LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Differentiate between social customs and law.
- Become familiar with primary sources of law in the United States.
- Understand the difference between public law and private law.
- Understand the relationship between state and federal systems of government.
Hyperlink: Supreme Court Friezes
http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/north&southwalls.pdf
Along the north and south walls of the Great Hall at the U.S. Supreme Court, friezes representing the great lawgivers in history are carved in marble. Among them are Hammurabi, Moses, Solomon, Draco, Confucius, Muhammad, Napoleon, and one American. Click the link to find out who he is.
Where does the law come from? How do you know right from wrong? Certainly your caretakers taught you right from wrong when you were a child. Your teachers, community elders, and other people who were in the position to help shape your ideas about appropriate manners of behavior also influenced your understanding of which behaviors are acceptable and which are not. Additionally, employers often have very firm ideas about how their employees should comport themselves. Those ideas may be conveyed through employers’ codes of ethics, employee handbooks, or organizational cultures.
Of course, actions that are considered “wrong” and inappropriate behavior are not violations of the law. They simply may represent social norms. For example, it is generally not acceptable to ask strangers about their income. It is not illegal to do such a thing, but it is considered impolite. Imagine that you are interviewing for a position that you really want. Can you imagine yourself asking your potential employer how much money he or she makes? It would not be illegal for the employer to refuse to hire you based on your lack of social skills. However, it would be illegal for the employer not to hire you based solely on your race.
So what is the difference? One type of “right from wrong” is based on societal norms and cultural expectations. The other type of “right from wrong” is based on a source recognized as a holding legitimate authority to make, and enforce, law within our society. These are two types of rules in our society—social norms and laws.
A Question of Ethics
In January 2010, Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, was struck by a massive earthquake that killed tens of thousands—maybe even hundreds of thousands—of people. Rescue workers rushed to remove survivors from the rubble, but in the days following the earthquake thousands of people wandered the streets without food or shelter. Some instances of looting and violence occurred as survivors grew desperate for sustenance.
In the meantime, Royal Caribbean operated a cruise line that made a regular stop at Haiti, at a private beach where it had previously spent millions of dollars in improvements to ensure that the vacationers on its cruise ships would enjoy themselves during their overnight stops. Within a week of the disaster, Royal
Caribbean was seeking to assure its customers that the stop in Haiti was not unethical. It pointed out that bringing tourist dollars to Haiti was actually an ethical thing to do, despite the thousands of dying and injured just a short distance away.
If you were scheduled to begin a vacation on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that docked at its private beach during the week following the earthquake, would you go? If you decided to go, how would your friends and family react to your choice? If Royal Caribbean was not legally required to issue refunds for nonrefundable tickets, should it be willing to issue refunds anyhow?
Check out a video of Royal Caribbean’s CEO discussing his company’s involvement in bringing emergency supplies to Haiti, as well as the potential for using ships as hotels or hospitals in the interim.
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/01/18/ct.anderson.haiti.cruise.cnn
Social customs may be violated on pain of embarrassment or ostracism. Someone may choose to ignore social customs, but there are usually negative social or professional consequences to doing so. A person who violates social customs may be said be a boor, or people may try to avoid that person because his or her actions and comments make others uncomfortable. However, no legal repercussions follow violating social customs.
Violations of law are different. Violating the law carries penalties, such as liability or loss of liberty, depending on the type of violation. While we may generally decide whether or not to conform to social customs, we are compelled to obey the law under threat of penalty.
Law can generally be classified as public law or private law. Public law applies to everyone. It is law that has been created by some legitimate authority with the power to create law, and it has been “handed down” to the people within its jurisdiction. In the United States, the lawmaking authority itself is also subject to those laws, because no one is “above” the law. If the law is violated, penalties can be levied against the violator. These penalties are also “handed down” from some recognized source of authority, like the judiciary. Of course, people in the United States may participate in many law-creating activities. For instance, they may vote in elections for legislators, who, in turn, create legislation. Likewise, if people have a legal claim, their case may be heard by the judiciary.
It’s important to note, however, that not all law is public law. Private law is typically understood to be law that is binding on specific parties. For instance, parties to a contract are involved in a private law agreement. The terms of the contract apply to the parties of the contract but not to anyone else. If the parties have a contract dispute, they will be able to use dispute-resolution methods to resolve it. This is because both parties of the contract recognize the judiciary as a legitimate authority that can resolve the contract dispute. However, regardless of the resolution, the terms of the contract and the remedy for breach will apply only to the parties of the contract and not to everyone else.
Additionally, some law is procedural and some law is substantive. Procedural law describes the legal rules that must be followed. In other words, it details the process or rules that are legally required. For instance, the U.S. government must generally obtain a warrant before searching someone’s private home. If the process of obtaining the warrant is ignored or performed illegally, then procedural law has been violated. Substantive law refers to the actual substance of the law or the merits of the claim, case, or action. Substantive law embodies the ideas of legal rights and duties and is captured by our different sources of law, like statutes, the Constitution, or common law.
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