Table of Contents
Introduction
Laws are important to human existence and its prevailing powers in any circumstances is known as the rule of law. Rule of law is therefore a perception that means no one is above the law. It gives the clear position of actions to be taken or understandable rules that everyone has to follow including citizens, organizations, government and its institutions. The need is simply to keep our justice system fair-minded and making ensure that everyone complies with the law.
How Important are Laws to Protect the Prosperity of Businesses?
Laws are very essential to protect the prosperity of businesses, especially in a sustainable capitalism. Capitalism run by agreements and contracts with predictability – this is typical of businesses. Here the seller sells what the payment is worth and the customer pays. The law takes care of the probabilities in between each party signing the contracts and fulfilling it. This is because our society is not free from elements who may go contrary after reaching such agreements, if it wasn’t for laws, then we might see those elements dominating and causing businesses to close down. Without predictable rules and patterns to follow, doing business would be chaotic. You would never know how another party would act in any given situation and it would be all too easy to be taken advantage of. Laws are made to protect the rights or businesses, their owners and customers. For example, property laws enforce the rights of ownership and proper use for all manner of property (real estate, personal belongings, intellectual property, patents, copyrights, etc.). The law requires all parties to contract to fulfill their responsibilities or offer satisfactory compensation to aggrieved parties. Laws ensures prosperity of business by boosting buyer confidence that they will get satisfaction for their money and can be compensated if they don’t. Lastly, the law provides reparation for individuals or businesses that suffer economic harm as a result of another party’s doings, whether willful or by negligence. However, laws alone don’t guarantee prosperity of a business, and just like a machine, only efficient businesses prosper. It is obvious that any business that lacks good management of its capital will shut down ultimately, even with the rule of law.
How Important are Laws to Protect Society From the Costs of the Business?
As earlier stated, laws are very important to protect businesses but this is the responsibility of governments. The law needs to protect businesses from company’s who can do anything to make profit, irrespective of the dangers of their actions on society and other establishments. Wells Fargo allegedly opened over 2 million bank accounts and credit card accounts without customers knowledge between 2011 to 2015 to deceive investors that the company was prospering and kept generating more revenue from gullible investors. There are other cases of fraud in companies such as Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, among others, that has necessitated the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Davis, 2018). More so, there are other cases of businesses that pollute the environment for their profit which the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible to regulate and prosecute. For example, in the CBS (2014) report, North Carolina Regulators recorded that Duke Energy dumped 61 million gallons of contaminated water into Cape Fear River from a coal ash pit, destroying aquatic life and making the water ways on safe for all. In the Pharmaceutical and IT industry we have witnessed several harmful clinical trials, hackings, leakage/abuse of customer data, invention of computer virus, etc. For example, in 2018, Facebook was being investigated for leak of subscribers’ data and information from its database to third parties. These are some of the aspects that need protection from law. Otherwise, businesses can decide to do whatever they want to generate profit.
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The Balance to Maintain the Rights of Businesses and the Rights of Customers
The government is a friend of business, providing financial, advisory and reform services to the business world. And the same time, it’s also a friend of the public and the Consumer Protection Acts keeps the interest of the customer. Consumer protection law provides a way for individuals to hold back against unsatisfactory business practices. These laws are made to hold business owners liable when they want to profit by taking advantage of a consumer’s lack of information or bargaining power. This intention is seen by law and society to be unfair and outright fraud. Consumer rights laws exist both at the federal and state level, but in Nigeria, enforcement is very weak due to corrupt practices among enforcement agencies. Balance rights of business and customers is to effectively enforce consumer protection law. On the other hand, while firms strive to follow regulations, the government should shun Anti-Business Regulations and Laws especially with respect to tax laws as this is affecting businesses.
