A“ _ ' 103 346 .THS_ AN AMLX’SIS OF MAJOR TOP1CS AND SUBTOPECS OF BUSINESS LAW CONSIDERED MOST [MPGRTANT FOR INSTRUCTlGfi. !N- THE LANSING PUBLIC SCHOOLS AS DETERMRNED BY LAFiSING AREA AWORNEYS An independent Study for the Degree of M. A. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY GERALD MAX BROWN 1972 114m ’5 A MSU LIBRARIES .—__ V RETURNING MATERIALS: Place in book drop to remove this checkout from your record. FINES wil] be charged if book is returned after the date stamped below. AN ANALYSIS OF MAJOR TOPICS AND SUBTOPICS OF BUSINESS LAW CONSIDERED MOST IMPORTANT FOR INSTRUCTION IN THE LANSING PUBLIC SCHOOLS AS DETERMINED BY LANSING AREA ATTORNEYS An Independent Study for the M.A. Degree BY Gerald Max Brown Business and Distributive Education Michigan State University October, 1972 ABSTRACT AN ANALYSIS OF MAJOR TOPICS AND SUBTOPICS OF BUSINESS LAW CONSIDERED MOST IMPORTANT {'1 FOR INSTRUCTION IN THE LANSING PUBLIC E “ SCHOOLS AS DETERMINED BY LANSING AREA ATTORNEYS W“ Business law content must be evaluated to deter- mine if the proper topics of business law are being presented as units of instruction. A list of the major topics and subtopics found in the business law textbook used in the Lansing School District was prepared in a survey-questionnaire. This survey-questionnaire was then sent to Lansing area attorneys. Upon receipt of the returned survey-questionnaires, the data was tabulated and rank order of importance was assigned to the major and subtopics listed in the survey-questionnaire. The results of the tabulation of the main topics of business law revealed that Lansing area attorneys ranked in order of importance the following: contracts, debtors and creditors, buyer and seller, property, commercial paper, insurance, business organization, employer-employee, ii Gerald Brown motor vehicles, principal and agent, law and legal prob- lems, and bailments. Each of the major topics was further broken down and they were also ranked in order of impor- tance as reported by Lansing area attorneys. iii AN ANALYSIS OF MAJOR TOPICS AND SUBTOPICS OF BUSINESS LAW CONSIDERED MOST IMPORTANT FOR INSTRUCTION IN THE LANSING PUBLIC SCHOOLS AS DETERMINED BY LANSING E-l AREA ATTORNEYS Z By J. Gerald Max Brown Michigan State University November, 1972 Approved: iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter III. I. II. IV. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . Statement of the Problem . Importance of the Study . . . . . Limitations of the Study . . Definition of Term . . . . . . . METHODS OF PROCEDURE . . . . . . . Organization of Instruments . . . Selection of the Study Group . . Method of Gathering Data . . . . REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . . . RESULTS OF THE SURVEY-QUESTIONNAIRE Tabulated Results . . . . . . . . Letters and Comments . . . . . . . Summary and Recommendations . . BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . APPENDICES . . . . . . . A. B C. D Survey-Questionnaire . Tables 1 and 2 . . . . . . . . . . . Letters and Comments . . . . . . . . Recipients of SUrvey-Questionnaire Page 11 11 14 14 15 19 19 23 28 35 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION We live in an ever changing society. Many laws that rule our lives are being deleted from the law records, others are going through revision, and new laws are con- stantly being enacted. These laws govern all phases of our activities; criminal activity as well as business activity. If we, as instructors of high school business law classes, are to keep pace with the legal business structure in our society, then we must keep up-to-date and informed as to what is critical in the area of business law. In order to do this we must inquire of the legal profession within our own community to provide us the needed assistance to determine what is critical and what business law topics must be taught at the high school level. Statement of the Problem All secondary Lansing schools should reevaluate their business law program. Teachers of business law should take special plans to focus their program less on the functions of law in the rather academic, textbook 1 sense, and more on the "real-world" functions of the legal process. Thus, each school should not only reexamine the course offering in business law, but should also reevaluate the subject matter presented in business law. In July, 1971, the Governor of the state of Michi- gan signed into law a bill that lowered the age of majority from twenty«one years of age to eighteen years of age. This legislation has had an impact on nearly all individuals and groups throughout the state. The schools particularly will feel the impact of the new law since not only will some students who are in school now be within the age of majority, but further, students in