Business law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business law - Essay Example There are three main approaches to statutory interpretation, also known as canons. The first is the textual canon which gives rules for interpreting legislation as written. For example, one of the textual canons suggests that anything not mentioned on a list given in a statute is not included in the law. The second is the substantive category, which includes canons that promote the judge to favour specific results or judgements. For example, this includes the Charming Betsy canon, stating that decisions made should not conflict with international law, based upon Murray v. The Charming Betsy (Steele, 2007). Finally, there are a group of deference canons, which allow the court to defer to another authority when using interpretation (Steele, 2007), such as the UK Supreme Court. Question 3 Prior to the Human Rights Act 1998, European Convention was not a source of rights (Steele, 2007), and was not allowed to be used for statutory interpretation in many cases (Steele, 2007). The Human Ri ghts Act 1998 has now made it obligatory for courts to interpret the UK legislation in a way that fits in with European Convention rights (as in the substantive category of canons). This effect can be seen in cases such as Venables and Thompson v. News Group Newspapers [2001] 1 All ER 908 (Clarkson et al, 2008). ... This is also applicable in areas where case law is the source of law because there are no legislative pieces that adequately allow the judge to come to a decision (Gruner, 2004). The strength of binding judicial precedent is that it allows decisions to be made based on previous cases without excessive need for interpretation. However, it does take the focus away from the facts of the case in hand which may cause a wrong decision to be made. Task Two Question 1 The exception to the general rule that a corporation is criminally liable occurs in cases where either the crime or the punishment cannot be committed by or served by a company. For example, in the case of R v ICR Haulage Co Ltd [1944] KB 551 (Gruner, 2004), the company was convicted of a common law conspiracy to defraud. However, it was decided that the company as an entity cannot ‘conspire’ as it does not possess mens rea (Gruner, 2004). Additionally, as the punishment for murder is life imprisonment, a company c annot be convicted as it would not be applicable to an organization. Question 2 Using the principle of identification is difficult in some cases when dealing with business law. For example, a company cannot be convicted of manslaughter without some proof that a directing or leading mind behind the company is the reason for this gross negligence, then the prosecution will fail. The main issue with this is that the directing mind has proven to be extremely difficult to identify in many companies (Laufer, 2008), and only 7 of the 34 work-related manslaughter cases brought since 1997 have succeeded (Select Committee on Home Affairs and Work and Pensions First Report, 2004). To illustrate this, in the case