UK Business Law Research Paper

This assignment requires students to research and analyze various facets of UK business law. It encompasses areas like Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), intellectual property rights (trademarks), bribery laws, environmental regulations, and corporate criminal liability. Students are expected to draw upon scholarly articles and legal texts to provide a critical and informed perspective on these topics.

Business Law

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
SECTION- 1....................................................................................................................................1
P1- Framework of English legal system and various sources of laws followed by an
organisation.................................................................................................................................1
P2. Government's role in making law and application of statuary and common law in courts.. 2
M1. Effectiveness of legal system in respect of recent development.........................................4
D1. Effectiveness of legal system in respect of recent development..........................................4
SECTION- 2....................................................................................................................................4
P3. Employer's different legal obligations..................................................................................4
M2. Impact of regulations, legislation and standards in context of given case..........................5
SECTION- 3....................................................................................................................................5
P4: Legal solution for given business problem...........................................................................5
P5: Justification of above solution by relevant case...................................................................6
M3: Positive and negative impact of legal system in business problem.....................................6
SECTION 4......................................................................................................................................7
P6. A) Explanation of the concept and benefits of using Alternative Dispute Resolution
process ........................................................................................................................................7
B) Recommendation of an alternative legal solutions to the business problem........................7
M4. Comparing the effectiveness of court and alternative dispute resolution process...............7
D2. Use of legal solution in respect with alternative dispute resolution process........................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9
.......................................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
It is very important to know about all possible laws related to a business before starting it.
Business law comprises with all the terms and condition to formulate and run a business. This
establishes rules that all company should follow (King and et. al., 2012). A person who is
indulged in any business must be familiar with all laws related to a it. This law includes federal
as well as administrative law. There are various laws for different business entities. Certain zones
are prohibited for establishing some specific kind of business. There are also many terms which
need to be taken into consideration in order to run a business successfully.
SECTION- 1
P1- Framework of English legal system and various sources of laws followed by an organisation.
Legal system of any country is formulated as per its history. These are made in order to
protect the rights of people. U.K's legal system is a framework of all factors which is
characterised by high level of Centralisation. Legal system provide a bases of civil law, common
law, statuary law and religious law. There are three sections of U.K 's government that is defined
at country level. These components are Legislative, Executive and Judicial Authority.
1. Legislative Authority- In the past, it was mentioned that right to sit in house of lords
was prohibited and only those who were having heredity titles can avail it. But as time changes,
now most of the people of house of lord appointed by prime minister (Casini, 2012). Title of
these members are not inherited.
2. Executive Authority- Under this the power of prime minister is defined. P.M is the
leader of entire nation having full control over house of commons. Members of house of
commons is basically known as government ministers.
3. Judicial Authority- In context of U.K, supreme court is the ultimate court to take
decisions against all civil cases.
Constitution is the fundamental law of any nation. It is stated that constitution is “the
supreme law of land” that must be followed by every citizen of country (DiMatteo, 2010). There
is no other law above than this. In context of U.K, there are mainly two sources of laws- primary
and secondary.
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 Primary sources of laws are the real and authentic statements. It comes in the form of
European law, Legislation that is made by parliament and case laws that is formulated by
courts.
 Secondary sources comprises with textbook, legal Encyclopaedias, parliament and non
parliament documents and law journals.
 Case Laws- Under this there is a full description of “Law report” which is the
fundamental and primary source of U.K law. Reliability of law depends upon creation of
tested law reports. As far as law report is concern about, it is a written document which
includes full judgement and facts statements made by judges.
 Legislation- In context of U.K, it is stated that their constitution is based on the concept
of “partly written and wholly uncodified”. Most of the part of its constitution is written
whereas other is passed by parliament (Shum, P.K and Yam, S.L., 2011). Talking about
supreme legal authority then, parliament is considered as one. There are mainly two types
of legislation (primary and delegated).
 Legal encyclopedia- It is the most suitable staring point for purpose of researching laws.
This is important as it gives key points, legislation and ans cases.
 Law commission- It is an independent body formulated in 1965 to review the law of
England and Wales.
 Law journals- It has extensive range. Some of them are general whereas others are
specific. Academic arguments can be considered by some of them while other are stick to
newsletters. Journals are available in print as well as online.
P2. Government's role in making law and application of statuary and common law in courts.
Government plays a vital role in making law of any country. All laws are govern in the
direction of the the supreme authority. This is a form of rules through which state, community is
governed. It is responsible to run a country. Main aim of government is to work for the whole
country. They made rules and regulation so that rights of people can be protected. Every country
follow some basic laws (Morrish and Sauntson, 2013). These laws are made as per the history
and requirement of that particular nature. Therefore, all norms are made in order to protect
people and property of a country. Just as any other country, government of U.K has also working
for its citizen.
