Business Law: Understanding Legal Systems and Solutions

Business Law
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Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 3
Section 1– Nature of legal systems and legislations impacting businesses.....................4
LO1 Explain the basic nature of the legal system.........................................................4
P1 Explain different sources of law and laws that organizations must comply with.. 4
P2 Explain the role of government in law-making and how statutory and common
law is applied in the justice courts.............................................................................5
M1 Evaluate the effectiveness of the legal system in terms of recent reforms and
developments............................................................................................................6
LO2 Illustrate the potential impact of the law on a business.........................................7
P3 Using specific examples illustrate how company, employment and contract law
has a potential impact upon business.......................................................................7
M2 Differentiate and analyze the potential impacts of regulations, legislation and
standards.................................................................................................................. 8
D1 Provide a coherent and critical evaluation of the legal system and law, with
evidence drawn from a range of different relevant examples to support judgements.
.................................................................................................................................. 9
Section 2 – Legal solutions to business problems.........................................................10
LO3 Suggest appropriate legal solutions to business problems.................................10
P4 Suggest appropriate legal solutions for a range of business problems e.g.
termination of contract, rescue from insolvency and liquidation..............................10
P5 Provide justifications for the use of appropriate legal solutions.........................11
M3 Assess the positive and negative impacts of legal solutions to business
problems................................................................................................................. 12
LO4 Recommend appropriate legal solutions based upon alternative legal advice
provided......................................................................................................................13
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P6 Recommend legal solutions based upon a different country’s legal system
and/or a different legal framework...........................................................................13
M4 Compare and contrast the effectiveness of these recommendations...............14
D2 Critically review and evaluate the use of appropriate legal solutions in
comparison with alternative legal advice.................................................................15
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 16
References.....................................................................................................................17
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Introduction
Law is a set of rules which any community or country recognizes as a fundamental and
guiding principle for conduct of its members, organization and society. The non-
compliance of laws leads to penalties and other legal consequences. Business law is
that branch of law which applies to business. It recognizes the manner in which a
business shall be conducted and defines the rights and responsibilities of persons
associated with such business. In this report, sources from which these laws emerged
and are enacted have been discussed. There are mainly three sources of UK law.
These are legislature which is enacted by Parliament, common law which is passed by
judges and European law which are the rules and laws of European Union (EU) and UK
being a member state must comply with EU laws. This report has further discussed
various laws applicable on business such as laws relating to health and safety at
workplace, equal opportunity laws and laws for data protection.
The second section of the report is discussing two different case scenarios. The
scenarios relate to business laws and appropriate recommendations have been given to
business owners for their business problems. The case scenarios relate to winding up
of company when it is unable to pay off its debts and notice required to be served by
employee at the time of termination of employment contract.
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Section 1– Nature of legal systems and legislations impacting businesses
LO1 Explain the basic nature of the legal system
P1 Explain different sources of law and laws that organizations must comply with.
The meaning of “Every year the government announces its programme for
legislation by way of the Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament in
October or November” has been discussed below. An event is held in Parliament of
UK at the beginning of session commonly known as ‘State opening of Parliament’.
During this event, a speech is given by Queen known as Queen’s Speech. This event is
held in month of November every year and is held in front of both houses of Parliament
i.e. House of Lords and House of Commons. The Queen’s Speech outlines the agenda
of government and Parliament for coming session. This event attracts large crowds and
media. The Queen delivers the speech from the throne in House of Lords (Sparrow,
2015).
Source of Law
There are three major sources of UK laws. These are Legislation, Common Law and
European Union Law. These laws are followed by judges of courts in deciding any case.
These are explained as under:
 Legislation:
Legislations are laws enacted by Parliament of United Kingdom. The laws
enacted by Parliament are Act of Parliament. The laws are enacted as an Act
when the they are passed by both houses of Parliament i.e. House of Lords and
House of Commons. The laws enacted by parliament are also called statutory
laws.
 Common Laws:
Common laws are those laws which are enacted by judges of superior courts.
These are also called judicial precedents as these are the decisions of superior
courts in any previous legal case decided by them and is established as a law
which is required to be adhered to by junior courts while deciding cases of similar
nature as the case in which the law was established (Koprowski, 2017).
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 European Union (EU) Laws:
UK is a member nation of European Union and therefore is required the comply
the laws and regulations established by European Union. These laws are
precedents over UK laws. Therefore, in case of any contradiction between EU
laws and statutory laws, EU laws shall supersede.
Laws Applicable on an Organization
There are several laws which are applicable on an organization. These are as follows:
 Employment Rights Act, 1996: The rights of employer and employees in
relation to employment are established and guided by this Act. It also includes
the duties of employers and employees and terms of employment.
 Companies Act, 2006: This Act contains the provisions relating to company’s
incorporation and includes procedures to be followed by company for running its
business. All the companies in UK must comply with provisions of this Act.
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S o u rc e s o f L a w s
Legislature
Common Laws
European Union
(EU) Laws.