Part 1 here
Buying a Business
Now, let’s say I decide to buy a business instead. I’m going to buy Patty’s Pampered Pooches from my Aunt Patty. There are many business laws that govern how to buy a business. If I buy Patty’s business, do I now own the actual store? This is a real estate law question. Do I own the pet grooming equipment in the store? This is a property law question. Both of these fall under state law. Am I now the boss of Patty’s employees? This is an employment law question.
Can I start hiring my own employees and ordering supplies? This will involve contract law, since I’ll be making new agreements with people regarding my business and determining which of Patty’s agreements I need to uphold. Contracts are legally binding agreements made by two or more persons, enforceable by the courts. Businesses are involved in many different types of contracts, and as a result, there are many interesting cases involving breach of contract. A breach of contract is when one party doesn’t hold up his or her end of the bargain. It’s common for parties to dispute the terms of a business agreement or disagree on how the agreement should be performed.
Managing a Business
There are many laws that concern managing a business because there are many aspects involved in managing. As you can already see, running a business will involve a lot of employment law and contract law. For my new business, I’ll need to know how to hire, what my contracts should look like, what kind of benefits I have to provide, how to pay employee insurance and taxes and even how to properly fire an employee. Many of these employment and benefit laws are federal laws and are regulated by government agencies. For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is a federal agency that enforces employment discrimination laws.
If I also decide to sell things as part of my pet grooming business, like dog collars or dog treats, then I’ll need to be familiar with the laws on sales. For businesses that conduct sales, it’s especially helpful to be familiar with the Uniform Commercial Code, or UCC. This publication governs sales and commercial paper and has been adopted in some form by almost all states.
Legal advertisement. This is not legal advice.