3.2 Forms of business organisation, or ‘business mediums’ If you were to carry on the business described in Activity 2, you would be carrying on business on your own. You would be what is called a ‘sole trader’. We will look at the consequences of being a sole trader in a little bit more detail in this section. However, not all businesses are run by sole traders. There are several different ways in which
1.2 Law and context The law relating to businesses, which includes company law, is a highly practical subject because of the areas which it covers. You may in fact already have experience of this if you are in business; in addition or alternatively, you may be a shareholder in a company, or have lent money to one. All students and practitioners of these areas of law therefore need to have a good understanding of how they actually work in practice, as well as the commercial, political, economic and social c
1.1 ‘Company law’ Before embarking on this unit, it is important to take some time to think about the implications of its title: Company law in context. In particular, what constitutes ‘company law’, and what is the context in which we are thinking about it? At this point, you might like to pause for a moment and contemplate what this phrase means to you. In particular, what do you understand by the concept of a ‘company’? At first, this may seem like a ludicrously straightforward question.
Learning outcomes After studying this unit you should be able to: Part A: describe in general terms what a business is; demonstrate an appreciation of the concept of capital. Part B: identify the main types of business medium; demonstrate an understanding of the key characteristics of businesses run as sole traders; demonstrate an understanding of the key characteristics of businesses run in pa
Acknowledgements The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit: The content acknowledged below is P
7.2 Preparing and drafting a Bill A period of preparation of a Bill allows time to scrutinise evidence on the policies underlying Bills, and to consider whether Bills can be improved before they are introduced. Proper preparation of a Bill should lead to better-informed debates on Bills when they are introduced, and may save time by identifying problems at an early stage. This period of pre-legislative scrutiny allows valuable time for consideration, and therefore helps to avoid introducing laws that are unworkable. Consultat
6.3 The relationship between making, interpreting and applying rules Although the processes of making, interpreting and applying rules can be explored separately, as we have done in this unit, it is important to realise that they are all part of one larger process. A new rule is often made because the interpretation and application of an existing rule does not solve the problems which that rule now has to confront. In turn, that new rule may be drafted in such a way that its interpretation leads to consequences that were unintended by the rule-maker, and the p
6.2 Applying other people's rules The process of interpretation is very closely related to that of application. The reason is simple – before applying a rule, the person applying it must interpret it to see whether the conduct in question is one to which the rule applies. Sometimes this will be straightforward, and sometimes not, as will be seen in Activity 7. The purpose of this activity
6.1 Introduction We have now looked at how formal rules are formulated, and at some of the strategies that may be deployed when interpreting them. In this part we will take this one step further and explore in more detail something that we have already touched on and thought about – the application of rules. This is a really important thing to understand, since rules are designed to regulate conduct, and have to be applied to instances of the conduct with which they are concerned.
5.3 Summary of Part D After studying Part D you should be able to: explain the difficulties of interpreting written statements; explain what is meant by indeterminacy; explain what is meant by interpretive strategies; describe the literal approach to interpretation; describe the approach to interpretation which seeks to avoid absurdity; describe the approach to interpretation which looks t
5.2.3 Looking at the intention of the rule-maker To resolve these problems, a rule-applier may adopt a yet broader interpretive strategy. This involves attempting to work out what the intention of the rule-maker was when the rule was formulated. In other words, it means going beyond or outside the language of the rule itself. In the context of a statute (i.e. an Act of Parliament), this may involve the rule-applier (the judge) looking at the law that existed before the statute was enacted and working out what the problem with that la
3.1 Introduction Formal rules do not just appear from nowhere! In this part we will be exploring how such rules are the product of a process of policy making. As an example, we will be using the Irish Government's policy on banning smoking in the workplace, and the law which arose out of this policy. Part B will also provide you with an opportunity to apply some of the reasoning skills you have been developing by applying your understanding of the Irish law to some factual situations. One of the most ob
Introduction This unit is designed as an introduction to the academic study of the concept of rules, but will also serve as an introduction to a variety of different writing styles that are used in the academic world. It will challenge you to think about why some statements are rules and some are not, and what it is that distinguishes rules from habits and customs. It also looks at more formal rules and how such rules are applied and enforced. Rules shape our lives because they set out what we may and may
5 Review of the learning outcomes This unit discussed the meaning of privacy and what a right to privacy protects. Privacy has variously been defined as: the right to be left alone; freedom from interruption, intrusion, embarrassment or accountability; control of the disclosure of personal information; protection of the individual's independence, dignity and integrity; secrecy, anonymity and solitude; the right to protection from intrusion into your personal life. The
3.1 The expansion of the right to confidence While there is no common law right to privacy, the law relating to breach of confidence has been expanded to a degree which suggests that privacy claims are now being given greater protection. The right to confidence has been expanded in recent cases such as Douglas and Others v Hello! Ltd (2001). In this case the Court of Appeal ruled that individuals have a right to personal privacy which was grounded in the doctrine of confidence. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones had granted
Acknowledgements The following material is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under licence. Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit: Figure 1 © UN Photo Library; Figure 2 Photo: © Co
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3.1 Part B overview The European Convention on Human Rights was introduced in unit W100_4 Europe and the law, and through your previous studies you have probably already considered cases (such as that of Diane Pretty) where articles of the European Convention on Human Rights were under debate. Here you will look at its legal implications in more detail. You will consider how the European Convention on Human Rights came into being, why it was considered necessary to create such an instrument, what are its
Introduction This unit considers the growth of human rights and humanitarian law before looking at the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in detail. It will also look at the position of human rights in the UK and the effect of the Human Rights Act 1998. This unit is an adapted extract from the course Rules, rights and justice: an introduction to law
(W100)
The relationship between the EC and the EU The words ‘European Economic Community’ (EEC), ‘European Community’ (EC) and ‘European Union’ (EU) have already been used in this unit, and many texts and journal and newspaper articles use them interchangeably. It is important that you are clear on their relationship and what they mean. This unit will always refer to the current position as the EU, but what is the relationship between the EC, the EEC and the EU? As mentioned earlier, the Maastricht Treaty (1992) established
6.5.1 Presumptions When determining the meaning of particular words the courts will make certain presumptions about the law. If the statute clearly states the opposite, then a presumption will not apply and it is said that the presumption is rebutted. The main presumptions are: A presumption against change in the common law. It is assumed that the common law will apply unless Parliament has made it plain in the Act that the common law has been altered.
