contemporary business law assignment help

contemporary business law assignment help

Contemporary Business Law: Key Concepts and Practical Applications

1. Introduction to Contemporary Business Law

Business law emphasizes two key aspects of business. First, it studies the social phenomenon of business itself as “a social organ,” an engaged participant in society. Because business concerns people, each of whom has dignity, rights, and economic needs, the behavior of business is couched in legal understanding that respects the honesty, fair dealing, and dignity of others. Second, business law is about governing the rules that business organizations, partnerships, and corporations, a part of the social phenomenon of business, should obey, and deontological righteousness in that regard. In other words, business law is the societal system established by and among business organizations to create their economic and moral worlds, in the private sphere, in a way that is consistent with broader legal rules that govern all our lives. In short, the study of business law is about the existence – creation, observation, protection, and exploitation – of the social organization that transcends and encompasses the individuals in a business. In this book, once we develop enough of an understanding of this kind of business law, we will start by examining the basic business organizations. Now, let us just understand some basic concepts of law as might pertain to our businesses and business ideas.

In a society grounded in the rule of law, legal concepts are ubiquitous and business organizations are also governed by the law. Business law, typically known as the law of business organizations, seeks to provide an understanding of the governing principles regulating transactions and interactions among business entities, individuals, and the government. Beginning with this definition and guiding concept, scholars assert that business law is an ethical, as well as a legal concept. While law operates as a critical aspect in the governance framework of contemporary businesses, it plays an equally essential role in the overarching social order. Forging a clear grasp of the basic and underlying fundamentals of law, especially as they impact businesses, is key for compliance as well as negotiation, strategic management, and building successful business ventures. In this introductory essay, I offer a bird’s-eye view of a comprehensive and practical understanding of contemporary business law, emphasizing key aspects of law that are relevant to and inform business activities.

Key concepts and practical applications

2. Key Legal Concepts in Business Law

Despite, and perhaps because of, our willingness to resort to tort or contract litigation, incentive to minimize injury or the cost of transactions can shape numerous private and public rules that become the backdrop to our transactions, employment relations, and corporate operations. Thus, law and other rules are often taken as given in helping us understand causal connections between and consequences of legal rules and other social and economic behavior. And the rules and heuristics covering transactions and behavior we choose, in fact, help shape legal settings and perspectives. Regulatory law constitutes a special part of our legal framework, with special topics, and is unfortunately outside the scope of this set of readings except in quick sweeps. When we discuss various legal jurisdictions in the US and state regulatory efforts or class actions, we will touch more extensively on the regulatory scene in certain domains.

Developing foundational knowledge of today’s business law involves understanding several key legal concepts. These include principles like “what is a contract?” and “what is a tort?” In addition, business lawyers and those who work in business need to have at least a basic sense of what it means to meet regulatory compliance. All businesses in the United States find their profit-making activities conducted within a legal framework. Prior consent to crucial business activities is often highly favored or even required. Thus, business is predominantly a contractual enterprise. Contract law deals with problems that arise before, while, or after written or oral agreements are made. Introduced through these readings, tort law is significantly about legal injuries that are not covered by agreements, which means corporate and business lawyers as well as corporate managers should understand differences and overlaps between tort and contract law.

3. Recent Developments and Trends in Business Law

In the murky area of intellectual property, significant changes are afoot that implicate legal landscapes. More of the same is certainly occurring within each of the myriad areas of law covered by this text. Intellectual property law is, in fact, awash with change and debate. For example, in 2019, the United States Supreme Court was afforded the opportunity to address patent subject matter. With the appointment of three new justices, a stronger conservative voice may well chart a new path. Similarly, trademark law emerged as a hot topic in the courtrooms in 2019, particularly its federal registration scheme. To name but a few additional current discussions that have come up since this book was drafted, arbitration provisions have seen some reevaluation in the halls of federal bankruptcy courts and Supreme Court criminal law jurisprudence is opening up with deliberations on facial challenges to criminal codes. Corporate governance decisions continue to be made in the shadow of litigation following the Great Recession. Business law, it seems, is as fluid as it is vast. Regular attention to the shiftings in the business law landscape is not just crucial for practitioners: it can be fascinating to the uninitiated as well.

