Business Law & Ethics: Case Studies & Systems

This assignment delves into the intricacies of business law and ethics through a mix of case studies ('Kelo v. City of New London', 'MKURABITA' street vendors in Tanzania), comparative analysis (English legal system vs. Vietnam's executive authority law-making), and discussions on alternative dispute resolution, arbitration, and China's sole proprietorship laws. Students are encouraged to analyze the moral foundations of capitalism, hospital risk management within the US legal system, and the role of linguistic choice in employee switching. The assignment also covers the impacts of court decisions ('Fixing Lawyers' Mistakes') and the benefits of alternative dispute resolution.

Business Law

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Section-1 .........................................................................................................................................1
P1 Determine the English legal system's structure and different law sources............................1
P2 Role played by government in creation of a law and also state application procedure of
common and statutory laws in courts..........................................................................................3
Section 2:.........................................................................................................................................4
P3 a). Brief description of employers legal obligations..............................................................4
Occupational health and safety.................................................................................................4
Workers Compensation...............................................................................................................4
Harassment..................................................................................................................................4
Equal opportunities.....................................................................................................................4
P3 (b). Based on the case study, evaluate relevant employment and contract law.....................5
Section-3..........................................................................................................................................5
P4 Legal solution for the business problem................................................................................5
P5 Justifications of legal solutions .............................................................................................6
Section 4...........................................................................................................................................6
a) Alternative dispute resolution process....................................................................................6
b) Business problem legal solution.............................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
Online........................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Every organisation needs to follow some rules and regulation in order to perform their
activities effectively and these norms are known as business laws. All the tasks which are
necessary to govern an entity such as buying, selling, managing, etc. have to follow certain
standards setted by government (Thompson, 2017). This report is helpful in understanding the
methods that can be used to apply these laws to run a company. In order to study the importance
of government, their role in law-making is also discussed. Further, this study overs the impact of
rules and regulations on their business operations and decision-making. This report is based on
several cases which will assist in dealing the different situations occurring in business.
Section-1
P1 Determine the English legal system's structure and different law sources.
The English legal system follows a hierarchical structure in which different type of cases
are dealt in different courts. For example- Basic criminal cases are heard in magistrates court
whereas serious cases based on crimes are committed to the crown court (Abdussalam and
Nielsen, 2017). Further, the appeals from crown court are sent to the High court from where
further entreaties are sent to the court of appeal or even to the supreme court. The structure of
English legal structure according to the hierarchical order is explained further: Magistrates court: It is the lowest level of the structure which deals the general cases
such as gaming, liquor, etc. The decision taken in these judicatures can be appealed to the
crown courts. Crown Court: Chargeable criminal cases are deal by the crown courts. Further, appeals
from the magistrates court are also handled in these tribunals. The claims are heard by a
judge or a jury member. Country courts: Such courts deals the cases which are neither extreme complicated nor
very simple. Mainly the issues based on property, business, etc. are heard in these
tribunals. High court: Decision that are appealed by the lower courts are treated in these
judicatures. There are further three division of high court, which are the chancery section,
the family division and the Queen's bench division. Lawsuits based on commercial fraud,
conflicts in business are controlled by the chancery division. In contrary to this, family
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division handles the matrimonial matters, divorce cases, etc. Whereas, the Queen's bench
section hears the judicial reviews, statutory appeals and applications. Court of Appeal: The appeals against the crown assembly, materialist courts and high
court are done to such courts (Law and Act, 2016). This tribunal can be further categories
in two part, criminal and civil. Supreme Court: These courts are formerly the House of Lords. In this highest segment of
structure the cases are heard by 5 justices which are also known as law lords.
Means of attaining the knowledge of rules and regulations are known as law sources.
There are different means of acquiring the knowledge of laws. Some principle sources of UK
law are as follows:
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Illustration 1: The English legal structure
(Partington, 2016)

 Statutes: These are the legislations that are provided by the parliaments. These sources
are partially written and completely codified. Some common examples of statutes are
Employability right act, Equity act, etc. (Abril, 2016)
 Common law: These are the effective outcomes that are made while solving some cases
in the courts. These are based upon principles that are published in the cases over
centuries.
