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Role and Function of Law

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The Role and Function of Law in Business and Society The role and function of law is to keep our systems of laws running smoothly and seamlessly otherwise our system will involved in a never ending vicious circle to which no solution is ever found. The role and function of law allows for the legal and lay person to have guidelines to follow and also disagree with those guidelines in an orderly and ethical manner. The case cited on our readings, the Cipollone v Liggett case, is a great example of pre-emption. Cipollone sued Liggett because he thought that Liggett was irresponsible for advertising a deadly substance that eventually killed his mother. The Court instead agreed to uphold the federal law that pre empties all accusations of misdoings by the tobacco company in reference to advertising, etc. At first, it may not seem just that the cigarette companies are not liable for such deaths, but one thing about our great laws and freedom is that individuals can make choices, even if they eventually kill you. A company like Liggett can go as far as letting individuals know about the risks, but at the end of the day it is an individual’s personal choice to smoke or not to smoke (Melvin, 2011). The role and functions of law were clearly seen during this lawsuit by discouraging what in many cases are frivolous suits. Another case is that of many people involved in the timeshare industry have claims of misrepresentation by the salesperson. Legal representation is now a viable way for those who feel they were misrepresented. For example, Susan Budowski an Orlando Timeshare attorney who claims to be able to cancel timeshare contracts for which buyers feel they were not told the truth about their timeshare purchase (PR Newswire, 2011). Depending on the state, there are provisions where by a purchaser can rescind a contract within a set number of days, for example in the state of Florida the numbers of days are 10 days. But according to Budowski, she is able to obtain a cancellation even though the 10 days are past. Not knowing her success/failure rate, makes it impossible to know how viable this solution is and if it can be pre emptied by the courts. Contracts come in written form and sales people claims are just that: claims so more than likely whatever is in writing and signed by the buyers will prevail unless the attorney can show other compelling evidence which is rare in cases involving the timeshare industry. In fact, timeshare companies protect themselves by hiring quality control personnel to assure the legitimacy of the sale and their sole job is to make sure that the buyer understands what they are buying beyond the recommendation of a sales person. In reality people , or at least most people, do not care to be involved in situations that are detrimental to them for them for frivolous reasons but many times it is necessary. This is where laws come into play to assure that everyone has an opportunity to tell their side of the story and resolve issues that otherwise would be ignored and maybe even get in worse situations. In conclusion, the role of law in our businesses and society is one of cohesion and good will but also to create an environment of order and realistic expectations. Without them, citizens and businesses will simply act in a lawless manner because there are no expectations of behaving ethically and no consequences for the criminally inclined. People like Madoff and Charles Manson could be roaming our streets totally disregarding the respect for other people monies or for other people lives , leaving a clear path to continue with their own system of belief, their own system of law. And while not all the laws are perfect, they do intend to make our businesses and society more accountable for their actions.

References

Melvin, S. P. (2011). The Legal Environment of Business: A Managerial Approach: Theory to

Practice, 1e. Retrieved XXXX 00, 2011, from University of Phoenix Web site:

https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary

PR Newswire. PR Newswire. Retrieved XXXXX 00, 2011, from

EBSCOhost Discovery Service Web site:

https://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?vid=2&hid=115&sid=7452d567-4e9c-4a48-aabe- b277d05b4403%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=bwh&AN=20

1110241104PR.NEWS.USPR.LA91961

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