Business Law and Ethics

The provided document appears to be a solved assignment for a business law and ethics course. It includes references from academic journals and books, as well as online resources. The content covers topics such as the role of government in business, stakeholder perspective, corporate responsibility, financial crowdfunding, blockchain, and organizational law. The document also provides information on how a bill becomes a law and includes diagrams related to job satisfaction. This assignment likely requires students to analyze and apply these concepts to real-world scenarios.

BUSINESS LAW

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
The nature of legal system...........................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
Employment status.......................................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
Registration of companies............................................................................................................5
Explanation of how business are managed and funded...............................................................6
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................7
Alternate Dispute Resolution.......................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business Law means rules and regulation that a business or company has to follow while it
is carrying a business, even a company exist because of law . There are several acts and
regulation passed by government. The present study is on K company that is a courier company .
A brief discussion is done on criminal and civil law of UK regarding a business .Apart from that
explanation is given on potential impact of law on business that contain various factors like
equipment’s , services, employment benefits etc. In addition to this a briefing is done on types of
organisation and disputes among members , shareholders and all the stakeholders. The present
study also includes resolving method of disputes.
TASK 1
The nature of legal system
English legal system comprise of the rules and regulations followed by the organizations
in the formation and also in the normal functioning of the business. The English legal system
mainly comprise of the criminal and civil laws and there courts and procedures. Mainly the acts
are passed by the parliament and the Queen or the king are the head of the state and bills are
signed by them (Hsieh, Enderle and Murphy, 2015). The European legal system mainly includes-
 Criminal law- This law relates to the serious cases like murder or any sexual harassment.
 Civil law- these laws are designed to regulate the cases like theft, frauds and misconduct.
Sources of law
 European law- European law is the major source of the law for dissolving the cases in
UK. This law is the English law which is regulated by the UK law which was formed in
1973. In this court cases relating to the social, economic and political justice are
governed. This comprises of the European union and the European community.
 Common law- common law refers to the law governed by the bench set up by the head of
the state that is the queen (Ricks, 2017). The bench includes the judges who give
decisions on the cases of common nature. The subordinate court are bound by the
superior court. The decision passed by the superior court are binding upon the
subordinate courts.
 Act of Parliament- This is the regulatory body which makes and amends the laws in the
order to make the functioning of the law efficient.
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 Custom- this law is concerned with the making of law using the peoples behaviour and
habits. This law was enacted by the kings in the interest of the common person.
Ill
ustration 1: Stages of passing the bill in parliament
(Source: How does a bill become a law, 2018)
The Parliament is the regulating and the governing body in UK. Parliament consists of 785
members which are directly elected by the people with right to vote in each state. There is the
demographic supervision over the commission by the President. Both the council and the
parliament formulates and adopts the legislation of the country (Ball and Viswanathan, 2017).
Stages of passing of bill in parliament-
The law is made in the parliament by passing of the proposal initially which is commonly
known as the bill. Thus the bill is considered in the first reading where the bill is been read and
noticed. Thereafter in the second reading the bill is considered in the floor of the houses where
the relevancy of the bill is being checked and than the bill is considered in the third reading in
which the there is a debate in relating to the bill contents. After both the houses agrees on the bill
it is passed through the house of lords and receives the Royal Assent from the Queen and
denoted as the act of Parliament (Hopkins, 2019).
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TASK 2
Employment status
Each company is required to follow guidelines of employment law. If firm fails to follow
these regulations, then it might face legal consequences. It is also essential for employees to
follow policies and procedure of firm carefully. K is the courier firm that hires people those who
can deliver the parcels to end user on time. These courier employees have to wear cloths of
company and have to follow polices of business (Sharma and Lertnuwat, 2016). Firm makes
employment contract with its workers that bound them to follow instructions of business and
they cannot ignore these legal guidelines. If any employees get harmed during working hours,
then it becomes responsibility of employer to pay compensation for their injury as person was on
official duty.
Gig's economy- In a gig economy there are temporary, flexible jobs. In this type of
economy the companies tends to employ independent contractors and freelances instead of full-
time employees. This type of economy overwrites the traditional economy workers who works
for the companies for long time and there is no change in their positions.
