A perfect example of how laws supposedly protect the people when they are actually for the protection of business is the Workman's Compensation Law (WCL). Each state has its own law, but all are basically the same.
The key provision is that the employer is providing the workers with a form of insurance in case they are hurt on the job. It sounds great. The truth is that when the worker voluntarily accepts the coverage via the WCL the liability of the employer is substantially reduced. Maximum money collectable if hurt on the job is limited to that provided for in the state's Workman's Compensation Law. If the employer can be proven to be negligent, the injured worker could collect additional damages. If the injury is the result of an accident or a normal job hazard, the liability is limited to the coverage.
Every employee is automatically covered after 10 or 30 days on the job, depending on the state. The only way to avoid such coverage and limitation is if the worker files a formal statement refusing coverage. If such a statement is filed during the normal probationary period on the job, the worker will probably be dismissed. Filing such a statement makes the employer liable for any and all losses and injury to the employee while on the job.
The highly regulated liquor industry in many states have had lobbyists pushing for rules which they can use. When the wholesalers in one state did not want to sell to bars on credit, they asked to have a rule (law) passed which prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages on credit. The public and bar owners assumed this meant they could no longer run a long tab for their customers. The saloon keepers did not complain since it would probably save them a few bucks in the long run.Eventually, the liquor control people pulled out the sleeper and ordered the wholesalers to stop selling to the bars and liquor stores on credit. When the delivery was made, the retailers had to pay. The wholesaler innocently stated "It's the Law!"
Insurance firms are great at getting rules passed for their own benefit (Chapter Nine). How about protecting incompetent mechanics from being viewed by the car owner? Just get OSHA to pass a rule which prohibits the public from entering the work area, and then blame it on the insurance company, which requires the insured business to abide by government regulations. If you have the clout, you can get a government regulating agency to pass such a regulation and then blame it on the "law."
The most powerful of all legislative lobbyist, The National Rifle Association (NRA) has had to fight one of the subtle methods used to change their own rules. To defeat the NRA, those who oppose firearm possession by citizens are constantly in the process of trying to pack the NRA with their own people. It takes some time since the NRA by-laws require membership for a period of 5 years before one can be put on the Board of Directors.
To take over such an organization, you use their own by-laws and start grooming people to be elected to the Board. Let us use the NRA for an example: The individuals selected must be in your hip pocket and they must be groomed to give a public appearance which people will automatically accept as pro-NRA. Once the membership accepts the candidate, he must continue to appear to be in favor of NRA positions. Once a power base is established within the organization, it is simple to start lobbying from a weak position. To avoid a recall, all efforts must appear to be strong, but taking indefensible positions will make it possible to lose battles and thereby weaken the base of the organization. The membership may suspect they are being sold out by their new leaders, but they will not know for sure until it is too late.
Another way to actually apply rules to gain your position is used frequently by major organizations -- the Judas Goat technique. Let us assume there seems to be public support for a repeal of a law (rule). Your firm benefits from that law and you do not want it repealed, but you don't want to take an unfavorable public relations position of being in favor of it, either. What do you do?
From behind the scenes you can financially support and start a committee with a stated purpose to "Repeal the Law." Make lots of noise for the media about how the group is going to get signatures on petitions to bring the law to a vote of the people. Hire a voluntary chairman and three nice looking old ladies to set up tables at local shopping centers so there will be sufficient exposure to make it appear that the petition drive is underway. In most states it is illegal to get people to sign a petition and then throw the petition away, so make sure you do not get too many signatures. You only want to break the rules, not the law.
Move the three ladies and their table around the city or state and send out occasional press releases about how well the petition drive is proceeding. Then, about a week before the filing deadline, plant a negative story about lack of support and volunteers, but don't tell anyone where to go if they actually want to volunteer to get petitions signed.
Finally, about three days before the filing deadline to put the issue on the ballot, let the public know that the committee will probably be short of the required number of signatures.
The deadline comes and there are not enough signatures. If you feel really brave, submit the petitions and have someone carefully verify the authenticity. Even though you have just enough signatures, there are always many signers who are not registered or otherwise not legally qualified to sign petitions. You could make doubly sure by having one of your little old ladies be a "non-registered" voter which could disqualify all the signatures she collects. The issue never gets on the ballot and your company can continue to profit from the unpopular law.
