Textbook in PDF format We wrote this book because our primary sense of who we are as professionals is that we are teachers. We play various roles in our careers, but we are especially dedicated to our students. We want them to listen, read, create, and evaluate more effectively as a result of their experience in a business law class. Above all, we want them to sense the importance and excitement of the law. We want them to be aware that business resides in an atmosphere of legal rights and responsibilities. The more they have an understanding of relevant law, the more their business activities will flourish. We tried to construct a book that contains the basics of business law but does not get bogged down in the kind of details that would be more appropriate in an upper-level law class. This sixth edition continues and advances the pedagogical strengths of earlier editions. As difficult as it is to recall what it is like to know almost nothing about business law, we tried repeatedly to force ourselves to remember that the text is for students, not for us to reveal our previous training. Toward that end, we have simplified and clarified as often as we could. Our pedagogical features that provide the distinctive value of this book. Each feature stands by itself as an aid to the kind of learning we hope to encourage. Yet the features are also a cohesive unit, contributing both to the liberal education of the students who read it and to their skills as decision makers in a market economy. Specifically, we provide what competing texts deliver, an examination of the basic questions, concepts, and legal rules of business law. But this edition advances our treatment of these basics. W e are very sensitive to the feedback we receive that emphasizes that this text is used to train future business leaders, not lawyers. Consequently, for each chapter we asked ourselves: what are the brief take-aways that capture the essence of the chapter for our primary audience—people who need guidance for achieving success in business. Then we answered that question by placing a section at the end of each chapter entitled “Practical Tips for Business Managers. Decisions to trade and produce require trust—trust that consumers, firms, workers, financial institutions, and asset owners will do as they promise and that violations of such promises will be unacceptable in the marketplace. Without guarantees that promises will be kept, market exchanges would grind to a halt. Business law provides these guarantees and the boundaries within which certain promises can be made and enforced. Market decisions are made in a context—a persistently changing context. The law, in turn, is dynamic in response. New technologies and business practices bring new disputes over rights and responsibilities in a business setting. We knew that the sixth edition needed to be different from the fifth because law is evolving. Certain areas of business law experience recurring re-examination and revision. For example, we created new material for this edition emphasizing immigration law