ENGLISH LAW AND ITS EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

English Law and Its External Influences

English Law and Its External Influences

Comprehend and appreciate the sources and nature of legal rules and the impact of Law generally on individuals, business or commercial organizations and other such interest groups

The margin of appreciation doctrine, most renowned for its application in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), establishes a methodology for scrutiny by international courts of the decisions of national authorities - i.e., national governments, national courts and other national actors. While the case law of the ECtHR and other international tribunals on the contours of the doctrine is somewhat inconsistent, two principal elements may be identified: (i) judicial deference - international courts should grant national authorities a certain degree of deference and respect their discretion on the manner of executing their international law obligations (Marson, 2009: 36).

Federal law requires that businesses perform certain socially responsible activities. In fact, several government agencies have been established and are maintained to develop such business-related legislation and to make sure the laws are followed. The Environmental Protection Agency does indeed have the authority to require businesses to adhere to certain socially responsible environmental standards. Adherence to legislated social responsibilities represents the minimum standard of social responsibility performance that business leaders must achieve. Managers must ask themselves, however, how far beyond the minimum they should attempt to go difficult and complicated question that entails assessing the positive and negative outcomes of performing socially responsible activities. Only those activities that contribute to the business's success while contributing to the welfare of society should be undertaken.

S. Prakash Sethi presents three management approaches to meeting social obligations: (1) the social obligation approach, (2) the social responsibility approach, and (3) the social responsiveness approach. Each of Sethi's three approaches contains behavior that reflects a somewhat different attitude with regard to businesses performing social responsible activities. The social obligation approach, for example, considers business as having primarily economic purposes and confines social responsibility activity mainly to conformance to existing laws (Macintyre, 2011: 18). The socially responsible approach sees business as having both economic and societal goals. The social responsiveness approach considers business as having both societal and economic goals as well as the obligation to anticipate upcoming social problems and to work actively to prevent their appearance.

Organizations characterized by attitudes and behaviors consistent with the social responsiveness approach generally are more socially responsive than organizations characterized by attitudes and behaviors consistent with either the social responsibility approach or the social obligation approach. Also, organizations characterized by the social responsibility approach generally achieve higher levels of social responsiveness than organizations characterized by the social obligation approach. As one moves from the social obligation approach to the social responsiveness approach, management becomes more proactive. Proactive managers will do what is prudent from a business viewpoint to reduce liabilities whether an action is required by law or not.

Demonstrate an understanding of the basic legal principles involved in business and commercial or contractual transactions in the UK, the ...