 Parliamentary and Non-parliamentary books and journals are also an effective source of
gaining the knowledge of laws. It is a secondary source and can be access through e-
laws.
P2 Role played by government in creation of a law and also state application procedure of
common and statutory laws in courts.
UK government plays a vital role in creation of a law. A law is formed after passing
through several stages. The procedure starts with a written document knows as bill which is a
rough format of law that contains all the data associated with the law that has to be formed. The
Bill is proposed by any of the party of the parliament (Sørensen, 2016). Firstly, the bill will be
read out in the assembly of parliament where both the political parties will be present. After
which this bill be passed to each MP for further reading and modifications are made in this stage
depending upon the opinions of MPs. After this process, a debate will be organised followed
with the voting in which will the members of the parliament will have to vote for the further
processing of that bill. Depending upon the results of the voting, a third reading will be
organised in which the MPs which were absent during the previous readings can also take part
and present their opinions. In addition to this, it is the final phase in which modifications are
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Illustration 2: Sources of law
(Stimson, 2016)

made. After this step, this bill is sent to the House of lords where the Queen reads the bill. If the
Queen agrees with the proposal then that bill is converted to a law, whereas in case the bill is
rejected by her then no further actions can be made in this order.
Section 2:
P3 a). Brief description of employers legal obligations.
Occupational health and safety.
It is foremost duty of an employer to look after the health and safety of all the employees
working in his organisation (Lyons and Brown, 2016). In order to provide these to the
employees, there are many legal laws proposed by government which have to be followed by
employer. In accordance to this, the most effective law is Employee health and safety act.
According to this, if an employee faces any injuries or medical problems then entity needs to
compensate him or provide him with medical benefits. Also, this act also emphasise on the
present of complete safety measures at the work place.
Workers Compensation.
In this legal duty, it is described that in case if any employee get injuries on work place
then employer have to compensate his medical aids. Also, even if the company is facing
financial crisis then also they have to pay the workers accordi9ng to the salary structure provided
to them.
Harassment
According to this legal role, an employer has no right to harass any employee. There are
many laws proposed by government in that order, for example- harassment act and wrongful
dismissal act. If an employee reports about such mishaps then legal actions will be taken against
that employer (Auel and Neuhold, 2016). Further, wrongful dismissals highly impacts upon the
mental stability of the workers.
Equal opportunities
According to the employability rights act and equity act, it is foremost duty of an
employer to treat all the employees equally and should provide them equal opportunities
irrespective of their race, colour, class, etc. These equal opportunities will directly help in
increasing the overall performance of the entity.
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P3 (b). Based on the case study, evaluate relevant employment and contract law.
In this case study, a 16 year old teenage girl was hired by a fast food outlet to cook fries
at a frying range. Unfortunately, one day she slipped on water that was leaking from an ice-
making machine and consequently, her hand went into a deep fat fryer incorporating oil at a
temperature of 360 degree Fahrenheit. As a result of this, she got severe injuries on her palm and
forearm. Further, the leader of the team was also not present at the time when this incident took
place. The employer of the restaurant broke so many legal rules and thus, he is at the guilt.
Relevant employment and contract law that are impacted because of this accident are as follows:
 Child labour act: It is illegal to employ a 16 year old age child for such a risky job of
frying fries in high temperature oil. Employer should follow child labour act in order to
avoid such situations (Nguyen, Nguyen and Pyvovar, 2016).
 Employee health and safety act: It is foremost duty of an employer to provide health ans
safety to the employees working in his entity. In this case, safety measures should be
available at the premises which can help the girl.
 Employers should replace the defective inventories present in his premises with new ones
(Bertinelli and Bourgain, 2016). In this case, that girl slept because of the water leaking
from the ice-making machine which indicates that they have old and defective
machineries. They should replace these faulty inventories with the new ones or they
should fix them.
 Also, on the day when this incident took place, the leader was not present at that time.
