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5-2 Law, Business & Government [CH 5

Chapter Overview
The legal system in the United States is a growth industry for litigation lawyers. As we
live in a litigious society and as more regulations are laid upon the mountain of statutes, the
potential for intentional and unintentional legal mishaps grows. The legal framework of
local, state and federal governments regulate business activities, and business law has an
important role in the private enterprise system.
Sir William Blackstone's An example of the complexity of today’s business environment is reflected in the first
(1723-1780) four-volume political and then financial attacks from government against tobacco manufacturers, the
Commentaries on the Laws collapse and restructuring of Enron and the litigation that Microsoft worked through for
of England, one of the
greatest scholars of English having developed a dominant product for computer users. Executives and business owners
common law. Blackstone are not expected to be attorneys, but they are required to know the numerous legal
began his lectures on the requirements that can affect their management decisions.
common law in 1753. His The question has to be asked: What is the law good for, what does it show us? I know
clear, lucid style and the that you will be able to come up with many answers. However, think on this as you read
completeness of his work
made his lectures and later this chapter: The golden rule, “...do unto others as you would have them do unto you…”, is
writings an immediate often forgotten. All utopians have this as their credo. Yet, we find that mankind is full of
success. His Commentaries guile. You have heard that “people are basically good”; as you age you will discover that
served as a primary this nice, Pollyanna thought is utterly wrong. Do people steal? Do people bare false witness
instruction tool in England (lie about) against others? Is there no murder? Some will restrain themselves because they
and America well into the measure the consequences to their actions, and others restrain themselves because of their
nineteenth and twentieth
century and exerted a morality and ethics. So may I propose that what the law shows us, is our shortcomings and
pronounced influence on failings.
the development of the As concerning the Law consider, what Sir William Blackstone said about it: “Law, the
American legal tradition. rights of persons and the rights of things, the right to life, reputation and liberty, the rights
Blackstone sought to to acquire and hold property. Wrongs are a violation of those rights.” Simply: right and
provide the English
common law with the same wrong, with right and wrong being mutually exclusive. Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the
systematic, rational Law” were taught in America’s Law schools up to the 1940’s, so his thoughts greatly
treatment that Newton and influenced the legal thinking in this nation.
others had given to the
natural sciences. He felt the
common law should be Legal History in brief
complete and independent, The Laws of our nation are the product of Western Civilization, thousands of years of
as if it were a uniform people interacting, and coming to terms with how to deal with each other equitably and
system of logic. To this end, with common sense. The simplicity of the law is to rightly divide right from wrong, good
he initially focused his from evil.
attention on natural law: “If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die; then the ox shall be surely stoned,
"This law of nature, being and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit [not held
co-eval with mankind and accountable]. But if the ox was wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been
dictated by God himself, is testified to his owner, and he hath not kept it in, but it hath killed a man or a woman; the
of course superior in
obligation to any other. It is ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.”—Old Testament, Exodus,
binding over all the globe, in XXI, 28, 29 (1491 B.C.). Here we have a principle of law, the one free bite rule, which is
all countries, and at all still in force today in some states. The rule is that the owner of a domesticated animal that
§
times: no human laws are of injures a person is not liable if the animal has not previously exhibited malicious
any validity, if contrary to tendencies, but the owner is liable if the animal has previously demonstrated
this; and such of them as maliciousness since then the owner is aware of its malicious nature and able to prevent
are valid derive all their another attack. The penalty, damages, are somewhat less drastic than in the Old
force, and all their authority, Testament, but the principle of law is the same, a principle of common sense.
mediately or immediately, Because the law is an accumulation of western history, one should recognize that
from this original." much of law is very old, and that the roots of modern law are deeply implanted. So one
could ask, why do we write daily new laws? Could it be that the law makers, your
Sir William Blackstone,
Commentaries on the Laws legislators, do not abide by, do not actually know nor adhere to current laws for personal
of England, vol. 1 gain?
(Philadelphia: Robert Bell,
1771), p. 41.

§
Not in California as to dogs at least. C.C. 3342 provides: "The owner of any dog is liable for the damages
suffered by any person who is bitten by the dog while in a public place or lawfully in a private place,
including the property of the owner of the dog, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the
owner's knowledge of such viciousness. A person is lawfully upon the private property of such owner
within the meaning of this section when he is on such property in the performance of any duty imposed
upon him by the laws of this State or by the laws or postal regulations of the United States, or when he is
on such property upon the invitation, express or implied, of the owner."

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