secondary, particularly in the upper grades will now be much closer to the age of majority while they are still in schools and will, therefore, be more vitally concerned with the rights and responsibilities that will accrue to them soon. Importance of the study. Because it is important for young people, as well as citizens in general to be well informed about their everyday business responsibili- ties and rights, it is imperative that schools respond in providing them with the proper needed information. Limitations of the study. The topics used in the survey were selected from the table of contents of a major publishing company's business law textbook that is authorized for use in the Lansing Public Schools. The topics corresponded to a high degree with other publishing companies' business law texts table of contents. Lawyers within the greater Lansing Metropolitan area were sent a copy of a survey-questionnaire in which they could respond in writing. All contact made with lawyers was in writing. No personal visits or telephone calls were made. r- Definition of term. Business law means an intro- : 1 duction to those activities dealing with: 1. Law and legal problems 2. Contracts j 3. Bailments 4. Buyer and seller 5. Debtors and creditors 6. Commercial papers 7. Employer and employee relationships 8. Principal and agent 9. Insurance 10. Motor vehicles 11. Property 12. Business organization. Chapter 2 METHODS AND PROCEDURES Organization of Instruments The leading textbooks used by teachers Of Business Law were examined as to content matter. Their table of contents were compared and found to be very similar regard— ing subject matter. Therefore, it was decided to use the exact table of contents of the Business Law textbook in current use in the Lansing Schools for the survey- questionnaire. A survey-questionnaire was constructed so the major topics and subtopics were in a left-hand column. In a column to the right of each topic, both major topics and subtopics, was a space to assign the degrees of importance to each particular topic. The degrees of importance ranged from Essential, Major, Minor or No Emphasis. (Essential was assigned a weight of 4, major 3, minor 2 and no emphasis 1). At the end of the survey-questionnaire a space was provided in which comments could be made by the reader (see Appendix A). Selection of Study Groups The study group was selected from the Lansing area Michigan Bell Telephone directory, 1972-1973, issued March, 1972. The yellow pages section, listing attorney's- at-law, was consulted. Starting with the first name and counting by threes, the names were checked. These names, [—E 80 in all, were then listed along with their addresses. I Where the addresses of the attorney's were the same, another method of selection was made by the researcher. This pro— j cedure was continued to guarantee that the survey- questionnaire was not sent to the same address; thus insuring a wider variety of professional responses. Method of GatheringData The survey-questionnaire was sent to the 80 lawyers in the study group on August 4, 1972, requesting that it be returned by September 15, 1972. Of the 80 surveysquestionnaires sent out, fifty were sent back in completed form. Fifty survey'questionnaires were sent back, or a 63% return of the total survey-questionnaire originally sent out. Only those articles that dealt with curriculum or content in business law courses was included as reference material for the study. Chapter 3 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE In 1945 Paul M. Boynton, then Supervisor of Educa- tion, Bureau of Youth Services, for the State of Connecti- cut, suggested that the business law curriculum in the public high schools of Connecticut spend one-fourth of its teaching time in instruction regarding contracts. Another one-fourth of the teaching time should be instruction in negotiable instruments with the remaining time devoted to sales, agency, bailments, insurance, partnerships, corpora- tions and common carriers. As long ago as twenty years E. C. McGill and Edwin S. Hooper wrote an article for Business Education World in which they stressed that the subject matter should con- sist of the teaching of: contracts, negotiable instru- ments, employer-employee relationships, principal and agency, guarantee and suretyship, insurance, real pro- perty, bailments, sales, business organizations, common carriers, hotel and innkeepers, wills and intestacy, torts and crimes, and courts and administration of the law. The instructor should utilize lecture, case discussion, pro- jects and question and answer sessions to teach his class. This trend of thought continued until J. V. McGrail made 6 this statement in 1965. If the primary or secondary goals of business education are to be met then the student must be in- formed of his legal rights both as a businessman and consumer . 