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LAW & ETHICS IN THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT 8e
Instructor’s Manual
CHAPTER ONE
LAW, ETHICS, BUSINESS: AN INTRODUCTION
MAIN CONCEPTS
Freedom versus responsibility / Duty to rescue
Ethical decision making
Ethical theories:
Free market ethics
Utilitarianism
Deontology
Virtue ethics
Ethic of care
Corporate governance
Corporations, public policy and money
Corporate social responsibility
Benefit corporations
INTRODUCTORY TIPS
Try this hypothetical: If you were walking down the street and saw an infant lying face down in a
puddle of water, flailing its little arms and clearly about to drown, would you have to rescue her?
Students are invariably surprised and disgusted to learn that bystanders have no legal duty to
help others in emergency situations, even when it would be easy for them to do so without risk.
Discussion from here could follow two tacks:
(1) Noting the divergence between law and ethics, between what is required by the law and what
most people would think is the right thing to do.
(2) Asking why the legal requirement is so minimal. (Traditional distinction between
"misfeasance v. nonfeasance;" high value placed upon allowing maximum free choice to each
person; the difficulty of implementing a rescue requirement.) This should lead into one of the
themes of this chapter (and of the book): individual freedom vs. duty to others; individual
independence vs. our interdependence within families, corporations, and communities.
Consider also the economic power of large corporations. For example, as noted in the text,
Royal Dutch/Shell, Exxon, Mobil, Walmart, BP and Sinopec generated more income in 2011
than nine countries including Denmark and Greece. Discuss the effect that such economic power
has on citizens of this country and citizens of other countries in which multinational corporations
operate. What about political contributions? Do large corporations have too much power? What
about large-scale advertising and the power of corporations to sway public opinion?
Another issue for discussion would involve the duty of large multinational corporations to
citizens of countries in which they operate. For example, if corporations are reaping large profits
because of the availability of cheap labor in third world countries, should the corporations
recognize a duty to improve conditions there or should the corporations recognize a duty only to
stockholders? What does it mean to humanize capitalism? How can multinational corporations
avoid exploitation? Discuss the need for adequate safety measures and environmental protection
even in countries where laws on such matters may be lax.
*****
FREEDOM VERSUS RESPONSIBILITY: A DUTY TO RESCUE?
The chapter questions that immediately follow the Yania casebook materials require critical
engagement with the readings. Students will present with varying experiences with the law and
different skill sets to synthesize the content for their formulating responses. A “case” brief is a
tool familiar to individuals studying law --- undergraduate students, law students, lawyers, and
the judiciary. Appendix A includes an illustration brief of Yania v. Bigan. For further guidance, an
excellent resource of “How to Brief a Case” can be found at John Jay College of Criminal
Justice, Lloyd Sealy Library site, http://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/research/brief.html. These
materials supplement Appendix A and offer further information, sample briefs and identify the
relationship between care briefing and legal writing.
Yania v. Bigan, Case Questions, p. 4
1. What happened in this case? If Yania couldn’t swim, then why did he jump?
Yania was on his friend Bigan’s property, was asked to help with the pump. The widow
apparently contends that Bigan dared (or convinced) Yania to jump across the trench, and
2. Identify each of the arguments made by Yania's widow. For each, explain how the judge
dealt with it.
Bigan caused Yania to jump by either persuasion or by teasing and taunting him. The
Bigan, as landowner, had an obligation to warn Yania of any dangerous conditions on
his property. The facts established that Yania was a coal strip-mine operator and
Bigan owed a duty to rescue Yania. Yania chose to jump into the trench ("he
voluntarily placed himself in the way of danger"). Although Bigan might have a
3. According to the judge, Bigan would have been liable in this case under certain
circumstances that did not apply here. What are those circumstances?
4. Suppose you could revise the law of rescue. Would you hold people responsible for
doing something to help others in an emergency? If so, what circumstances would
trigger a duty to rescue? How much would be required of a rescuer?
Consider whether laws should be rewritten to require rescue attempts. Questions to consider
include:
What is an emergency calling for rescue?