My first awareness of being able to profit from the passage of an unpopular law came when I was only 10 years old. We lived in Kansas at the time and the state was dry --- hard alcohol was illegal. My father operated a saloon and dance hall several miles south of Wichita and I thought it was great fun when the Sheriff would call to warn that his deputies would be conducting a raid in a few hours. Dad bootlegged whiskey at the saloon and when the raid warning came, we hauled the hard stuff out to the small lake in the back. We tied the bottles to little slip-knot strings and those were tied to a heavy rope which was held down with a cement block. The rope was then lowered into the lake to be recovered later.
The sheriff and his deputies would show up and I would watch with a straight face while they pretended to search for illegal booze. Of course, they wouldn't find any. A few hours later the deputies would stop by and get a little envelope from dad.
One day my father took me into town and told me to wait in the car when he parked in front of the Baptist church. My father was never religious and I was curious. We always attended Catholic church but he would not go along. When he came out I asked why he went to a Baptist church.
"I gave a contribution to the church fund to keep whiskey illegal in Kansas," he explained, matter of factly. The money, he said, came from all the bootleggers in the area.
I was confused, so he explained. "If the law is changed to make the sale of whiskey legal, I'll be out of business. So, we want to keep the law and so does the Baptist church."
Even at the tender age of 10 years, I understood.
Whether you choose to abide by a rule, break a rule or have a rule passed and enforced for your benefit, you must always remember that volunteering will give it all the force and effect of a valid law. You can be fined, subjected to exceptional legal harassment and even go to jail for breaking such a regulation or rule.
You cannot always depend on your lawyer to help you. Many of the rules which are being enforced as law today were put into effect since 1954. Few, if any, lawyers practicing today were even in school in the 50's. Attorneys who know the variables between rules and laws usually discovered it on their own. The law schools did not teach them the subtle differences.
If you pick up any copy of the numerous volumes entitled the CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS (CFR), the rules by which the Federal bureaucracy is required to operate, you would believe you are reading Federal "laws." Most lawyers are exposed to the CFR in law school and since the manuals read like law books, you cannot blame them if they do not always recognize the difference.
Usually your lawyer will try to keep you within the confines of the rules as well as the laws. It is easier for him to advise you and he may not even be aware of the dissimilarity. If you are lucky enough to have an attorney who is still willing to learn (that means he keeps his ego in check), you will be way ahead by giving him or her this book. If, as is often the case, your lawyer tries to double talk you with the mysticisms of the legal system and lets his ego get in the way of learning more about his profession, then you would be well advised to seek other counsel.
Ask your lawyer to carefully read this book. It should take about two hours. Pay for the time at regular office rates and to make sure, sit in the office while he reads it. Even if he charges you $200 an hour, the money spent will be well worth it to you over the years. The lawyers who discover this information on their own usually do not share it with others. They content themselves to sign on with major corporations or law firms which represent the biggies. That is why the Winners are usually giant conglomerates.
Since you cannot have contact with your lawyer every second just to answer your question "Is it a law or a rule?" you will have to keep certain things in mind, especially when you deal with government employees (police or clerks). Most do not know the differences and will resist your efforts to explain it to them.
LAWS are written in such a manner as to prohibit an action which would violate the rights of another. You are prohibited (by law) from stealing your neighbor's car. You are prohibited from hitting your neighbor in the nose or taking such other violent actions as to disturb the peace and tranquility of others. You are prohibited from trespassing on the private property of others. You are prohibited from violating the Rights of others. With this as the purpose, such are our laws. VALID LAWS ARE FOR EVERYONE - THERE ARE NO LICENSES TO VIOLATE A LAW!
RULES are written in such a manner as to regulate our activity and behavior. Usually, a rule will order you to do something which, if mandatory, would exceed the limited Constitutional authority of government and violate your Unalienable Rights in the process. These rules are supposed to keep us peacefully happy and content to follow the orders of our government superiors.
If dad wants to make some rules for his house, such as: No discussions of religion at the dinner table. No TV on Sunday. He can do this - within his own house. If you don't like it, you can go someplace else. Of course, if you are a minor child, you don't really have a choice unless you want to come under the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court's rules. Dad's ideas are probably much easier rules with which to live. SINCE RULES AND REGULATIONS ARE VOLUNTARY IN NATURE, THE RULE-MAKING AUTHORITY CAN MAKE AND LICENSE EXCEPTIONS!