As in the case of Pimlico plumber Vs Smith, Mr. Smit was working as plumber in the
firm since long duration. In the year 2011 individual got suffered from medical illness heart
attack. After this issue he was unable to work in the organisation any more. Thus, Mr. Smith has
requested to his owner to minimise its working hours because of his health issues. But company
has complained in court against the Smith that he is not performing his duties well and not
completing his working hours. Smith was designed as independent worker in the firm or a self-
employed person (Buhmann, 2017). But he had to wear company’s cloths and had to carry ID
card, equipment’s were provided by company whenever he goes on official duty. Thus, court has
taken decision in favour of Smith that he was employee of the firm and company becomes liable
to pay compensation for his leaves and medical issues.
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Illustration 2: Ross Martin diagrams
(Source: Antecedents of Job Satisfaction,2019)
Employment law and contract law bound the employer and employee both to fulfil their
duties otherwise they may have to face legal consequences. There is some checklist that
differentiate the role of self-employed from employees. Self-employed person is able to hire
another person on his place if he is unable to work on that day whereas employee cannot hire
other person on their duty as per the employment act (Van Rijmenam and Ryan, 2018).
Furthermore, equipment’s are provided by employer only if the person is working as employee,
on other hand if person is working as self-employed then individual is liable to use own
equipment’s. Employee has right to get benefits of meal, parking, insurance but self-employed
do not receive all these benefits. As in the case Pimlico plumber Vs Smith, smith was the
independent contractor but he was working on the norms of employees thus, company is liable to
pay compensation for the same to him (Ricks, 2017).
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TASK 3
Registration of companies
There are so many ways that can be adopted by K company in order to sustain in the
market for longer duration. There are so many different types of business in which firm may get
engaged.
Sole trader: It is considered as one of the simplest type of business in which owner itself
takes all the decision for the business and run the firm accordingly. Owner is required to invest
own amount to run business successfully (Dahan, Doh and Raelin, 2015). There is no need to
pay tax of company, individual has to pay individual tax only. In order to run business as sole
trader K company will have to invest own amount and if firm fails to generate revenues then it
may affect financial position of owner to great extent.
Partnership firm: This is another type of business in which two or more partners operate
the business. Both these partners are liable for risk and they share their profit equally. Both they
come into partnership contract and invest their own amount. On the bases of their legal rights in
business profit is shared among them. If firm faces any risk then both owners can bear that loss,
if K company gets engaged in this type of business then it would be beneficial for the
organisation to manage its risk and run its business successfully for longer duration (Molina-
Azorín and Cameron, 2015).
Limited liability: It is another kind of business, company act 2006 explains that any firm
can come under private or public limited firm but it has to follow guidelines and requirements of
this act. If K company gets engaged in this type of business, then it would be essential for
business to pay tax of company. Furthermore, it will have to sell its shares in stock exchange.
Firm might issue its own memorandum. Owner is responsible to bear risk of business in limited
firm (O'Kelley and Thompson, 2017).
K company can get registered itself as partnership firm, in this firm will be able to
manage its risk well and it will be able to get ideas from partners that would help in getting more
profit. Furthermore, less investment will be required by the owner of K company thus, it should
get registered itself as partnership firm.
As per the case, of Salomon vs Salomon & co Ltd: owner of the firm has opened his
business as sole trader but his children have forced him to take the title of limited company. All
the requirements of being limited firm was fulfilled by Salomon. But he was unable to manage
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debts thus, liquidity position of firm gets affected badly (The Law Journal Reports, Volume 57,
Part 1, 2017). It was not having adequate assets. High court has taken decision that he is liable to
pay all the debt amount to its creditors because company is separated from members and it has to
repay all the debt amount from personal funds.
Steps needed to form a company-
These are the various steps included in the formation of the companies in United Kingdom-
1. Choose business name
2. Identify location of company
3. Select the type of corporations
4. Name the company directors
5. Determine the type of shares
6. Obtain a certificate of incorporation
7. Process and file the paperwork of the company.
Role of directors-
The role of directors in a company are in-charge of the management of the company. The
company operates through the two bodies of people- its shareholders and its board of directors.
The directors are agents of company, directors are appointed by the shareholders of the
companies who manges the day to day affairs of the company. The directors of the companies
act collectively with the board but in some cases the board may delegate its power to individual
director or to a committee. The directors of the company promote and assist the success of the
company and achieve organization goals.
Explanation of how business are managed and funded
As in the case of Salomon vs Solomon it is found that company is liable to pay debt
amount to its creditors. Directors are not liable for any action until firm is pierced. In order to
manage the firm well it is essential to fulfil requirements of section 9 (5) (Ball and Viswanathan,
2017). This section states that it is essential to form article of association in order to run a
business successfully. Furthermore, section 9(4) needs to be followed that states that each private
firm must maintain minimum capital requirements so that if it fails to generate revenues then it
can repay its debts timely (Hopkins, 2019). Section 9 (2) explains that registered needs to be
done properly there should be name, address of firm (Adams, 2018).