1 In order to accomplish what he said, McGrail insisted that the following topics should be included in every business law course outline: (in outline form for simplification) l. The legal status of organization a. Sale proprietorship b. Partnership g c. Corporation 2. Purchasing or selling a business or home 3. The lease 4. The conduct of a business a. The businessman and his customer b. The businessman and his employees c. The businessman and his creditors d. The businessman and his government 5. Bankruptcy. If we examine the proposed outline of J. V. McGrail closely with the course content of what McGill and Hooper suggested some twelve years earlier, we really find that most of McGrail's proposed topics are included in McGill and Hoopers' work-—under "traditional" headings. 1J. V. McGrail, "Are These Five Topics Part of Your Business Law Course?" Journal of Business Education, 41, December, 1965, p. 109. Francis J. Radice in 1967, examined seventeen of the most commonly used college level business lawbooks and five high school level business lawbooks to determine what topics of business law were most commonly taught. From the books examined, a list of topics and subtopics was compiled and sent to 295 college business law teachers, 307 attorneys, 290 former business law students, and to textbook authors located in the United States and Puerto Rico. Contracts were rated as being the most important topic to teach in a business law course. The next two topics selected as most important by the groups were negotiable instruments, and sales--with emphasis placed on buyer—seller relationships. The following areas were also considered by the groups to be important topical selections to include in a business law course: (1) agency, (2) corporation law, (3) government regulations of business, (4) landlordvtenant-leases, (S) partnerships, (6) personal property, and (7) real property. The groups made no mention or recommendations that other phases of law topics be taught in the business law course. Research done on a doctoral dissertation by Allan M. Agnew in California in 1966 compared the rank order of topics in the business law textbook used in the California public high schools with actual court litigations. Follow- ing is the rank order of topics: 10. 11. Contracts Personal property and sale of personal property Negotiable instruments Insurance Bailments Business organization Real property and conveyance of real property Employer-employee relations Agency Torts Wills and intestacy. These same topics, according to court litigation in California, were in the following order: 1. 2. 10. 11. Real property and conveyance of real property Torts Contracts (per se) Personal property and sale of personal property Wills and intestacy Employer-employee relationships Insurance Negotiable insturments Business organizations Bailments Agency. 10 From the results of this study done by Allan M. Agnew, he wrote an article for the Balance Sheet in March of 1968 in which he proposed that litigation should determine the course content of the business law course. If we hold to Agnew's proposal, then the law of torts would play an important role in our business law COUTSC . It is interesting to note that a study done by Carol Mathieson in Minnesota revealed that out of seventy attorneys contacted in a survey, the attorneys ranked .LJ the teaching of torts to be eleven out of a possible thirteen ranked order. Teachers who taught a full year business law course ranked the teaching of torts as eighth in importance, while teachers who taught only a half-year course of business law ranked torts in a fifth place position of importance. A. Lincoln Lavine very succinctly stated that law should be introduced to the public generally with the aim of introducing the basic aspects of the law. For in a civilized society, the law touches us all. It is ever present and essential as air and water. Whether we are aware of it or not, whatever our chosen field, wherever we go and whatever we do, we cannot escape a constant contact with the law. If we recognize these contacts when we see them, they may serve us well; if no}, they may prove painful when we least expect it. 2A. Lincoln Lavine, "Major Functions of Business Law," AmericaniBusiness Law Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, Fall, 1964’ pp. 315-3180 Chapter 4 RESULTS OF THE SURVEY-QUESTIONNAIRE Tabulated Results After completing the tabulation of the returned survey-questionnaire, it was found that the following business law major topics were ranked in the following order of importance: 1. 2. 10. 11. 