The Legal Environment of Business Text and Cases 11th Edition by Frank B. Cross test bank
d.
the number of the case in its chronological sequence.
ANSWER:
c
Essay
71. The National Rights Council, a nonprofit organization, files a suit against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), claiming that a certain federal statute the DOJ is empowered to enforce conflicts with the U.S. Constitution and with a state constitution. In each situation, which source of law has priority?
ANSWER:
The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land. A law in violation of the Constitution, no matter what its source, will be declared unconstitutional and will not be enforced. Thus, the federal statute does not have priority over the Constitution. The federal statute would have priority over the state constitution, however, because under the U.S. Constitution, when there is a conflict between a federal law and a state law, the state law is rendered invalid.
72. What is the doctrine of stare decisis? In the American legal system, how is it applied, and what is its effect?
ANSWER:
In a common law legal system, past judicial decisions are binding in current disputes with similar facts. This feature of the common law, which is the basis of the American legal system, is unique because, unlike the law in other legal systems, it is judge-made law. Within the common law system, when possible, judges attempt to be consistent and to base their decisions on the principles suggested by earlier cases. The body of principles and doctrines that form the common law emerged over time as judges applied the principles announced in earlier cases to subsequent legal controversies.
The practice of deciding cases with reference to former decisions, or precedents—the cornerstone of the American legal system—is called the doctrine of stare decisis. Under this doctrine, judges are obligated to follow the precedents established within their jurisdictions. This helps courts to be more efficient, and makes the law more stable and predictable.