might a court
depart from precedent?
4. What is the difference between remedies
at law and remedies in equity?
5. What are some important differences
between civil law and criminal law?
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4. INTRODUCTION
• Law consists of enforceable rules
governing relationships among
individuals and between individuals
and rest of their society.
• Laws establish rights, duties, and privileges
consistent with the value system of a
society or of its ruling group.
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5. BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AND THE
LEGAL ENVIRONMENT
• Many Different Laws Affect a Single Business
Transaction
• Linking Business Law to the Six Functional
Fields of Business
1. Corporate management
2. Production and transportation
3. Marketing
4. Research and development
5. Accounting and finance
6. Human resource management
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6. EXHIBIT 1.1
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7. BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AND THE
LEGAL ENVIRONMENT
• The Role of Law in a Small Business
• The small business owner is the most
general of managers.
• All of the different managerial roles of a
small business owner are linked to the law.
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8. EXHIBIT 1.2
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9. SOURCES OF AMERICAN LAW
• Constitutional Law
• United States Constitution is the supreme
law of the land.
• Also found in case decisions and text
arising from federal and state constitutions.
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10. SOURCES OF AMERICAN LAW
• Statutory Law
• Laws enacted by the United States
Congress and by state legislatures.
• Local ordinances.
• Uniform laws and codes, such as the
Uniform Commercial Code.
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11. SOURCES OF AMERICAN LAW
• Administrative Law
• Federal or state agencies
• Agency creation
• Administrative agencies can be independent
regulatory agencies, such as the Food and Drug
Administration.
• Rulemaking
• Rules, orders and decisions of administrative
agencies.
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12. SOURCES OF AMERICAN LAW
• Case Law and Common Law
Doctrines
• Case law - Rules and decisions made by
courts
• Governs all areas of law not covered by
statutory or administrative law.
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13. THE COMMON LAW TRADITION
• Early English Courts
• King’s courts established the common law
– the body of general legal principles
applied throughout England.
• King’s courts used precedent to build the
common law.
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14. THE COMMON LAW TRADITION
• Stare Decisis
• Deciding new cases based on precedent.
A higher court, or an earlier decision by
the same level court, is a precedent that
has binding authority on the lower court.
• Departure from precedent only if good
reason.
• What if there is no precedent?
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15. THE COMMON LAW TRADITION
• Equitable Remedies and Courts of
Equity
• Remedy: Enforcing a right or
compensating for injury to that right.
• Remedies in equity: Based on justice and
fair dealing, a chancery court, or court of
equity, does what is right.
• Merging of law and equity
• Most courts today can award remedies in law or equity.
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16. EXHIBIT 1.3
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17. THE COMMON LAW TRADITION
• Schools of Legal Thought
• Jurisprudence: The science or philosophy
of law.
• A judge’s philosophical approach to law
can determine how he or she will apply
the law to a particular case.
• Natural law school
• “Higher” law
• System of moral and ethical principles
• Dates back to Aristotle and the ancient Greeks
• Natural rights
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18. THE COMMON LAW TRADITION
• Legal positivism
• Positive law, written law of society at a particular time
• There is no higher law than a nation’s positive law.
• Whether law is “good” or “bad” is irrelevant.
• Historical school
• Emphasizes the evolutionary process of law by
concentrating on the origin and history of legal systems.
• The laws that have withstood the test of time are the best
laws.
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19. THE COMMON LAW TRADITION
• Legal realism
• Law is just one of many institutions in society shaped by
social forces and needs.
• Judges should take human and economic factors into
account when deciding cases.
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20. CLASSIFICATIONS OF LAW
• Substantive law: Laws that define and
regulate rights and duties.
• Procedural law: Laws that establish
methods for enforcing and protecting
rights.
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21. CLASSIFICATIONS OF LAW
• Civil Law and Criminal Law
• Civil law: The branch of law dealing with
the definition and enforcement of all
private or public rights, as opposed to
criminal matters.
• Criminal law: The branch of law that
defines and punishes wrongful actions
committed against society.
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22. CLASSIFICATIONS OF LAW
• National and International Law
• National law: Law that pertains to a
particular nation.
• International law: The body of written and
unwritten laws, and treaties, observed by
nations when dealing with each other.
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23. A P P E N D I X T O C H A P T E R 1
FINDING AND
ANALYZING THE LAW
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24. FINDING STATUTORY AND
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
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• United States Code
• State Codes
• Administrative Rules

25. FINDING CASE LAW
• State Court Decisions
• Regional Reporters: published by West
Group
• National Reporter System divides the
country into: Atlantic, North Eastern, North
Western, Pacific, South Eastern, South
Western, and Southern reporters.
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26. EXHIBIT 1A.1
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27. FINDING CASE LAW
• Federal Court Decisions
• West’s Federal Supplement (F.Supp or
F.Supp.2d), United States Reports (U.S.)
and West’s Reporter (S.Ct.)
• Unpublished Opinions
• Old Case Law
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28. EXHIBIT 1A.2
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29. Exhibit 1A.2 (cont’d)
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30. Exhibit 1a.2 (cont’d)
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31. READING AND UNDERSTANDING
CASE LAW
• Case Titles and Terminology
• Legal cases are identified by a “legal
citation” (or a “cite”) as the example
below:
United States v. Jones, 132 S. Ct.
945 (2012).
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Title: First part is Plaintiff, second part is Defendant.
The parties are either italicized or underlined.

32. READING AND UNDERSTANDING
CASE LAW
Example continued:
United States v. Jones, 132 S. Ct.
945 (2012).
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Case can be found in the Supreme Court
Reports published by West, Volume 132, page
945, decided 2012.

33. EXHIBIT 1A.3
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34. Exhibit 1a.3 (cont’d)
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35. Exhibit 1a.3 (cont’d)
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36. Exhibit 1a.3 (cont’d)
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