Role of Law in Business and Society (Research Paper Sample)

Role and Functions of Law in Business and Society
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Role and Functions of Law in Business and Society
The relationship between business and law forms the basis for an enabling environment for all businesses to operate as well as acquisition of harmony in society. All businesses in the formal sector usually operate under certain rules, procedures and regulations as outlined by the government. In this case the businesses will perform under a certain legal environment whereby they are protected from all forms of malpractices. Similarly, when it comes to society, enforcement of law acts as the guideline for the acceptable behavior within society.
Functions and Role of Law in Business
Business owners usually possess expertise in specific industries in which they operate. However, they remain dependent on other experts to assist in areas outside the business core market for example finance and law. It is a requirement for all businesses to comply to rules and regulations provided by the governing body (Cox, 2011). A requirement for employing someone with legal expertise thus becomes crucial for business. The various functions and role of law in business are discussed below:
Competition – rule of law plays a great role in countering unhealthy competition. The law applied here is the antitrust law that is formulated to encourage healthy business competition through restricting unhealthy competitive behavior like monopolization. The application of law here helps the overall business industry to experience healthy competition which leads to better products and services due to enhanced quality (Meessen, Bungenberg, & Puttler, 2009).
Taxation – businesses are required to pay tax on the income they earn. This is a legal requirement by the government and the law applies to ensure fairness in the process of paying tax. This means that no business is exempted from paying tax making the competitiveness of business equal without any business taking advantage of the other in terms of competition.
Intellectual property – this describes any unique creation that people make for example art, literature, and company logos. This law helps to ensure legal protection of the unique creations in order to give the creators an opportunity to earn profit from their work, and eliminate prospective people who may copy without permission (Cox, 2011).
Environment Law – the role of environment law in business is to generate rules that help restrict any negative impact that a business may have on the environment. This helps to ensure that all businesses operate in an environment that is free from any form of pollution.
Employment – the role of employment law is to govern the manner in which employers and employees interact within business. An example is the requirement of certain businesses to pay workers a certain minimum wage. This helps to eliminate issues of exploitation at the workplace (Meessen, Bungenberg, & Puttler, 2009).
Functions and Role of Law in Society
Maintaining order – maintenance of order is the core role of law in society. It is concerned with the aspect of establishing guidelines that each member of a society is supposed to follow failure to which harsh punishment may follow.
Establishing Standards – the law acts as the guideline for establishing the minimal acceptable behavior within society. The law offsets cases of crime like causing injury to another person willingly without justification. The society through the law sets certain standards for example through a legislative body to ensure it does not tolerate those behaviors that cause harm to a person or their property (Bowden, Charlesworth, & Farrall, 2009).
Protecting Liberties and Privileges – it is the role of law in society to protect people’s liberties and privileges. Application of law in society that protects people’s liberty and privileges ensures that no single person has his/her liberties and privileges violated by persons, government or organizations.
Resolving Disputes – disputes are common in any society that has a combination of people with different needs, wants, values, and views. The law comes in here to resolve the disputes occurring due to people’s differences. This becomes an integral part of application of law in society (Barnett, 2011).
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