CHAPTER 1
What is the role of law? persons and their property : charter of our constitution shows how laws are put in place to protect you and your property.
- Empowers and restricts government: empowers = taxation laws, restrict = legislation of rights and freedom.
- Facilitates freedom of choice – private ordering
Why do we obey laws? fear of penalties general religious principals
Law and Ethics
A lot of people think that there is a direct correlation between law and ethics (what would be just in a circumstance) but that is not how are laws are created.
Ex: lawyer in the province ended up getting a call one night from the person who hit Mathew Churchill. The man hit him from behind with car and killed him, and drove off. He got home, explained to his wife what happened, and decided to call his lawyer. The lawyer told them to go to a hotel and the next morning go to the police station and turn themselves in. It came out later that he was possibly intoxicated. He was only convicted of leaving the accident and sentenced to 12 months in prison (usually results in being out of jail in 4 or 5 months). If the lawyer had not told him to wait till the next morning they could have convicted him for A LOT more. They could not prove that he was drunk so it is better to have guilty people free than innocent people in jail.
Why may business adopt a higher standard than that imposed by law?
MONEY! Business are money making machines first and