History of the Problem
There are honest people, dishonest people and others who get into situations not knowing
quite why they are not being treated fairly, and/or what they are doing and others who don't care till they are “caught.”
No one knows when the first mis-representation occurred in a business transaction but when
it occurred, two philosophies were created; one person felt he would seek “redress”, and the other felt “wow, I got the money and I put one over on the other fellow! How clever I am!”
In time, the terms thieves, embezzlers and later, con men, were created to help society recognize disreputable and sleazy people. Later, when enough community leaders got together, laws were created to punish those types of people.
As society advanced, business become more complicated and instead of needing outright fraud,
misunderstanding of rights occurred and occurred regularly.
While we had "he said, she said", a separation was created in law; criminal and civil law.
Criminal law included intentional law breakers, or those who harmed grievously but did not
intend [involuntary manslaughter for one.]
There are myriad examples of civil law including divorce, traffic and tort law-where interpretations of contracts was born.
In democratic nations, there are often different levels of civil tort courts, such as
small claims and municipal courts. In Socialist and Communist Nations, if a person is not part of the favored and is accused of breaking an agreement, the consequence can be death, instead of a fine and possible jail time [a Chinese party secretary who embarrassed the Politburo when he admitted taking bribes re quality control of toys was put to death by his party in 2007.]
While it is good that all levels of wrongs are prosecuted in Communist nations, in some
cases, the accuser can be put to death or jailed if the accusation is unproven. [In many nations, the accused in assumed guilty.]
Problem
In business, one needs to know that if there is a misunderstanding or a misleading situation, that there is REDRESS-a legal body one can go to, to get a cure.
The creation of the Communist and Socialist parties was partly done because previous political groups did not offer any protection to the harmed.
As is known in psychology, there is almost automatic power in like-mined groups, such as the Mafia or gangs. However, to use a medical expression, sometimes when using that approach, the cure is worse than the cold.
Significance of the Problem
In the U.S., small businesses are guaranteed a fair hearing in front of a judge and if the amount is high enough, in front of a jury of one's peers.
Because of this available “redress” or at least, a fair hearing, victims of misleading or misrepresented goods can see a judge to see if the judge agrees that the client has been “wronged” and fines can be assessed. While even a judgment does not always bring immediate cash to the “cured--wronged”, at least the happy victor of the judgment can seek liens or asset hearings and if needed, the sheriff can be directed to the losing person's business to take cash or assets from the business.
In non-tort nations, this redress does not exist and thus, not only are visitors and foreigners reluctant to do business there but even a nation's own citizens within each village and city are hesitant to do business unless a product or service is deemed essential.
Because of this logical reluctance, we wind up with what is called, in economics, 2 nd and third world nations. A 2 nd and 3 rd world nation is one that has few assets, few educated citizens,
little capital and thus, few resources to finance the country.
With these weaknesses, its citizens live meager lives at best. In this environment, war festers
as it seems the only alternative for some people forced to live a bare existence.
If these supposedly deeply religious nations [or atheist nations] would simply add tort law to their governmental and business structures, and “backed up” that law with fair punishments, equality and timely, fair hearings, entrepreneurs from around the world would consider doing business there and everyone would win.
Instead of a standard of living similar to first world nations [$25,000 take home pay a year and more] these 2 nd and 3 rd nations are forced to survive on $300 to $400 USD equivalent per year.
Methodology
The author, a business consultant and college business teacher, has done primary research, and reviewed secondary literature regarding the relationship of tort law to fair business dealings and found tremendous fear among the Communist and Socialist leaderships of the world.
One of the more interesting fears voiced is that the “west” seemed inundated with poor moral values. It was interpreted to mean that poor values meant alcohol, sexual freedoms, family member equality, and a casual attitude towards governmental authority.
In the Socialist nations, [all Muslim nations are Socialist nations] the casualness in dealing with the Bible, the indifference towards the Quran and the right to vote were considered dangerous to those nations; as they should be!
Suggested Solutions
On some recent public TV programs where different nations are visited to see what things at the federal might be new, it was discovered that, while the Communist Approach is locked in and being perpetuated, it was also recognized that perhaps, just maybe, that local “municipal court “ level judges could visit villages that had never had judges [visit previously]. During these visits, an advocate for a “wronged” farmer or small merchant could speak to the judge or in some cases, for the first time ever, without being presumed guilty [Communist law presumes guilty, whereas in Democratic nations, we presume innocent], the “harmed” could present a case to the judge and the wrong doer questioned and solutions are sought, instead of just jail time offered.
These situations in China, just like in the US, allow friends who normally would just accept a perceived wrong and “swallow it” can now take a small problem to these visiting judges who meet out justice “equal to the poor deed or misunderstanding”
