Business law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Business law - Assignment Example In the instance where the hotel may try to disclaim liability through posters that deny responsibility for loss of belongings by guests, they are simply trying to gain extra protection than that allowed under the law. In this case, hotels may lose protection against liability under state law while being held liable for loss by the guest (Sherry & Sherry, 2011: p105). In this case, Gullies Hotel provided a notice that limited its liability for items left in the rooms. However, the liability limit must be posted in a conspicuous place for the guest to read (Sherry & Sherry, 2011: p107). Gullies Hotel posted their liability limitation behind Freda’s door, and it is not clear if this is conspicuous place. UK statutes state that where a hotel provides for safe deposit boxes and notifies guests of the box by posting conspicuous notices notifying the guests of their presence. If the guests do not deposit their cash, jewelry, and other valuables in the boxes, the hotel cannot be held liable for the loss. ... Therefore, Freda cannot claim any liability from the hotel since it was through her negligence that she did not deposit her valuables with their safe deposit box. Q#2 The doctrine of precedent is defined as a policy that the courts that must abide by principles that were established in earlier cases and their decisions (Duxbury, 2008: p76). In The UK and the US, Common Law has adhered, traditionally, to precedents that were set in earlier cases as law sources. The doctrine of precedent distinguishes civil law systems from common law while giving extra weight to scholarly opinions and codes of law to explain them. Under this doctrine, when a court answers a specific question, this question in other cases that are similar must also elicit a similar response. This applies for the same courts or lower courts in the particular jurisdiction (Duxbury, 2008: p76). The doctrine of precedent has not always been applied with similar strictness. In medieval England, courts that dealt with common law looked for guidance from earlier cases, although they could not reject the ones that were considered to be bad law (Duxbury, 2008: p77). The courts also applied incomplete reliance on decisions made earlier since there were no written judgments. Official reports of court hearings started to be made in the United States in the early 1800s while this happened in 1865, in England. Finally, judges and lawyers got direct access to these rulings and were able to interpret their decisions more accurately. In order for the doctrine to be effective, all the jurisdictions need a higher court to declare the precedent-setting case in law. In the US, the Supreme Court acts as a