Lesson 1-2
Chapter 1 Slide 1
Types of Laws
GOALS
 Explain how constitutional, statutory, case, and
administrative laws are created
 Explain how to resolve conflicts between constitutional,
statutory, case, and administrative laws
 Describe the differences between criminal and civil,
substantive and procedural, and business and other
forms of law
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Chapter 1 Slide 2
WHAT ARE THE
SOURCES OF OUR LAWS?
 Constitutions
 Constitutional Law – law
made when constitutions are
adopted or amended, or
when courts interpret
constitutions
 We are governed by:
 US Constitution &
State Constitution
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Chapter 1 Slide 3
WHAT ARE THE
SOURCES OF OUR LAWS?
 Allocation of power
 between people and government – does this with the Bill
of Rights
 between federal and state governments – powers of
business divided on the basis of commerce
 Fed – foreign and interstate commerce
 State – intrastate commerce
 among branches of government – system of checks and
balances / ensures no branch becomes too powerful
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Chapter 1 Slide 4
WHAT ARE THE
SOURCES OF OUR LAWS?
 Statutes – Law enacted by legislatures
 State legislatures are created by state constitutions
 What’s Your Verdict? (Congress requires cigarette makers to print these
words on every cigarette package: “Warning: the Surgeon General has determined
that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health”)
 What type of law requires this?
 Statute enacted by the US Congress
 Ordinance – legislation enacted at the local level
 Administrative regulations
 Administrative Agencies – governmental bodies
created by federal, state, and local legislatures to
carry out particular laws DEA 
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Chapter 1 Slide 5
WHAT ARE THE
SOURCES OF OUR LAWS?
 Administrative Agencies –cont.
Laws created are called “Rules and Regulations”
 Case law – law made after a trial has ended and
one of the parties has appealed the result to a
higher court (judicial branch)
 Stare Decisis – legal doctrine that requires lower
courts to follow established case law in deciding
similar cases (to adhere to decided cases)
“In This Case” – example of state case law
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Chapter 1 Slide 6
WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN LAWS CONFLICT?
Constitutions and validity
Constitutions – highest source of law “supreme
law of the land”
If any federal, state, or local law conflicts – not valid
Unconstitutional – a law that is invalid
because it conflicts with a constitution
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Chapter 1 Slide 7
WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN LAWS CONFLICT?
 Statutes and validity – must be constitutional
to be valid (courts determine constitutionality)
 Administrative regulations and validity – courts
also determine constitutionality
 Case law and validity – a legislative body has power to
nullify a court’s interpretation of a statute or ordinance
 People have the power to amend
constitutions if they disagree (voting for
representatives)
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Chapter 1 Slide 8
WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN LAWS CONFLICT?
 What’s Your Verdict?
(When adopted, the U.S. Constitution provided that
there could be no income tax. So when Congress levied a 2% income tax in 1894, the U.S. Supreme Court
declared it unconstitutional. Many people wanted the federal government to raise money by taxing incomes
because the burden imposed would be based on one’s ability to pay. )
 Could the people do anything to change the
effect of the Supreme Court decision?
 16th Amendment to US Constitution gave
Congress power to lay and collect an income
tax - nullified the US Supreme Court decision
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Chapter 1 Slide 9
WHAT ARE THE
MAIN TYPES OF LAWS?
Criminal v. civil laws
Civil law – group of laws that redress
wrongs against individual persons
Applies when one person has a right to sue
another person
No police involvement
Crime – an offense against society
Protects citizens right to live in peace
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Chapter 1 Slide 10
WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN LAWS CONFLICT?
 What’s Your Verdict?
(Worthington was driving down the road well within the
speed limit. At a stop sign he slowed to about 15 miles per hour, but he did not stop. As a result, he
smashed into the side of Bates’ Mercedes, causing $12,000 in damage.)
 Did Worthington violate civil or criminal law?
 Both: Crime – driving through stop sign
Civil – carelessly driving into another’s
vehicle
 Procedural v. substantive laws
 Business law
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Chapter 1 Slide 11
WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN LAWS CONFLICT?
Procedural v. substantive laws
Procedural law – laws dealing with
methods of enforcing legal right and duties
Substantive law – laws defining rights and
duties of conduct except those involved in
enforcement
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Chapter 1 Slide 12
WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN LAWS CONFLICT?
Business law – laws that apply to
business situations and transactions
Mostly concerned with civil law – especially
contracts
Torts – private wrongs against people
or organizations
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) –
widely adopted uniform business law
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