Roles and Functions of Law Paper

Roles and Functions of Law Paper

There are three branches of the government. These are legislative, executive, and judicial. Each of these branches plays a role in creating and enforcing laws. The legislative branch is basically Congress (which is made up of Senate and the House of Representatives). This branch is responsible for creating the laws. The executive branch is basically the president and the vice president. This branch is responsible for enforcing the laws. Lastly, the judicial branch is basically the federal court system (including the Supreme Court). This branch is responsible for interpreting the law and ensuring that the laws are followed.

When it comes to the creation of laws, although Congress has the authority to create the laws, the executive and judicial branches of the government have the ability to either veto the law so that it does not become effective or invalidate the law because of the constitution. For instance, if Congress were to create a law that clashed with the constitution, the federal courts could invalidate the law because it is not in agreement with the constitution, if the law was not already vetoed by the president. When congress creates a law that is in agreement with the constitution and the president signs it into law, the federal courts are then required to uphold that law in addition to the constitution.

"Congress's broadest power is derived from the Commerce Clause whereby Congress is given the power to "regulate Commerce among the several states" (Melvin, page 32, 2011). In lay person's terms, this means that congress has the right to regulate the laws of states that do business in several states. For instance, if an Ohio based company were to do business not only in Ohio, but also with Florida, West Virginia, and Tennessee, Congress has the rights to regulate the laws pertaining to the Ohio based business in each of those states that it does business in as well as in Ohio.

"Congress has the express constitutional authority to regulate (1) channels of interstate commerce such as railways and highways, (2) the instrumentalities of interstate commerce such as vehicles used in shipping, and (3) the articles moving in interstate commerce" (Melvin, page 32, 2011). There are two different types of commerce. These are interstate (which is between different states) and intrastate (which is within one state). Congress has the power to regulate intrastate activity as long as it has substantial economic effect on interstate commerce (Melvin, 2011). For example, if a company in Florida were packaging orange juice for sale to another Florida based company that does business in other states, Congress would have the power to tell the first Florida based company how to transport the orange juice to the second Florida based company.

When it comes to this particular function and role of law in the business that I currently