12. Contracts Debtors and creditors Buyer and seller Property Commercial paper Insurance Business organization Employer-employee Motor vehicles Principal and agent Law and legal problems Bailments (see Appendix ). The subtopics within the major topics were tabulated as follows: 11 12 Contracts: Offer and acceptance Consideration Nature of contracts Legal agreement Form of agreement Remedies for breach Defective agreement Competent parties Third parties Discharge of contracts Debtors and Creditors Secured and unsecured debts Security agreements Buyer and Seller Rights and remedies Nature of sales contracts Form of sales contracts Warrantees and product liability Ownership and risk of loss Consumer protection Property Transfer Landlord and tenent Ownership Wills and intestacy Commercial Paper Drafts and checks Nature and kinds Promissory notes Transfer Form and content Rights of holders Insurance Nature of insurance Life insurance Property and casualty insurance Social Security benefits Business Organization Partnerships Corporations Employer and Employee Protection of employees Contracts of employment Government regulations Motor Vehicles Automobile insurance Traffic regulations Principal and Agent Duties and liabilities Creating an agency 13 14 Law and Legal Problems Legal rights and duties Courts and law enforcement Nature and kinds of laws Bailments Nature and types of bailments __} Mutual benefit bailments Common carriers (see Appendix) ‘ Letters and Comments Several of the respondents took the opportunity to reply by letter or commented directly on the survey— questionnaire. These letters and comments are included in Appendix C. Conclusions and Recommendations The surveyequestionnaire afforded valuable infor- mation especially to Lansing, Michigan,High School instructors of business law. The professional opinions of legal experts must be allowed to be felt. High School teachers should use the findings of the study, critically evaluate them, and implement them in the curriculum. BIBLIOGRAPHY A. Books Douglas, Lloyd F., James T. Blanford, and Ruth I. Anderson. Teachin Business Subjects. 2nd ed. Englewood CIIIfs, N. J}: PrentICe-Hall, Inc., 1965. Fiala, Ralph J. How to Teach Business Law. Portland, Maine: J.“Weston walcfij_PUin§her, 1965. Fisk, McKee, and James C. Snapp. Applied Business Law. 9th ed. Cincinnait:South-Western Publishing Company, 1966. Getz, S. George. Business Law for Everyday Living. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N} J.: PrenticevHall, Inc., 1959. Roman, John C. The Business Curriculum. Monograph 100. Cincinnati: SOutH1Western PUBlishing Co., 1966. Rosenberg, R. Robert, and Floyd L. Crank. Essentials of Business Law. 3rd ed. New York: MCGraw‘Hill BookICOmpany, Inc., 1963. B. Periodicals Agnew, Allen M. "Have Litigation Determine Course Content in Business Law," The Balance Sheet, XLIX (March, 1968), 292-6. Barclay, Dorothy. "Law Course for the Young," New York Times Magazine, April 16, 1961, 100-102. Beckett, A. C. "Dynamic Techniques for the Instruction of Business Law," National Business Education Yearbook, III (1965), 138-47. 15 16 Boynton, Paul M. "Suggestive Course of Study in Business Law," The Balance Sheet, XXVII (October, 1945), 66-67. Clark, Tom C. "The Role of Law in the School Curriculum,” Social Education, XXXI (March, 1967), 185-58, 192. Connolly, George P. "Law in the Business Curriculum," The Balance Sheet, XLIX (October, 1967), 64-66. Dahm, Hugo H. "Teach Law for Practical Use," The Balance Sheet, XLV (September, 1963), 15-16. Dunbar, Florence W. "How Much and What Business Law Should be Covered in a One-Semester Course?" Business Education World, XXXII (May, 1952), 434-449. Gawronski, James A. "Business Law-Technical versus Non-Technical," The Balance Sheet, SLIV (January, 1963), 202-203, 222. Getz, George. "New Developments in Teaching Business Law," Business Education Forum, XXII (March, 1968), 12-14} Gibson, Joseph E. "Business Law in the Business Curri- culum," Collegiate Views and News, XX (October, 1966), 1-4. \ Krawitz, Myron J. "There Oughta Be A Law," Business Education World, XLVI (April, 1966), 25, 46. Lavine, A. Lincoln. "Major Functions of Business Law," American Business Law Journal, II (Fall, 1964), 313-319. Martin, Charles W., Jr. "Put Life Into Law," The Balance Sheet, XLV (October, 1963), 65, 80. McGill, E. C., and Edwin S. Hooper. ”A Digest of Contem- porary Thought About the Teaching of Business Law," Business Education World, XXXII (April, 1952), 378-380. McGrail, J. V. "Are These Five Topics Part of Your Business Law Course?" Journal of Business Educa- tion, XLI (December, 1965), lD9-110. l7 Mendel, Louis G. "Teaching Units in Business Law," National Business Education Quarterly, XXXII (OctoBerT, 32. Ott, W. G. ”Business Law: How to Live," Journal of Business Education, XL (January, 1965), 138-39. Pineault, John L. "A Plan for Teaching Business Law," Business