SYLLABUS: BUS 5 - BUSINESS LAW
Santa Monica College – Fall 2007
Course Number: 1265 Days and Times: M/W 12:45 PM – 2:05 PM Room: BUS 251
Meeting Dates: August 27 – December 10, 2007*. Instructor: James M. Downs, Esq.
Contact info: Office Hours: By appointment, arranged via e-mail
Course Website: http://homepage.smc.edu/downs_jim/buslaw.html
Course Announcement List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/downssmcbizlaw/
Required Materials. The course text is required:
• Business Law, 13th ed., Mallor (Custom SMC edition, ISBN: 0073352187)
• Students must provide their own Scantrons 882-E (green, 50-question, A-E answers)
• Recommended: Legal dictionary (cannot be used during exams).
Course Description/Goals: Business law focuses primarily on the law of contracts including contract formation, legality, enforceability and performance. Also covered will be the foundations of the American Legal System, crimes, torts, negligence, and intellectual property. The method of study will primarily be twofold, by learning the "black letter" law, as well as by studying actual lawsuits and their appeals to higher courts. We will familiarize ourselves with how a dispute finds its way into the court system and what occurs in the course of a lawsuit from the filing of a civil complaint to the decision by an appellate court.
Grading: The course grade will be determined from a straight scale of total points:
Exams (2 @ 100 points ea.) 200
Case Briefing Assignments (2 @ 50 points ea.) 100
Final Exam (cumulative)* Wed, December 12, 12:00 PM 100
Total Points Possible: 400
“Push Points” grading adjustment ± 5%
± Note that “push points” are added (or not added) as extra credit at the sole discretion of the instructor; criteria may include excellent attendance and punctuality, relevant class participation, and preparedness when called upon.
A: 90% B: 80% C: 70% D: 60% F: 59%
Attendance: The college requires attendance of classes by students. Furthermore, good attendance is vital to understanding and completion of this course. Students may be dropped for excessive absences. Note, however, that it is the responsibility of the student, not the instructor, to drop herself. Do not just stop showing up and expect to be dropped. That’s how you get an “F”. Select a seat you like the first week, because that will become your permanent seat. A seating chart will be passed around the second class meeting. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class. Late students will be marked absent. If you miss class or are late due to extenuating circumstances, write the professor a letter to explain this. Under no circumstances should you take the class’s or the professor’s time to discuss such a matter. Rather, submit a letter explaining yourself discreetly, quietly and quickly.
Preparation: Students should have read the relevant text material to be covered in lecture prior to class. Students are responsible for all assigned readings, regardless of whether or not they are covered in class.
Late Work Policy: Late papers will be marked down 25% per week, 0 points after 4 weeks.
Exam Policy: No make up exams will be administered. Be there, or you get a “0." Don't even think of asking for a make-up exam. Students may use a printed foreign language-to-English dictionary during exams, but no electronic devices may be used during exams. All exam forms are photocopied before they are returned to students.
Academic Honesty Policy. Students are presumed to be well acquainted with the college’s Code of Academic Conduct, and will be held strictly accountable to its terms. All work must be your own, and all citations must have quotations around them. Cheating on any work will result in a “zero” for that work.
Assignment policy: Written assignments must be typed or printed from a computer (Courier font face preferred) to receive credit. Name and student number must be typed or computer-printed prominently on the front page of each assignment to receive credit and failure to do so will result in a loss of five (5) points. All assignments with two or more pages must be stapled together, or you will lose five (5) points. Assignments will not be accepted via e-mail.
Instructor’s Pet Peeves (or, "things he thinks about when contemplating the 5% push-points"):
1) Talking, eating, or making other distracting noises (e.g., crackling food wrappers) in class;
2) Missing class, then asking instructor to “catch you up” on the material when you return.
3) Walking in late, leaving early. Be on time! Consistent tardiness may get you dropped!
4) Cell phones and pagers ringing in class. Please turn them to "silent" before class starts.
5) Whining. Rules are rules. Please do not try to "weasel" out of them. That's why we have a syllabus.
6) Ask any question, so long as it is on-topic.
Success Strategies for Business Law:
1) Read assigned materials before coming to class;
2) Download and print out Powerpoint outlines before coming to class. Take notes on them;
3) Lecture outlines are a supplement to the lecture and text materials, not a standalone replacement;
4) Come to every class, be prepared, and be alert and attentive;
5) Take good notes to supplement your course outlines;
6) Have questions on the reading prepared before coming to class;
7) If you need help, schedule an appointment with the professor (before the test).
