Business Law

The modern society is practically unimaginable without the laws which regulate all spheres of social life on all levels. In fact, laws became an essential part of the organization of the normal social life and, actually, laws may be viewed as the basis of the existing social order. This is why such concepts as natural laws (Mallor, Chapter 1, 2007) have appeared, though nowadays the concept of laws should be enlarged substantially proportionally to the increase the laws play in the contemporary world and socio-economic life. In this respect, it should be said that laws, being applied to different spheres such as politics, business, or social life are closely interrelated and interdependent and they should be viewed as a complex forming the legislative system of a particular country, which actually defines the life of the country and its people, including social norms and business.
First of all, it should be said that nowadays there exist a variety of laws, which define socio-economic life of the country and significantly influence business. In this respect, it would be logical to start with the main law which actually is dominant over all the others, it is a kind of supreme law of any country, in accordance with which all other legislative acts and norms should be developed. What is meant here obviously is the constitution, which nowadays is viewed as one of the main symbols of a really democratic state and, from the point of view of a business, the existence and practical application of norms of the constitution is one of the major indicators of the economic stability in a country, which characterize its economy as an open market economy that naturally is the main condition of fair competition and the possibility to develop business normally without any threats of illegal or unfair actions from the part of a state or competitors.
However, formally, the constitution as the main law of any state is supposed to fulfill two basic functions, which basically refer to the political sphere than economic. To put it more precisely, one of the functions of the constitution is to set up the political structure of a country and guarantee the separation of power. Another major function of the constitution is to control different units of the government as well as three branches of the power, i.e. legislative, executive and judicial, from taking some actions or passing some laws which would limit other units or powers and lead to the enforcement of some units or powers (Mallor, Chapter 1, 2007). At the same time, it is obvious that these functions of the constitution affect dramatically social and economic life of the country because through the maintenance of the balance of powers in the country and the observation of laws and control over their accordance to the norms of the constitution, the latter contributes to the stability within society and guarantees that rights and liberties of people will be protected and, therefore, there is no risk for business since, ideally, if the constitution functions effectively, all companies play in accordance with the common rules of the game.
Naturally, there are a lot of other laws and legislative acts which are subordinate to the norms of the constitution and which regulate specific spheres of socio-economic and political life of society. In this respect, it is worthy of mention statutes, which are laws implemented by the legislative power, and common law, which is based on the rules of courts, i.e. judicial power, and which regulates cases which are not regulated by other laws (Mallor, Chapter 1, 2007). In such a way, there is hierarchy of laws which is supposed to regulate all spheres of human life and establish some common rules and norms in accordance to which people should live and work or develop their business.
Obviously, the existence of such a hierarchy of laws is essential for business and stable social life because the constitution provides society with basic norms and principles, while other laws regulate all spheres of life in society in specific areas on all levels from the national or federal to local.
However, laws, even the most advanced, are not perfect and conflicts caused by the actual or presumable violation of laws are inevitable. In this respect, it is very important to maintain stability and justice in society and, in such a situation, the role of the judicial system can hardly be underestimated. To put it more precisely, it is the judicial system that is actually responsible for the maintenance and observation of laws on all levels. In fact, the judicial power or the system of courts should guarantee the supremacy of law in a country. Only on such a condition, every citizen and, therefore, every company can be sure that their rights and liberties are protected. In this respect, it should be said that the judicial system should be represented on all levels and be able to protect rights and liberties of all people. This is why the structure of the judicial system is often quite complicated. For instance, the US has 52 court systems, which comprise a federal system and a system for each state and the District of Columbia (Mallor, Chapter 2, 2007). As a result, the US judicial system can control effectively the maintenance of laws and prevent or protect ordinary people and companies from violations of their legal rights and liberties.
Thus, it proves beyond a doubt that laws are essential for the normal and stable functioning of a complicated machine known as human society. At the same time, laws are particularly important for business since this is a sphere of vital interests of all people and, therefore, business need clear rules which all parties observe.

References
Mallor, J.P. et al. (2007). “Chapter 1: Natural Law,” in Business Law: The Ethical, Global, and E-Commerce Environment, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Mallor, J.P. et al. (2007). “Chapter 2: The Resolution of Private Disputes,” in Business Law: The Ethical, Global, and E-Commerce Environment, New York: McGraw-Hill.