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A law is said to be a “law” when it is approved by MP's of house of commons as well as by peers
of house of lords. As government has to follow some steps in making a particular law. At initial
stage, it is the bill which need to be circulated in order to transform it as a law. Steps that are
followed to convert bill into law are given below:
1. First reading: This is the very first stage where bill is arrive. This is a phase to first time
present a bill.
2. Second reading: in this stage, main purpose of formulating a bill is discussed. It
comprises with finding key areas of it.
3. Committee stage: This is the phase of changes in the context of bill (Fotopoulos and
Giotopoulos, 2010). Idea of taking votes can be a part to decide whether changes need to
be made or not.
4. Report stage: This is a step of amendment which comes after making all changes
mentioned in step 3.
5. Third reading: This is a stage known as “ tidying up”. This is comprises with final and
last chance for amendment and votes.
6. Royal assent: When final content is approved by both houses then, a bill is made by
Queen and become law of parliament or simply “law”
Laws are important part of any country because it solve basic purpose of nation's
existence. Common laws and statutory laws are followed by every country in order to serve
justice. Common laws are defined as those laws which is made by judges (Di Noia and
Gargantini, 2014). This holds idea of resolving current dispute on the bases of past decisions, if
same case has been resolved in the past. On other hand, statutory laws is concern about “statute”
which is an act of parliament. Both laws are different from each other but purpose of both of
them is to serve justice in people. Major difference among these two can be seen as follows:
1. Creation of new laws- Common law is evolved by new decisions made by judged
whereas statutory law is issued by government authority.
2. Operational level- Procedural in case of common law but substantive in case of statutory
law.
3. Other name- Common law is also known as case law and other name of statutory law is
written law.
4. Nature- Common law is instructive in nature whereas statutory law is prescriptive.
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M1. Effectiveness of legal system in respect of recent development.
Legal system plays a vital role in improving recent reform and development. In context
of U.K, it can be seen by evaluating the effectiveness of various improvement (Priporas and
Kamenidou, 2011). There is a great reform of audit market of U.K. Major points are as follows:
1. On July 1, 2015- competition and market authority, that is also known as CMA
implemented reform of audit market in context of U.K.
2. July 2015- Government of U.K declared that all public interest entities such as (banks,
listed companies, relevant insurer, building societies) will be under obligation to show
their audit outside at least in every ten years.
D1. Effectiveness of legal system in respect of recent development.
Major European legal system is consist of English law. This law is followed by many
other countries including New Zealand, USA, Australia, Canada (Hasnas, Prentice and Strudler,
2010). This system provide a major solution to all legal cases (Tombs, 2013). This is more
relevant for any person to go to legal law for resolving their issues. There are many cases of U.K,
where court plays a vital role to resolve dispute among people. Some of major issues are given
below:-
1. R v Blaue (1975) 1 WLR 1411
Judge made decision on this case saying “those who violence on others must take their
victims as they find them”. This case further defend freedom of religion of the victim.
SECTION- 2
P3. Employer's different legal obligations.
a) 1) Occupational health and safety- Employer plays a vital role in maintaining health
and safety issue of employees. It is one of core responsibility of employer. It is the major duty of
any employer to adopt those measures of work which would not be harmful for employees
(Yeoh, 2010). The very first step under this is to give all information to workers about risk at
work place and ways by which they will be protected.
2) Workers compensation- it is the major right of nay employee to get paid for their work. Major
obligation of employer is to make sure that employees are getting salary for what so ever work
they are doing in organisation. Extra compensation should be made if workers are doing extra
amount work.
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3) Harassment- There are some strict laws again harassment that take place at organisation.
According to some major acts, a person who is caught under this case will be punished under
legal laws.
4) Equal opportunity- This is the very first duty of employer to be fair with their employees.
They have to give equal opportunity to each and every employee.
b) According to given scenario, employment act and contract act will help that 16 year old girl to
find justice for herself. She was working at a fast food outlet (Ferran, 2012). One day she slipped
and her hand went into a container of oil at a temperature of 360 degree F. In given scenario,
team leader should know his responsibility, as at the time of accident he was working on tills but
was actually assigned to monitor work place safety. Therefore, in case girl will file a case against
team leader, then under employment and contract act he will be punished for breaking laws that
specify- duty of care, breach of care, damage, and remoteness of damage.
M2. Impact of regulations, legislation and standards in context of given case.
In context of above scenario, role of legislation is very important. As employer is bound
to take those actions for which they have been assigned. As per given scenario, team leader is
expected monitor work place safety (Mercer, 2010). “Duty of care” is of one of the major task of
a team leader. This is defined by take having a look on the safety measures of employee. “Breach
of care” indicates the stage where breaking of core responsibility of employer take place. They
are liable for any damage in concern with employee.
