Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Law

Mercantile Companies

Classification of Companies

Companies can be classified as either civil or mercantile. Partnerships can be further categorized into the following types:

• Collective Company
• Limited Partnership (Comanditary Company)
• Limited Partnership by Shares
• Limited Liability Company
• Anonymous Company (Corporation)

Companies can also be classified based on whether they are person-based or stock-based.

Concept of Mercantile Company

Article 35 of the Civil Code (CC) states that legal persons include associations of private interest, whether civil, business, or industrial, to which the law grants legal personality independent of that of each member. According to Article 36 of the CC, these legal persons are governed by the provisions relating to the...

Types of Interest in Legal Claims

Interest in a legal matter can manifest in several ways:

• Personal Interest: When you are directly affected by the decision.
• Indirect Interest: For example, a neighbor affected by an expropriation order.
• Moral Interest.
• Material or Real Interest: When you are losing land or property.

In France, the concept of the "busy body" (someone without direct interest) is generally not permitted in legal challenges.

Evolving Citizen Participation

Courts now admit certain citizens or collectivities that do not possess a strictly personal interest in the claim:

• Example: An environmental issues group initiating a class action.
• Advantages: This results in only one claim and requires only one lawyer, leading to reduced costs.

Absence

History

• George Washington established a cabinet with four secretaries:
  • Secretary of State: Thomas Jefferson
  • Secretary of the Treasury: Alexander Hamilton
  • Secretary of War: Henry Knox
  • Attorney General: Edmund Randolph

National Level

• President: Head of State and Government, Commander in Chief.
• Vice President: Also elected by the people, serves as President of the Senate.
• Cabinet: Composed of 15 secretaries and the Vice President. Examples include the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury. All members are nominated by the President.

Agencies

• Secretaries of departments do not have rule-making power.
• US Agencies, on the other hand, have rule-making power.

Types of Agencies

1. Dependent Agencies: President → Cabinet → Agencies dependent on the

Introduction to Criminal Law

Key Definitions

Traffic Infraction: Any offense defined as a "traffic infraction."

Misdemeanor: An offense, other than a traffic infraction, punishable by a sentence of 15 days to less than one year.

Violation: An offense, other than a traffic infraction, punishable by a sentence of less than 15 days.

Act: Bodily movement.

Omissions: A form of actus reus. This could include failing to warn others about a dangerous situation you created (e.g., not feeding an infant left in your care).

Actus Reus: Commonly defined as a criminal act resulting from voluntary bodily movement.

Sources of Law

1. Constitution: Identifies basic rights and obligations.
2. Statute: A law passed by a legislature (federal/state).
3. Case Law: Law established by

Free and Legal Evaluation of Evidence

Free and legal evaluation is the mental activity by which the Judge decides which fact is true or false. The Judge shall interpret and then evaluate.

• Interpretation: To comprehend the meaning of evidentiary results. You can’t assess anything if you don’t understand the meaning of an evidentiary result; you need to understand in order to evaluate.
• Evaluation: Assuming the Judge has understood the objective meaning, to which rules should the Judge adhere, to decide if a fact is true or false?

The general rule is the free evaluation of the evidence; the Judge is free to choose the rule of logic.

Free evaluation is a system in which the Judge is left to choose among the rules of human criteria and reason. The...

Hypothec: Elements and Content

Elements of a Hypothec

• Subjective Elements: Hypothecor and Hypothecee

  Capacity: The constituent must be the owner of the immovable property and possess the right to dispose of it.

• Objective Elements

  The property must be free of any other charge and capable of guaranteeing any type of obligation.

• Formal Elements

  Requires a written agreement (specifying the obligation/sum of money covered), a notarial deed, and registration. Registration has a constitutive effect in Spain (SP), the UK, Germany (GER), and the Netherlands (Dutch).

Content of the Hypothec

The owner of the property (debtor) remains the possessor and can use (civiliter use), enjoy, dispose of, and even further burden the property. The hypothec itself can be modified....

The new statute, known as the “Elgueta Statute” because it was settled in Elgueta, was shorter than the initial draft. The statute's implementation was limited to the area of the Basque Country under the control of the Republic and the Basque people: Biscay, the very west part of Gipuzkoa, and a small part of northern Alaba. It could not be implemented in the rest of the territory, despite being the official law, because it was under the control of the upraised military.

Basis in the 1931 Constitution

The statute emphasized its basis in the 1931 Constitution. This implied that the statute could not contradict the constitution. For example, there was no reference to Catholicism as the official religion, and all citizens were equal before...

Labour Law: Employer and Employee Relationships

Labour law governs the relationship between employers and employees, specifically regarding employment contracts. These relations are categorized into two types:

• Individual Labour Relations: Legal rules governing the specific rights of the worker and the employer.
• Collective Labour Relations: Situations where workers organize to address existing inequality and insecurity.

Public Bodies in Labour Law

There are two primary public bodies:

1. Labour Courts: Responsible for resolving individual and collective disputes.
2. Labour Inspectorate: A public body tasked with controlling legal provisions related to working conditions.

Functions and Sources of Labour Law

The main functions of labour law are to protect rights

Short Answers:

• Dual vs. Cooperative Federalism

  • Dual Federalism:

    • States retain autonomy; federal government yields to states in areas of overlapping responsibility.
    • Established in Hammer v. Dagenhart.
    • Revived in National League of Cities v. Usery, emphasizing state sovereignty, but later overturned by Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, requiring states to yield to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

  • Cooperative Federalism (Post-1937):

    • Federal government takes precedence in areas of overlapping responsibility.
    • United States v. Darby Lumber Co. upheld Congress's power to regulate employment conditions under the Commerce Clause, overturning Hammer v. Dagenhart.

• Printz v. United States

  • The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Bill)