The Roles and Functions of Law

The Roles and Functions of Law

There are many different functions and roles of law in the business society. The business law is a common set of rules which presides over businesses. These rules ensure the social functions in peacekeeping, checking government power and promoting personal freedom, facilitating planning and realization of reasonable expectations, promoting social justice, and protecting the environment.

Peacekeeping may be one of the most important roles of law in the business society. These predetermined laws provide guidelines for proper conduct to ensure peace for all parties involved and the means to resolve disputes amongst conflicting parties. In today's society, the act of peace keeping is much more difficult then ever before and since the businesses are susceptible to civil and/or private disputes the predetermined business laws aid in remedying the disputes. When these disputes occur, the options are to follow through with a law suit (which can be time consuming and costly), or to use a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) such as an arbitration or a mediation. Through these methods, a desired outcome can be achieved for both of the parties involved.

Checking government power and promoting personal freedom deals with constitutional restrictions. The government must question such things as whether businesses are able to hold the same rights in commercial speech as individuals have in freedom of speech. While deriving an answer, the government must look at the big picture and face difficult questions like whether they have a greater responsibility to protect the well being of the public or upholding the first amendment of free speech.

The facilitating, planning, and realization of reasonable expectation deals with contract laws. A contract is a documented agreement which is recognized by the law as an obligated duty. When drawing up a contract there are four areas the attorney must keep in mind. 1) When and how the contract was formed, 2) when and how a party can abandon the obligations of the contract, 3) what is to be exchanged to the terms of the contract, and 3) the actions that will take place in the instance the contract is breached. Contracts are used in many different areas of the business so knowing the details of the contract laws are crucial in running a successful business.

Promoting economic growth through free competition is a function of the antitrust or competition law. The business practices are watched over by the government officials who are known as the competition regulators. The competition regulators enforce the antitrust or competitive laws so that no unfair business practices are taken in the economic and business competition.

Promoting social justice pertains to employer-employee regulations.