SECTION- 3
P4: Legal solution for given business problem.
In first given scenario, legal approach can be considered as applying employment act
which states that no employer can fire their employees without giving proper notice (Dilloff,
2013). Therefore, in mentioned case, “Donna” terminate one of his employee named Calvin just
on the bases of the theft. Although, Donna terminate him without any solid proof. Therefore on
bases of unfair and wrongful dismissal protection, Calvin can asked for prior notice and one
month salary in advance.
In second case, Dan applies for fire insurance as a fire destroyed his convenience store.
After filling all required document Dan answer one of question as NO. According to fire
insurance company, claim can be done after 24 months (Kinderman, 2011). Therefore, at last fire
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insurance company refuses to pay the claim. Here in this scenario, Den is advised to file a case
against insurance company. This is because there is no time limitation of claiming insurance.
P5: Justification of above solution by relevant case.
Second case was related with fire insurance policy. Case which matches with current
mentioned scenario can be ( Peel Port Shareholding Finance Company Ltd -v- Dornoch Ltd).
This was a case of June 19 2017. Here “Peel Port” was the claimant who suffered a lose proprty
due to fire. They accused ( European Active Projects Ltd) for their damage (Nichols, 2012). At
last court finally presented their decision on the bases that there were never be an express
statutory mechanism.
As per first case, unfair dismissal in U.K is a major part of its labour law that states that
employer has to follow a fair and reasonable path in order to terminate an employee. A case
named as ( Barton v Rona), 2012 was based on wrongful dismissal. Barton was terminated even
though he did not participated in breaching of company health and safety policies. Final decision
made by court against employer to beware about “zero tolerance” approach.
M3: Positive and negative impact of legal system in business problem.
Positive impact of legal solution on a business unit is given below:
1.It provides a basic medium to solve several dispute among people of a company. This helps
organisation to achieve its target without any hurdles. Legal system can be used for resolving
quarrelsome. This enables the company to attain suitability in market.
2. legal law provides general platform where a genuine solution can be found of a common issue
(Dunfee and Nagayasu, 2013). This is a medium of finding justice for people at work.
Negative impact can be characterised on the bases of following factors
1. Cases that are filed in courts take so much time. Judges have to go through several points
before making any judgement.
2. It it costly- People who are seeking for justice in court have to afford fee of lawyers.
Therefore, common people who are not very rich will suffer. Not every people can afford costly
fee of lawyers.
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SECTION 4
P6. A) Explanation of the concept and benefits of using Alternative Dispute Resolution process
Alternative dispute resolution process helps in solving problem among people in many
situations. It contributes in quick solution of dispute. There are two concepts like arbitration and
conciliation in which a third person is appointed to listen both parties and make judgement on
basis of it. Arbitrator decision has to be obeyed by both parties, on other hand, conciliator offers
choice to parties (Percival and et. al., 2013). One of the major advantage of this concept is that it
is cost effective process and people get chance to tell their side of story. It is a informal process
which helps in executing in time. Another advantage of this process is that information abut
parties is confidential. It is flexible remedy than court and responsive which helps in fulfilling
individual needs of parties. Another advantage of these legal process is that it is faster than court
in term of judgement due to informal aspect.
B) Recommendation of an alternative legal solutions to the business problem
As per case study of Antwon and Tyrell, they have dispute but want to maintain their
working relationship. So they should go for arbitration to solve their problem which the best
option in alternative dispute process (DiMatteo, 2010). A person is chosen by court who acts as
a judge. He listens every side of story of parties. After listing them he will give a judgement at
final which both Antwon and Tyrell will have to obey whether hey are agreed with it or not.
Arbitration can be voluntary or mandatory in Which mandatory can only be implied by court. As
per law, this alternative process will resolve the dispute and help in maintaining working
relationship of parties involved. After settlement if any damage has been made, liable party will
pay to other in this process.
M4. Comparing the effectiveness of court and alternative dispute resolution process.
Court and alternative dispute resolution process are meant for solving various legal issues
that can arise in a country. They have some set of rules with which they can provide justice to
people. Give below are some of the major differences in between these two legal entities.
1- When there are so many pending cases in courts then, some of the cases are shifted to
alternative dispute resolution process (Smith, Lawson and Painter., 2012). This makes the
process of solving any issue so easy.
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2- Court has higher set of rules. Therefore, it takes more time to finally declare result of any
issue. On other hand, alternative dispute resolution process has no complex method and
generally here they take less time to solve any problem.