Thus, in this way it is leader's fault, he should present at the assigned work place.
Thus, these are some laws of employment and contract which when unfollowed by the
employer caused a severe accident.
Section-3
P4 Legal solution for the business problem
In the first case, Calvin is working in fashion house from four years. One day he was
working usually and his boss Donna arrives in the early morning and found that he was doing
some wrong and distrustful activity. She suddenly checks her cash drawer and found that some
£100 is missing. She has dismissed him at that moment without checking otjher employees who
were working on that place.
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The legal solution of this business problem is that Calvin can raise its voice against her
employer to gain his job back. He can do this with the help of harassment act in which
guarantees that no employer is allowed to dismiss and harass its employees. The employer has to
find out the actual reason of theft in his house (Thompson, 2017). According to this act, every
employer has to treat its staff members equally so that they can be motivated and increase their
performance.
In second case, Dan is the owner of small convenience store. One fire accident has
destroyed his business so he decided to open new store in nearby location. He also plans to take
fire insurance from the related company. He has applied for this policy and fulfilled all terms and
conditions of taking the fire insurance policy. Later on, his new store also get destroyed in fire
accident. He then appealed to fire insurance company to repay its claim but they refused.
Legal solution of this problem can be that it can take help from police by filing case
against the company. According to customers right act, the company have to pay compensation
for the Dan's business loss. This act helps in providing all the rights to the customers which they
deserve (Zhang, 2017). This acts helps it to take its money from the company which it has
promised while doing fire insurance.
P5 Justifications of legal solutions
Legal solution for the above business scenarios are appropriate as they helps in getting all
the rights of the people. Harassment act helps the employees to prevent discrimination among
them. It also provides various equal opportunities to them without any partiality. Further, it also
helps in raising the voice against the wrong rules of the company which directly dismiss and
terminate them without knowing actual reasons. Further, customers right act will help them to
safeguard their rights and raise the voice against the defaulters which cheat them and do not give
proper benefits of the policies.
Section 4
a) Alternative dispute resolution process
This process helps in resolving disputes of two different parties. It also provides different
chances to the conflicting parties to resolve their problems and settle on one common solution. It
also provides various ways to get the solution by putting their matters confidential and less
formal. The main advantage of this process is that it saves lot of time and money as it provides
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solution within few weeks or months (The benefits of alternative dispute resolution, 2017). It
gives more importance to the issues which are important to the parties rather than legal rights.
Alternative dispute resolution process also preserves relationships among the disagreeing parties
It also provides various benefits to the parties by keeping their issues confidential. The process
provides satisfactory solution which is easier for both the parties to accept the decision.
Mediation, arbitration, collaborative law and neutral evaluation are some types of alternative
resolution process (Bertinelli and Bourgain, 2016).
Arbitration:
In this method, the conflicting parties place their issue to the third party also called as
Arbitrator. The arbitrator listens the problems of their clients and try to resolve it by considering
federal rules or parties previous agreements. They provide the solution on which both the
disagreeing parties have to accept its decision. This approach is useful for the conflicting parties
which quickly want to solve their disputes without wasting much time on it.
Mediation:
Mediation is the process of resolving issue by providing all the facts and information to
neutral party. In this approach, mediator helps the disagreeing parties to resolve their problems.
It understands whole scenario of the conflict and helps them to solve their problems by providing
different advices to them (Dove, 2016). The mediator organises various interaction session for
conflicting parties so that they communicate with each other and tries to reach on the common
solution.
b) Business problem legal solution
Antwon who is the owner of financial firm has conflict with Tyrell who is running
computer software development company. The employees of Antwon's are looking for market
productions which was stopped due to the dispute. The dispute is going on from two weeks and
both the companies want to solve their problem without affecting their relationships.
This problem can be solved with the help of mediation process. Both the owners of the
company can tell their problem to the mediator which helps them to reach on the effective
solution. It will conduct various meetings for them in which they can interact more with each
other and solve their problems by themselves. This method helps them to resolve their dispute
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without breaking their working relationships (Zolfagharian, Hasan and Iyer, 2017). It will also
assist them to make various business deals effectively.
