Business Law: Understanding the Legal System and its Impact on Businesses

Business Law
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Activity 1.........................................................................................................................................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......................................................................................................6
M1 Explain the effectiveness of legal system in terms of recent reforms and development.. .7
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.............................8
LO2 Illustrate the potential impact of the law on a business.......................................................9
P3 Using specific examples illustrate how company, employment and contract law has a
potential impact upon business.................................................................................................9
M2 Differentiate and analyse the potential impacts of regulations, legislation and standards
................................................................................................................................................10
LO3 Suggest appropriate legal solutions to business problems.................................................11
P4 Suggest appropriate legal solutions for a range of business problems..............................11
P5 Provide justifications for the use of appropriate legal solutions.......................................12
M3 Assess the positive and negative impacts of legal solutions to business problems.........13
LO4 Recommend appropriate legal solutions based upon alternative legal advice provided.. .14
P6 Recommend legal solutions based upon a different country’s legal system and/or a
different legal framework.......................................................................................................14
M4 Compare and contrast the effectiveness of these recommendations................................15
D2 Critically review and evaluate the use of appropriate legal solutions in comparison with
alternative legal advice...........................................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19
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References......................................................................................................................................20
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Introduction
This handbook is made to assist and advice new start up business on legal system of UK and the
important legislations that are applicable on it. In the process of advising on legal system, it will
also cover various sources from which law has been originated and framed. It will give a
summarized view of role of government in role making. The various laws applicable on business
includes contract law, employment law, health and safety law and many other statutory and
common laws. A description of key laws applicable on any business is given in this handbook. It
is also discussing laws applicable in case of insolvency and winding up.
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Activity 1
LO1 Explain the basic nature of the legal system.
P1 Explain different sources of law and laws that organizations must comply with.
In UK law, mainly there are three sources of law. These are as under:
 Legislation: These are the statutory laws and are enacted by Parliament. Parliament has
the sole power to pass laws. An Act is enacted by parliament when it is passed by both
houses of parliament which are House of Lords and House of Commons. Therefore,
statutory laws are created by legislature.
 Common Law: Here, the law is enacted by judicial authorities. The judgements passed
by judges of superior courts become law and are applied by junior courts in cases of
similar nature for passing decisions.
 European Union (EU) Law: EU is a union of 28-member states and UK is a member of
this union. Therefore, all the laws of European Union are applicable on UK and these
laws act as precedents over UK laws (Arden, 2016).
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Sources of
Law
Legislature Common
Law
European
Union

Laws applicable on an organization are as follows:
 Companies Act, 2006: The Act applicable on companies in UK is Companies Act, 2006.
All the organizations registered or intending to be registered as company must comply
the provisions of it.
 Finance Act, 2018: It contains provisions relating to taxes and matters of public revenue.
It also contains exemption provisions and provisions relating to national debt.
 Equality Act, 2010: This Act intends to protect people at workplace from discrimination
on basis of sex, caste, creed, marital status or any other basis.
 Health and safety at work Act, 1974: All the employers are required to follow the
provisions of Health and safety at work Act, 1974 for ensuring proper safety and health
of their employees (Mucciarelli, et. al., 2016).
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