Ask students, working in small groups, to draft a statute addressing the duty to rescue.
5. Additional question to ask: What, if any, role should values play in the law of rescue?
This chapter introduces values—and a tension between values—that threads throughout
The holding in the Yania case provides a basis for understanding the intersection between
legal duty and the conflict between freedom and responsibility. The fact pattern affords
Facilitate a discussion to identify and describe individual and societal values applicable to
a rescue situation. Contrast these findings with the legally required conduct as held by
The Duty to Rescue: A Liberal-Communitarian Approach by Steven J. Heyman, Questions,
p. 8
1. According to the writer, a change in our law – a new duty to rescue – might change the
way people think, heightening their awareness of one another as members of a
community, and leading them to be more responsive to one another. Do you think law
can have such power? Can you think of any examples where a change in the law seemed
to improve the moral climate of our society?
Ask students to think of examples of instances where a change in the law effected a change in
In "Law, Morals and Rescue," Anthony Honore argues that "law cannot make men good, but
it can, in the sphere of duty at least, encourage and help them to do good.”
An essential preliminary to the survey of the larger vistas of law and morals is to
clear our minds about our moral views in the matter of aid to those in peril. By
"our moral views," I mean the shared or common morality. Obviously this is not
...There are strong reasons, I think, why the law should reflect, reinforce, and
specify, at least that segment of the shared morality which consists in moral duties
owed to others. The first is the advantage to those who stand to benefit. It is true
--The Good Samaritan & the Law, ed. J. Ratcliffe (NY: Doubleday, 1966).
2. Do you think law should be used as a tool for shaping a shared moral climate? Why or
why not?
A negative response is an opportunity to introduce libertarianism—Robert Nozick’s, for
instance—which has not been presented in the chapter, but which informs Milton Friedman’s
thinking and may be familiar to students as the philosophy which underpins unregulated free
In an attempt to place libertarian views where they would actually support rescue, Heyman
writes that liberal political theorists like Locke, Blackstone, and Kant
…all maintain that the state has an obligation to relieve poverty and support those
Podias v. Mairs, Case Questions, p. 11
1. Judge Parillo elaborates on several exceptions to the “no duty” rule. What are they?
Which exception does he think might apply to the defendants in this case?
If an individual already has a pre-existing legal duty to render assistance, that duty
In New Jersey, courts have recognized that an existing contractual relationship
oIn Szabo v. Pennsylvania RR the court held that the employer must secure
oIt may only be necessary “to find some definite relation between the parties of
such a character that social policy justifies the imposition of a duty to act.” A
oThe state’s hit-and-run driver statute imposes a duty of a driver to stay at the
Even though a defendant may be under no obligation to render assistance himself, he
The judge determined the defendants has some relationship to the primary wrongdoer and the
incident itself. The imposition of duty was found to be in accordance with public policy.
2. What are the four factors the judge uses to determine whether the defendants might be
responsible, and what was the result of that analysis?
1. The nature of the underlying risk of harm, that is, its foreseeability and severity. The
2. The opportunity and ability to prevent the harm. All three individuals used their cell
phones for purposes other than reporting the accident. They had the opportunity and
3. The comparative interests of, and the relationships between or among the parties. The
3. What might be the next stage in this litigation?
4. On what basis might you argue that there is a duty to aid in each of the following
examples:
(a) An elderly woman has a stroke while shopping at a department store. A sales
clerk leads her to the store’s infirmary, and leaves her unattended for six hours,
during which her condition becomes irreparably aggravated. The clerk may not
(b) A psychiatrist releases a violent psychotic who has threatened to kill his
ex-girlfriend, without taking measures to warn the girlfriend or to assure that
the psychotic is properly medicated. A relationship existed between the psychiatrist
(c) A passenger on a commuter rail train tells the conductor he is in need of
immediate medical attention. Even though the conductor may not have an
5. Where do you think the line should be drawn on bystander liability?
Questions raised may include potential liability from either failing to assist or for offering
