Whatever you do in life, you have to abide by the law. So, if you are a small business owner, there are, of course, going to be plenty of laws specific to your business (alongside usual laws) to abide by. These are all in place for your own best interests as well as the public’s best interests. It is important that you are familiar with the law and different legal processes in order to toe the line and to also take the right course of action should you come to experience problems with the law. Here’s a little more on the subject!
Familiarise Yourself With Business Law
While the majority of us are familiar with common laws that govern our day to day behaviour, business specific laws are a little more niche and we may not immediately even be aware of particular areas in this field. But when you start out a small business, it becomes your responsibility to familiarise yourself with business law. This will help to ensure that you are always compliant and that you do not set a wrong foot as your business grows and expands. Areas to conduct research include:
- Commercial Crimes
- Contracts
- Corporate Law
- Intellectual Property
- Competition Law
- Secured Transactions
- Income Tax
- Pensions
- Consumer Protection
- Data Protection
- International Trade Law
- Financial Law
- Financial Regulation
When Challenges are Made
Generally speaking, when facing criminal charges associated with business, you will be challenged with a whole host of correspondence before any formal legal action is made. When action is taken, you generally head to the courts and settle things privately. However, there are situations where you could be arrested if allegations are made against you or your business, and it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with protocol. This will help you to deal with the process a lot more effectively in terms of ensuring that the right legal action is taken and that everything goes as smoothly as possible in your favour, as well as dealing with emotional aspects of the process a lot more healthily. There’s little worse than finding yourself in a stressful situation where you are not sure what is going on.
Familiarise Yourself With the Arrest Process
Depending on where you live and where you operate your business, there will be different arrest processes and you will have different legal rights within that process. This is why it’s important that you look up local law to understand the complete ins and outs of the location where you are working. However, there are certain steps that tend to stay the same in most locations. The officer arresting you will generally note that “you do not have to say anything to the police, but if you are later charged with a crime, and you have not mentioned, when questioned, something that you later rely on in court, then this may be taken into account when deciding if you are guilty”. Remember to remain calm and to avoid lashing out, this can only mar your character and work against you. You do not need to say anything at all until your legal representative has arrived. You will be able to contact legal help once you arrive at the police station.
Understand Arrest Warrants
Arrest warrants are issued by police when you are suspected of carrying out an offence and the police cannot find you in order to arrest you. If you find that there is a warrant out with your name on it, it can be tempted to submit to the latter part of your fight or flight instinct. But if you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Instead, head to the local police station as soon as possible and hand yourself in. You can then prove your innocence rather than making futile attempts to resist inevitable arrest.
Understanding Search Warrants
If police suspect something is amiss in your commercial premises, they may apply for a search warrant, which will grant them access to your commercial property with your permission or without your permission. This is why you should not attempt to prevent any officers with search warrants from entering your commercial property. You are, however, well within your rights to ask officers for identification documents and their warrant card if they do turn up at your commercial property.
Sure, this may be a whole lot to take in. But it’s extremely important that you take every aspect of what has been mentioned above extremely seriously. If you do break any law when operating your business, you could easily find yourself facing jail time, fines and fees, and other means of justice. So, it’s much simpler to familiarise yourself with the rules that you should be following and to simply follow them. Being prepared for false accusations can also help you to deal with the stressful processes of arrest and passing through the legal system. Hopefully, the above information and advice can help you to stay on the right track and deal with issues appropriately and accordingly!