Education Forum, IX (January, 1955), 12-13. lie-1L Radice, F. J. "Contribution of Business Law to General Education,” Business Education Forum, XXIV (January, 1970), 14-15. Satlow, I. David. "Questions That Face the Business Law Teacher," Business Education World, XL (September, 1959), 32-33. Shilt, Bernard A. "What Are Your Objectives in Teaching Business Law?" The Balance Sheet, XXIX (March, 1948), 292, 298. Tener, Morton. "Organizing a Business Education Curricu- lum," Journal of Business Education, XLI (March, 1966), 243-441 C. Dissertations Agnew, Allen M. "Evaluative Criteria for Business Law in California High Schools." Doctor's disserta- tion, University of California, Los Angeles, 1966. Mathieson, Carol. "A Course Study in Business Law." Master of Education thesis, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 1968. Radice, Francis J. ”An Analysis of Major Topics and Subtopics of Business Law Considered Most Important for Inclusion in Business Law Courses on the Col- lege Level." Doctor of Education dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 1967. Schmidt, Gary. "A Survey of Current Practices of Teaching Business Law in Minnesota Public High Schools." Master of Science thesis, Mankato State College, 1968. 18 Schoenfeld, Walter F. "A Study of Business Law Instruction in the Wisconsin Public Secondary Schools for the Academic Year 1967-68." Master of Science thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1968. G 0 F i \_ “a ‘ .. APPENDIX A Survey-Questionnaire 19 . - _-‘ ‘4 1 'l The objective of this study is to improve the course in business law at the high school level. It is being conducted as part of the requirements for a master's project at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michi- gan. In the column at the left are listed the major topics and subtopics of business law, which are representa- tive of the topics and subtopics found in most high school business law textbooks. However, this list is not inclu- sive. Please place a check mark after each major topic in Part I, and after each subtopic in Part II, according to the degree of importance you feel should be assigned. If you care to comment about about any topic, sub- topic, or the study, please use the other side of this page. Your participation in this study will be helpful. DEGREES OF IMPORTANCE Essen- No MAJOR TOPICS - PART I tial Major Minor Emphasis LAW AND LEGAL PROBLEMS CONTRACTS BAILMENTS BUYER AND SELLER DEBTORS AND CREDITORS COMMERCIAL PAPER EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE PRINCIPAL AND AGENT INSURANCE MOTOR VEHICLES PROPERTY BUSINESS ORGANIZATION SUBTOPICS - PART II LAW AND LEGAL PROBLEMS Nature and Kinds of Law Courts and Law Enforce- ment Legal Rights and Duties CONTRACTS Nature of Contracts Competent Parties Offer and Acceptance Defective Agreements Legal Agreement Consideration Form of Agreement 20 Essen- tial Third Parties Major Minor 21 No Emphasis Discharge of Contracts Remedies for Breach BAILMENTS Nature and Types of Bailments Mutual Benefit Bailments Common Carriers BUYER AND SELLER Nature of the Sales Contract Form of Sales Contract Ownership and Risk of Loss Warranties and Product Liability Rights and Remedies Consumer Protection DEBTORS AND CREDITORS Secured and Unsecured Debts Security Agreements COMMERCIAL PAPER Nature and Kinds Form and Content Transfer Rights of Holders Promissory Notes Drafts and Checks EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE Contracts of Employment Protection of Employees Government Regulation PRINCIPAL AND AGENT Creating an Agency Duties and Liabilities INSURANCE Nature of Insurance Property and Casualty Insurance Life Insurance Social Security Benefits MOTOR VEHICLES Traffic Regulations Automobile Insurance 22 Essen- No tial Major Minor Emphasis PROPERTY Ownership Transfer Landlord and Tenant Wills and Intestacy BUSINESS ORGANIZATION Partnerships Corporations Completed by Title or Position Institution Address Please return by September 15, 1972, using the enclosed envelope. 23 OH " mosz> OHHOesc Oocmemm one mHmmnasm oz .N n HoeHz .m .oucmuHoQEH Ho HOOHO Hump oEmm n Hana: .v map 2H pH maHumHm .uHcs Hosuocm mm Ohoum Ompanoz Oswm Oo>Houou uHcax n Hmecommm "Ohm .xhowoumu pmnu mcHumH mzoqhouum Ho Hones: may kn covey mOHHomoumu 0:» mo Howe ow OocmHmmm mm: osHm> uHhoesz < "mHoz HH OO O AH A N mucoEHme OH «A m w m OH mEoHnoum HOMOH Oam 3mH O OO N OH OH O umom< Ocm meHucHHm O HO H «H A A moHuHOo> pogo: A mm H OH mH H HvoHO5m-ovoHO5m O mm m OH OH O :oHpmNchwHo mmochzm m «Om N HH «H A oucmHSmaH m «ea H mH mH A Hogan HmHunoEEou O Am H m NN O HHHOQOHO m OOH H m mH HH AoHHom ecu HmAsm N OOH H N OH OH mHouHOOHu Ocm muounom H OHH O H HH HN muuwhucoo oucmunomeH emo 3mm“: 3%.... .35: .EE Ruse... 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