Functions of Law
Having an overall understanding of the legal environment is essential for management in all businesses, and beneficial for all people in society. Management must be able to write contracts that benefit the company, as well as know the legalities of employment law. Individuals must know how the law works to know the rights they have in the society. To gain this knowledge the roles and functions of law in business and society must be understood and defined.
Law has many meanings and can be interpreted in many ways. The first meaning in the dictionary for law is the principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and applicable to its people, whether in the form of legislation or of custom and policies recognized and enforced by judicial decision (dictionary.com, 2006). There are three common classifications of law; criminal and civil law; substantive and procedural law, and public and private law (Barnes, Bowers, Mallor, Langvardt, 2003). A case may fall within all three of these classifications.
The framework for all laws in the United States is the United States Constitution. The function of the Constitution is to establish Congress and to provide Congress with the power to make laws (Barnes, Bowers, Mallor, Langvardt, 2003). The US Constitution also provides a president who is to enforce the laws of Congress, and creates the system of courts to interpret the laws. The relationship between the federal government and the states is structured by the U.S. Constitution. All laws must fit within the control of the Constitution or they are deemed unconstitutional and have no force (Barnes, Bowers, Mallor, Langvardt, 2003).
There are different levels of powe ...