8) Remember, you are responsible for all assigned readings, not just what is covered in class.
9) Hard work. 9 times out of 10, the best grade goes to the hardest worker, not the smartest.
Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
-- Thomas A. Edison
Learning is not attained by chance;
it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
-- Abigail Adams
The law often allows what honor forbids.
-- Bernard Joseph Saurin
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
-- Albert Einstein
Constitutional Amendments 1-10: The Bill of Rights
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Statutory Interpretation: California Burglary Statute
FULL CITATION:
Cal. Penal Code § 459. Every person who enters any house, room, apartment, tenement, shop, warehouse, store, mill, barn, stable, outhouse or other building, tent, vessel, as defined in Section 21 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, floating home, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 18075.55 of the Health and Safety Code, railroad car, locked or sealed cargo container, whether or not mounted on a vehicle, trailer coach, as defined in Section 635 of the Vehicle Code, any house car, as defined in Section 362 of the Vehicle Code, inhabited camper, as defined in Section 243 of the Vehicle Code, vehicle as defined by the Vehicle Code, when the doors are locked, aircraft as defined by Section 21012 of the Public Utilities Code, or mine or any underground portion thereof, with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony is guilty of burglary. As used in this chapter, "inhabited" means currently being used for dwelling purposes, whether occupied or not. A house, trailer, vessel designed for habitation, or portion of a building is currently being used for dwelling purposes if, at the time of the burglary, it was not occupied solely because a natural or other disaster caused the occupants to leave the premises.
EDITED BY INSTRUCTOR VERSION:
Every person who enters any house, room, apartment, tenement, shop, warehouse, store, mill, barn, stable, outhouse or other building, tent, vessel…with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony is guilty of burglary.
WHY IT MATTERS: Burglary is a felony. Theft (< $400) is a misdemeanor.
SECOND CASE: BUILDING WITHIN STATUTE
A loading dock, which had two walls, covered up to six feet with tin, made of nine-foot high chain link fence, with a gap of six to twelve inches between the top of the fence and the covering corrugated tin roof, with three swinging chain link gates, and which was attached to a store building by common wall on one side, satisfied the definition of a separate "building" within the contemplation of Pen. Code, § 459, which defines burglary. Even though there was a gap between the top of the fence and the roof, the loading dock met the test of whether its walls acted as a significant barrier to entrance without cutting or breaking. The fact that two sides of the loading dock were constructed of chain link fence and tin did not render it any less a "building," and the swinging chain link gates in the fence were of no real significance, inasmuch as they were closed and locked at the time of the unlawful entry. Thus, the trial court did not err in finding defendant guilty of second degree burglary where one of his group of four cut the chain link fence, and one entered the loading dock, and passed out four cases of pop.
People v Brooks (1982, 2nd Dist) 133 Cal App 3d 200, 183 Cal Rptr 773.
FIRST CASE: BUILDING NOT WITHIN STATUTE
A defendant was improperly convicted of burglary (Pen. Code, § 459) after being caught in the act of stealing bales of hay from a structure described by the owner as an "open pole barn." The structure was open on all sides and consisted of a roof and an overhang held up by poles. A "building" within the meaning of the burglary statute is any structure that has walls on all sides and is covered by a roof. The walls can take various forms and need not reach the roof, but they must act as a significant barrier to entrance without cutting or breaking. The proper question is whether the nature of a structure's composition is such that a reasonable person would expect some protection from unauthorized intrusions. The open pole barn did not meet this test, based on its lack of any walls whatsoever. There was no significant barrier to entrance, and no protection from unauthorized intrusions. The fact that a "barn" is specifically enumerated in the statute was not controlling, since the list of structures in which "barn" appears ends with the phrase "or other building." Thus, the statute treats a barn as a type of building, making it subject to the requirement of walls.
In re Amber S. (1995, 1st Dist) 33 Cal App 4th 185, 39 Cal Rptr 2d 672.
Business Law – Fall 2007 – 1265 - Course Outline
8-27 Introduction, Roadmap, Administrative Issues
8-29 The Nature of Law I [skip “Jurisprudence” pp. 7-10]
9-3 No Class – Holiday
9-5 The Nature of Law II [skip “Jurisprudence” pp. 7-10]