Statutory Law

Chapter 1- Question 4

        When discussing the difference between common law and statutory law, there are many differences, some subtle and some more obvious.  When discussing common law, as stated in the text, is a body of law that is not statutory but addresses long standing issues. These rules may have been applied for many years, even centuries. The text describes these laws as time honored rules of the community. Statutory laws are written laws enacted by the legislative bodies. Therefore, the difference is that common law is laws that have been instilled in the community over years and are commonly applied and statutory laws are laws that are black and white, written, and consistently enforced. Common law is perhaps that laws that aren’t technically written but are ethically and morally correct and statutory laws are regularly enforced and are written and enforced by legislation.

Chapter 2- Question 5

        Regarding Carolyn, Elwood, Isabella and their real estate development, there are a few steps they could take rather than immediately filing a lawsuit.  Arbitration is an alternative resolution that they could use to get a better solution from this mess. Firstly, they need to make sure that the person they are presenting their facts for disputation is a trained professional that is familiar with the facts in the case, this case being real estate. They would present their facts to the professional so they can make an educated assumption so that person can make a decision. By going through the arbitrator who is familiar with real estate, they can be sure they will be almost positive they wont have to worry about the judge not having the proper knowledge and ending in a poor result.

Chapter 2- Question 12

        In this case, the attorney needs to find out the correct information to make sure that the jurors are not associated with the plaintiff. The rule that needs to be applied is voir dire examination.  In this rule, the lawyers have the opportunity to question the jurors and make sure that they are not biased in the situation. At this point, if the lawyer believed that Peter Guber was biased and knew too much or was too close to Mrs. Ryder, they would than have the opportunity to exclude him from the jury per this rule.

Chapter 3- Question 12

        When questioning if what Mr. Vise did was ethical, we first need to examine what ethics is. Ethics deals with values that relate to the nature of human conduct and values associated with that conduct. Business ethics also states that balancing the goal of profits with the values of individuals and society. Therefore, with this information, I believe that what Mr. Vice was unethical. It was one thing for him to buy the copies of the books and take advantage of the sale. The thing that I believe was unethical is the fact that he tried to return the books. He should have just kept the books and taken whatever profit he made from the 2500 copies that he sold. Barnes and Noble would have never purchased those copies and now they will be stuck with the 17,500 copies. All in all, I believe that his decisions were unethical based on the definition of ethics.