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TASK 4
Alternate Dispute Resolution
To resolve legal disputes between two or more parties there are different methods like
like negotiation, arbitration and mediation. These method of negotiation is very helpful because
it saves times of the affected parties in fulfilling various formalities in court (Catan and Kahan,
2016). Here the final decision is taken by arbitrator or the negotiating authority but if the case is
not handled by these authorities then it has to be taken to higher authorities like high courts or
supreme courts.
Mediation:Mediator are the persons who does not take any decision but it only give
guidance for proper decision thus mediator is the person mutually appointed by the affected
parties by an agreement and who does not have any right to pass judgement regarding the
disputes. If mediator is unable to reach at any decision then parties have right to take their case to
the court or higher authority.
Arbitration:An arbitrator is appointed when parties are unable to reach at mutual point
so it is appointed by the own choice of parties where both the parties has to follow rules made by
the arbitrator, here the decision of arbitrator is final that both the parties have to follow.this
decision of the arbitrator may or may not be in the favour of parties (McBarnet, 2019) . The
benefit of arbitration is that both the parties can rely on the arbitrator as it is the third party and
any decision that will be taken by arbitrator will be fair.
Negotiation: Here negotiator is appointed by both the parties by their mutual decision
who settles the dispute among the parties .Apart from that both the parties has to follow the
guidelines made by the negotiator and its decision is final. Parties here cannot move to higher
authorities for further prosecution. (Molina-Azorín and Cameron, 2015). move to higher
authorities for further prosecution.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it can be concluded that every business has its own legal rules for its
internal matter. These legal regulation helps company from commencing its business to its
dissolution.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ball, A. and Viswanathan, M., 2017. From Business Tax Theory to Practice. Clinical L. Rev. 24.
p.27.
Buhmann, K., 2017. Changing sustainability norms through communication processes: the
emergence of the business and human rights regime as transnational law. Edward Elgar
Publishing.
Catan, E. M. and Kahan, M., 2016. The law and finance of antitakeover statutes. Stan. L.
Rev. 68. pp.629.
Dahan, N. M., Doh, J. P. and Raelin, J. D., 2015. Pivoting the role of government in the business
and society interface: A stakeholder perspective. Journal of Business ethics. 131(3).
pp.665-680.
Hopkins, B. R., 2019. The law of tax-exempt organizations. Wiley.
Hsieh, N. H., Enderle, G. and Murphy, P. E., 2015. Managerial Responsibility and the Purpose of
Business: Doing One’s Job Well. Ethical Innovation in Business and the Economy:
Studies in Transatlantic Business Ethics. pp.95-118.
McBarnet, D., 2019. When compliance is not the solution but the problem: From changes in law
to changes in attitude. Centre for Tax System Integrity (CTSI), Research School of
Social Sciences, The Australian National University.
Molina-Azorín, J. F. and Cameron, R. A., 2015. History and emergent practices of multimethod
and mixed methods in business research. In The Oxford handbook of multimethod and
mixed methods research inquiry.
O'Kelley, C. R. and Thompson, R. B., 2017. Corporations and other business associations:
cases and materials. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
Ricks, M., 2017. Organizational law as commitment device. Vand. L. Rev. 70.pp.1303.
Sharma, S. and Lertnuwat, N., 2016. The financial crowdfunding with diverse business
models. Journal of Asian and African Social Science and Humanities (ISSN 2413-
2748). 2(2). pp.74-89.
Van Rijmenam, M. and Ryan, P., 2018. Blockchain: Transforming Your Business and Our
World. Routledge.
Adams. A., 2018. Law for Business Students Sixth edition. Pearson Education Limited.
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Online
How does a bill become a law. 2018. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/>.
The Law Journal Reports, Volume 57, Part 1. 2017. [Online]. Available through :<
https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=0tEfAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1070&dq=alex+adam+law+for+business+students&hl=en&s
a=X&ved=0ahUKEwiomvPZooniAhWC73MBHawiB3UQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=al
ex%20adam%20law%20for%20business%20students&f=false>.
Antecedents of Job Satisfaction.2019. [online]. Available through.
<http://sk.sagepub.com/books/job-satisfaction/n4.xml>
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198253631.001.0001/acprof-
9780198253631
www.gov.uk/limited-company-formation/register-your-company
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/alternative_dispute_resolution
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