Trade

Trade laws are enacted to ensure industry competitiveness in the United States. The U.S. Congress, by virtue of its constitutional prerogative of regulating interstate and foreign commerce, enacted several bills, including the Tariff Act of 1930 and the Trade Act of 1974, to govern trade. The American Constitution ensures that the country is a free market. American trade law do not just govern interstate trade, but also trade between the United States and foreign countries, to ensure the existence of free trade and prohibit the occurrence of anti-competitive business practices. Trade law has evolved through the years, in reaction of the constantly changing face of trade, both internally and internationally.

Trade law is a complicated area of the legal practice as it touches upon numerous other areas of the law, such as business laws, employment laws, tax laws, and antitrust laws. There are numerous issues accompanying trade and commerce, and each issue often require the assistance of attorneys who are expert in specific niche in law. With respect to intrastate commerce, state law applies. Resolving trade disputes arising from intrastate commerce relationship may not be as difficult as resolving trade disputes arising from interstate commerce relationship as only one set of law governs. Nevertheless, it is imperative for traders and business owners to seek the advice of expert trade law attorney as there are still nuances in state trade law that may not seem very obvious to even the most sophisticated of traders. Disputes arising from interstate commerce becomes increasingly more difficult as state trade law varies and may have little commonalities, except in the promotion of free trade.

Workers, being one of the most crucial element in trade and commerce, are protected by numerous trade laws, especially against job loss or reduced wages. Workers' rights are enshrined by different set of laws that interlink with trade laws. In addition, specific trade laws protect consumers from abusive and conspiratorial business practices. It is the Federal Trade Commission's main job to ensure that consumers are protected from fraudulent and deceptive business practices. While trade laws are in place to ensure a free economy, it cannot be helped that some industries form mergers. The FTC ensures that these mergers do not restrict competition, which harm consumers.

Trade law, when applied to international commerce, becomes even more complicated as international law, in general, or specific treatises, govern. The U.S. has trade agreements with almost all nations in the world, but each trade agreement is different depending on the industry. The U.S. also regularly limits the import and export of certain products with a specific country as a matter of foreign policy. Unprecedented events in the international arena also gives rise to amendment of American trade policy in order to protect the business interest of the United States. In the area of trade law, it is imperative to employ the services of an expert trade law attorney who can examine the law of its legislative intent as this is crucial for the interpretation and adjudication of the law.

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Child Abuse Law - Legal Information and Resources

Child Abuse Law

Child abuse refers to the physical, mental, and sexual abuse or exploitation of the child, and the parents' or guardians' neglect of the child. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act specifically defines child abuse and neglect, and the accompanying penalties for specific violations. A "child" is legally defined as any person younger than 18 years old or who is not an emancipated minor. While federal legislation sets minimum standards for states that accept federal funding, each state provides its own definitions of maltreatment within civil and criminal statutes.

Physical abuse is easily identified in child abuse cases. The more difficult difficult forms of child abuse come in the form of mental and sexual abuse. Federal legislation defines "mental injury" to include harm inflicted to a child's psychological or intellectual functioning, demonstrated by a change in the child's behavior, emotional response or cognition. Determination of mental child abuse needs the assessment of psychiatrist as these, excluding in cases of outward aggressive behavior, are not usually outwardly manifested. This form of child abuse needs the assessment of psychiatrists. Sexual abuse is the most difficult form of abuse to prove because a child typically shies away from disclosing this kind of abuse for fear of embarrassment or retaliation by the parent. Sexual abuse includes the coercion of a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct, rape, molestation, prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation. Sexual abuse also includes incest with children. Sexual abuse further include sexual intercourse, sexual contact, and other acts of lasciviousness towards the child.

Neglect, under federal legislation, is a parent or a guardian's failure to provide the basic necessities of a child, such as food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and education. Neglect should also result to the child being in seriously endangered. The federal and state government have in place programs assisting parents in taking care of children as poverty as the most common defense parents have for neglecting children.

One of the issues in relation to child abuse is the often fine line between discipline and abuse. Federal legislation provides that child abuse excludes discipline provided that the discipline is reasonable, moderate in degree, and does not constitute cruelty. Federal legislation enumerates the differences between discipline and child abuse. Nevertheless, as persons who are responsible for the upbringing of the child, parents or caretakers, at spur of the moments, often employ corporal punishment to teach the child a lesson for any wrongdoing. Corporal punishment is typically frowned upon, regardless of the cultural context of such, and is the subject of many child abuse cases throughout the country. The federal government encourages positive discipline rather than corporal punishment.

Federal and state governments are in concerted efforts in implementing anti-child abuse laws by making visible campaigns against such acts. Anyone who has knowledge of any form of abuse may report to the local police department. While in joint efforts aimed to put a stop to abusive acts, federal and state child abuse laws have specific jurisdictions and may not interfere with each other. When facing a charge of child abuse, the defendant must hire an expert child abuse law attorney to defend himself as an ordinary person may not be able to discern which laws to use to protect him. Both federal and state governments are zealous in their anti-child abuse programs, and courts are not lenient on child abusers.

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