The Role and Function of Law

The Role and Functions of Law

Angie A. Burt

December 5, 2016

J. William Eshelman

The Role and Functions of Law

In today’s business environment, the role of law and courts establishes a necessary bond between how business is run and the foundation law has in business. According to The Legal and Regulatory Environment of Business, “The most significant of the social forces is law because law can glue together diverse peoples of different backgrounds into very large, organized groups. Law is known by everyone as being intended to tell members of society what they can or cannot do.” (Reed, Pagnattaro, Cahoy, Shedd, Morehead, 2016, p. 6). Basically law has several simplified meanings which are as follows: to establish standards, maintain order, resolve disputes and protect liberties and rights.

Difference in Federal and State Court Structure

Although law can be simplified into to generic meanings, there will always be specified differences between levels of law, court systems and how everything is structured. Each state may have different court systems that handle action and appeals, in Minnesota, the state has the levels of district courts, appeals and the Supreme Court.  Minnesota courts were established through the state Constitution and has the right to determine if a certain case will make it all the way o the U.S. Supreme Court to be heard.

The Federal Court System was established by Article III of the Constitution, and it gave Congress the authority to create lower federal courts. Federal Court tends to deal with matters of national/international levels. The Supreme Court can hear cases from U.S. Court of Appeals but has no obligation or standing order to do so. The U.S. Supreme Court is deciding factor in cases that involve national level constitutional issues. (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, 2016). This is a major difference from state courts, the Federal Court has more decisive and direct decisions that affect the entire country and possibly across the globe.

Judicial Review

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court being the highest law of the land, is given the power of judiciary, otherwise known as judicial review. As a part of the checks and balance system, this is a power given to the courts of the land to look at cases that may actually challenge the validity of the Constitutional rights that have been granted. (Reed, 2016).

If a judicial review is performed, it is essentially to determine if an action taken is unconstitutional, there by having the decision overturned. This ability came about as the result of a case in 1803, Marbury v. Madison. During this time Chief Justice John Marshall determined that the courts have the right to say if something is unconstitutional or not, this drove the new balances between democracy and rule of law. (Nelson, 2002).