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Energy

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energy law: an overview

For most of American history, the federal government did not play an active role in the energy industries. (This history is often explained by the widespread belief in the unlimited supply of energy). During the Great Depression and into the years of WWII, the federal government began to establish a fragmented regulatory framework, with many agencies participating. Furthermore, the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear weapons initiated the era of nuclear regulation. However, the energy crises of the 1970s forced the federal government to consolidate its scattered regulatory framework that had developed piecemeal in the previous decades. With the creation of the Department of Energy in 1977, a national energy plan emerged for the first time. The stated purpose of federal energy laws and regulations is to provide affordable energy by sustaining competitive markets, while protecting the economic, environmental, and security interests of the United States.

Food and drug law

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food and drug law: an overview

Food production has been regulated in the United States since the mid–1800s. But it was not until 1906, when both the Food and Drug Act (21 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) and the Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) were enacted, that the government took major steps to protect consumers. The Food and Drug Act prohibited interstate commerce in misbranded and adulterated foods, drinks, and drugs. While it has since been repealed, new laws regulate a wide range of consumer products.

Hotels and restaurants

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hotel and restaurant law: an overview

During the middle ages in England, laws pertaining to inns and taverns favored guests. The most cited reason for such stringent laws was that innkeepers often colluded with robbers and in many instances helped to rob their guests. While today's innkeepers are in a different league than their medieval counterparts, they were still held in low regard by both the law and the public as late as the 1800s. Even today, most of the common law regulations protecting guests are still in effect. The rationale of legislators in allowing these archaic rules to remain on the books is probably the fact that as long as innkeepers are honest, then the old laws will not affect them.

Labor

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labor law: an overview

The goal of labor laws is to equalize the bargaining power between employers and employees. The laws primarily deal with the relationship between employers and unions. Labor laws grant employees the right to unionize and allows employers and employees to engage in certain activities (e.g. strikes, picketing, seeking injunctions,lockouts) so as to have their demands fulfilled.

Land use

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land use law: an overview

In colonial America, few regulations existed to control the use of land, due to the seemingly endless amounts of it. As society shifted from rural to urban, public land regulation became important, especially to city governments trying to control industry, commerce, and housing within their boundaries. The first zoning ordinance was passed in New York City in 1916, and, by the 1930s, most states had adopted zoning laws. In the 1970s, concerns about the environment and historic preservation led to further regulation.

Landlord-Tenant Law

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landlord-tenant law: an overview

Landlord-tenant law governs the rental of commercial and residential property. It is composed primarily of state statutory and common law. A number of states have based their statutory law on either the Uniform Residential Landlord And Tenant Act (URLTA) or the Model Residential Landlord-Tenant Code. Federal statutory law may be a factor in times of national/regional emergencies and in preventing forms of discrimination.

Communications

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communications law: an overview

Communications law is concerned with the regulation of radio and TV broadcasting to ensure satisfactory service and to prevent chaos. The federal government has largely governed broadcasting because by its nature broadcasting transcends state boundaries.

Aviation

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aviation: an overview

Aviation law governs the operation of aircraft and the maintenance of aviation facilities. Both federal and state governments have enacted statutes and created administrative agencies to regulate air traffic.

Alcohol

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alcohol, tobacco, and controlled substances: an overview

Health and other public concerns have generated detailed Federal and state regulation of the sale and possession of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, and a wide range of other "controlled substances." The distinctive history of Prohibition, repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, gives particular complexity to the mix of Federal and state law governing alcohol.

Agriculture

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agriculture: an overview

Agriculture includes soil preparation, seed planting, crop harvesting, gardening, horticulture, viticulture, apiculture (bee-raising), dairying, poultry, and ranching. Generally, laws grouped under the heading "agricultural law" relate to the production of the fruits of these activities as they are carried out in a commercial setting.

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