3- Sometimes, it becomes tough for people to afford fees of reputed lawyers in courts, therefore,
people generally prefer to go to alternative dispute solution to get justice in best possible manner.
D2. Use of legal solution in respect with alternative dispute resolution process.
In context of major legal solution, court is the best place where people seek for justice.
Use of this legal system can be evaluated from the fact of its importance in any country
(Folsomand and et. al., 2012). Given below are some of major importance of court:
1. It plays a vital role in development of U.K law- Court is responsible for making major
laws of U.K. it is liable for dealing with all criminal and civil cases.
2. It gives importance to general public- it is established in order to protect rights of people.
Therefore, its main aim is to work for common people of country.
3. Supreme court of U.K, is the ultimate court to maintain and develop the role of entire
legal system.
CONCLUSION
So far in this case, there were a deep evaluation of all aspects under the head of Business law.
This enables to identify ways by which business law can be applied in the running of business.
English legal system is important as a part of providing resolution to various dispute among
people. There are many legal obligations for a employer in context of occupational health and
safety of employee, workers compensation, harassment, and providing equal opportunity to each
and single employee. Laws like employment act help to protects the right of the employee.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Casini, L., 2012. The making of a lex sportiva by the court of arbitration for sport. In Lex
Sportiva: What is Sports Law? (pp. 149-171). TMC Asser Press.
Di Noia, C. and Gargantini, M., 2014. Unleashing the European securities and markets authority:
Governance and accountability after the ECJ decision on the short selling regulation
(Case C-270/12). European Business Organization Law Review. 15(1). pp. 1-57.
Dilloff, N.J., 2013. Law School Training: Bridging the Gap Between Legal Education and the
Practice of Law. Stan. L. & Pol'y Rev., 24. p. 425.
DiMatteo, L.A., 2010. Strategic contracting: Contract law as a source of competitive advantage.
American Business Law Journal. 47(4). pp. 727-794.
DiMatteo, L.A., 2010. Strategic contracting: Contract law as a source of competitive advantage.
American Business Law Journal. 47(4). pp. 727-794.
Dunfee, T.W. and Nagayasu, Y. eds., 2013. Business ethics: Japan and the global economy (Vol.
5). Springer Science & Business Media.
Ferran, E., 2012. Regulatory lessons from the payment protection insurance mis-selling scandal
in the UK. European Business Organization Law Review. 13(2). pp. 247-270.
Folsom, R.H and et. al., 2012. International business transactions: a problem-oriented
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Fotopoulos, G. and Giotopoulos, I., 2010. Gibrat’s law and persistence of growth in Greek
manufacturing. Small Business Economics. 35(2). pp. 191-202.
Hasnas, J., Prentice, R and Strudler, A., 2010. New directions in legal scholarship: Implications
for business ethics research, theory, and practice. Business Ethics Quarterly. 20(03). pp.
503-531.
Kinderman, D., 2011. ‘Free us up so we can be responsible!’The co-evolution of Corporate
Social Responsibility and neo-liberalism in the UK, 1977–2010. Socio-Economic
Review. 10(1). pp. 29-57.
King, R.R and et. al., 2012. Solar cell generations over 40% efficiency. Progress in
Photovoltaics: Research and Applications. 20(6). pp. 801-815.
Mann, R.A. and Roberts, B.S., 2011. Smith and Roberson’s business law. Cengage Learning.
Mercer, J., 2010. A mark of distinction: Branding and trade mark law in the UK from the 1860s.
Business History. 52(1). pp. 17-42.
Morrish, L. and Sauntson, H., 2013. ‘Business-facing motors for economic development’: an
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Nichols, P.M., 2012. The business case for complying with bribery laws. American Business
Law Journal. 49(2). pp. 325-368.
Percival, R.V and et. al., 2013. Environmental regulation: Law, science, and policy. Wolters
Kluwer Law & Business.
Priporas, C.V. and Kamenidou, I., 2011. Perceptions of potential postgraduate Greek business
students towards UK universities, brand and brand reputation. Journal of Brand
Management. 18(4-5). pp. 264-273.
Shum, P.K and Yam, S.L., 2011. Ethics and law: Guiding the invisible hand to correct corporate
social responsibility externalities. Journal of business ethics. 98(4). pp. 549-571.
Smith, D., Lawson, R.D. and Painter, A.A., 2012. Business law. Routledge.
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Tombs, S., 2013. Still killing with impunity: corporate criminal law reform in the UK. Policy
and Practice in Health and Safety. 11(2). pp. 63-80.
Yeoh, P., 2010. Narrative reporting: the UK experience. International Journal of Law and
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Online
Business law 2017. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.britannica.com/topic/business-
law>. [Accessed on 23rd June 2017].
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