The law is nothing if not dynamic. Depending upon where one peers within the great pantheon of business law practice, evidence of that dynamism can be seen in any number of quarters. In this book, we can only hope to pass along the most recent of news, but every so often, opportunities arise to take advantage of updating our material. In the area of business law, a number of recent developments have the potential for long-lasting effects, and so deserve some mention. Property law, for example, has seen some shifts. Ambitious acquisition deals in many quarters, primarily American markets, have begun to face vocal populist scrutiny because of fears of unchecked market power and corporate concentration. As a conspicuous response, states are considering revisions to their laws of real property. It should come as no surprise that the benefit corporations movement continues to blossom. As of 2019, thirty states and the District of Columbia authorize the formation of benefit corporations. If that was not cause for celebration among those interested in the fields of corporate social responsibility and sustainability, that Congress jumped into the game would only make the movement stronger. In 2018, President Trump signed into law an international, nongovernmental certification program for “U.S. establishments pursuant to industry-developed best practice guidelines.” The law is called “Unifying Mark,” whereas the Program is known as the “U.S. Tolling and Live Poultry Unifying Mark Certification Program.”

Chapter 3 Recent Developments and Trends in Business Law

4. Practical Applications and Case Studies

The practical applications contained within this study guide can be used as standalone readings or in conjunction with the narrative text as the course time and instructor preference dictate. As standalone readings, we recommend that these principle-focused case studies be used in conjunction with the theoretical overviews offered in the narrative content of the text in order to provide your students with a well-rounded understanding of these topics.

The real-world relevance and applicability of any classroom concept are essential to the quality and sustainability of education. In this study guide, we complete the overview by illustrating the practical applications and real-world takeaways relevant to the legal principles previously outlined and illustrated. Building upon our theoretical discussions, case studies illustrate how legal principles are applied in different business contexts. As you engage with the case studies, consider the practical implications of the legal principles discussed in the text. How can these principles guide business decisions? What potential challenges or risks do these principles pose? What can go wrong? In short, the following sections directly illustrate the “so what” of law’s practical applications in our dynamic business environments.

5. Conclusion and Future Directions

These findings hold enormous implications for the way business lawyers should be teaching law in Australian universities. The ‘exoteric’ content of contracts and torts law that is generally taught to students is not irrelevant (as some critical legal scholars argue), but it is by no means the whole story. Thirdly, we demonstrated that business law is experiencing the development of hybrid legislative/common law tools and incentive-based statutes. Our preliminary outline of this development prompts an interesting question: Is a common law foundation necessary before new statutes can be developed, or does contemporary business law sanction direct regulation? These insights also have broad implications for the training of ‘business lawyers’ in Australia today. Any such practitioner is, by necessity, in part a generalist, once again emphasizing the unity of the law. They also need to be able to deal with international law. There is no pure corporate lawyer, contract lawyer, or banking lawyer. Regulatory theory must also be studied if these practitioners are to understand the rules they come across in the course of their practice, and how change might more effectively be brought about.

Each of the preceding sections has considered important issues relevant to the contemporary practice of business law. There have been several striking conclusions. First, we demonstrated that current Australian contract law combines classical principles, mostly from the 19th century, with legislative reforms and the ad hoc development of new doctrines and exceptions. The result is a body of law that is often complex and obscure. Some new principles, such as proportionate liquidated damages and the penalty doctrine, have been engrafted onto orthodox doctrine. As with company law, we saw why parties take risks and draft contracts that are difficult to enforce. Second, Australian tort law itself contains many different areas of law – such as negligence, nuisance, defamation, economic torts – that are essentially autonomous.