Mediation is better approach as compared to arbitration process because it helps different
conflicting parties to resolve their problem by themselves. It provides mutually satisfactory
solution which assists them to maintain their strong relationships. This process helps in reaching
the solution without telling their issues to anyone else except mediator which is neutral. The
mediator plans various meetings which helps them to reach on the solution by discussing their
issues by themselves (Coyne and et.al., 2017).
CONCLUSION
From this report, it can be concluded that, business laws includes various rules and
regulation which helps in safeguarding the rights of people, employees and firms. English legal
system includes hierarchy structure of different courts. Further, different stages in making the
law are defined. Statuary, common, European union laws etc. are defined in this report.
Moreover, the analysis of legal solution of various business problems are considered. In this
report, alternative dispute resolution process and its benefits are discussed. Further, its types such
as mediation and arbitration are discussed. Mediation process is considered as the best method in
resolving the disputes of conflicting parties as it preserves the relationship between them.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Abdussalam, M. and Nielsen, J., 2017. Rethinking the Standard for Ascertaining the Quantum of
Disgorgement in Patent Law Contexts. Journal of Business Law.(5). p.413.
Abril, P. S., 2016. Reimagining the Group Project for the Business Law Classroom. Journal of
Legal Studies Education. 33(2). pp.235-262.
Auel, K. and Neuhold, C., 2016. Multi-arena players in the making? Conceptualizing the role of
national parliaments since the Lisbon Treaty.Journal of European Public Policy. pp.1-15.
Bertinelli, L. and Bourgain, A., 2016. Tax Mobilization in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Impact of
Tax and Business Law Reforms. Economics Bulletin.36(3). pp.1805-1810.
Coyne, I. And et.al., 2017. Understanding the relationship between experiencing workplace
cyberbullying, employee mental strain and job satisfaction: a dysempowerment approach.
The International Journal of Human Resource Management.28(7). pp.945-972.
Dove, L. R., 2016. Introducing the Moral Foundations of Capitalism in Undergraduate Business
Law and Ethics Courses Using Kelo v. City of New London. Journal of Private Enterprise.
31(2). p.87.
Law, C. and Act, F., 2016. Fixing Lawyers' Mistakes: The Court's Role in Administering
Delaware's Corporate Statute. JOURNAL OF BUSINESS LAW.18(2).
Lyons, M. and Brown, A., 2016. Erratum to: Pro-Poor Business Law? On MKURABITA and
the Legal Empowerment of Tanzania’s Street Vendors.Hague Journal on the Rule of
Law.8(2). pp.429-429.
Nguyen, X. B., Nguyen, X. L. C. and Pyvovar, I. V., 2016. Legal and organisational specifics of
executive authority law-making planning abroad (the case study of the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam). Юридичний вісник. Повітряне і космічне право.(4). pp.66-71.
Partington, M., 2016. Introduction to the English legal system 2016-2017. Oxford University
Press.
Sørensen, M. J., 2016. Uber–a business model in search of a new contractual legal frame.
Journal of European Consumer and Market Law.(1/2016). pp.15-18.
Stimson, C. J., 2016. Hospital Risk Management and the US Legal System: An Introduction to
US Medical Malpractice Tort Law. In Risk Management in Medicine (pp.69-76). Springer
Berlin Heidelberg.
Thompson, D. B., 2017. Teaching the Business Law and Ethics of Arbitration After Concepcion.
Journal of Legal Studies Education.34(1). pp.63-88.
Zhang, X., 2017. What Does China’s Sole Proprietorship Law Mean to Foreign Business
People?. Business Law Review.38(2). pp.61-63.
Zolfagharian, M., Hasan, F. and Iyer, P., 2017. Employee, branch, and brand switching: the role
of linguistic choice, use and adaptation. Journal of Services Marketing, (just-accepted),
pp.00-00.
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Online
The benefits of alternative dispute resolution. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.lawpmh.com/the-benefits-of-alternative-dispute-resolution/>.[Accessed on
11th August 2017].
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