State law recognizes that the owner of a vehicle is the person or company whose name appears on the title, or legal and official
ownership document. The state also recognizes payment agreements that people and businesses make through official, legal means. A young woman says her neighbor agreed to purchase her old car. She agreed to accept payments from him on a monthly basis until he paid off the car and trusted that he would honor this plan. She signed ownership over to him on the title, which he also signed. She says that he has not made any payments and still has possession of the car.
The neighbor says he understood the car to be a gift and has no obligation to make payments. He did not sign an official agreement to make payments. He says that she gave him the car in exchange for his electric scooter, which is new and gets great gas mileage. The neighbor maintains she just wants the car back now that he fixed it and it looks better.
Is this a matter of constitutional, criminal, civil, or military law? How do you know? ____________________________________________________________________________
Is the source of the law a statute, regulation, case law, or combination? How do you know? ____________________________________________________________________________
Determine the purpose of the law related to the scenario. Is the law intended to protect people's safety or people's rights? Explain your response and thoughts on what could happen if the law did not exist. Use details from the scenario to support your answer. _____________________________________________________________________
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Do you think the young woman has a valid argument that her neighbor owes her payment for the car? In other words, should government make an exception to the law about the owner being the person whose name is on the title? Use details from the scenario to support your answer. ____________________________________________________________________________
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