Business Law and Ethics: UK Law, Contracts, Partnerships, and Ethics

This essay on business law and ethics provides a comprehensive overview of key concepts within the UK legal framework. It begins by defining business law and its significance, then delves into the roles of the executive, judiciary, and legislature, highlighting the separation of powers. The essay explores contract law, specifically the remedy of specific performance, providing a case example to illustrate its application. It also contrasts general partnerships with limited liability companies, outlining their key differences. Furthermore, the essay examines ethical considerations surrounding employee dismissal, detailing fair reasons for termination and the legal ramifications of unfair practices. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of business law in guiding ethical and legal business operations.

Business law and
Ethics

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Business law is that branch of the law that help in defining all the activities and functions of
the business. This law she is that all the activities of the business carried out in an effective way
which is legal and ethical. Business law mainly comprises of all several other laws that are
related to activities of business either directly or indirectly such as the laws relating to
employment, the laws that relates to the contract, company law and many others (Rendtorff,
2019). There are many kinds of businesses which are carried by the owners but for that they need
proper regulations so that the activities and the functioning of the business is ethically carried out
without any ill practices of the company.
The aim of this essay is to understand the roles of Executive, Judiciary and legislature. It
also aims at understanding the remedies and limitation imposed by the court relating to the
specific performance of the contract. It also shows the basic difference that exist between the
general partnership and the limited liability company. Lastly, it also explain about the ethical
dismissal of an employee of a company.
MAIN BODY
The law of the UK is based upon the doctrine of separation of powers. The government in
UK basically is divided into two three branches that is executive, legislature and the judiciary.
Each of these branches have been given with the separate powers and responsibilities with
respect to the nation. Legislative is that branch of the government that make the law in the
country (Buckley, 2020). Any bill which is passed in the Parliament after it receives majority by
the members of the Parliament or the Legislature comes into force only when it is approved by
the royal queen. The next is the executive branch of the government which comprises of the
Prime Minister and various other local government branches such as the measures of the city.
The executive branch of the government is responsible for the implementation of the bill that
was produced by the parliament (Mance, 2018). All the actions of the executive branch are
limited by the Judiciary and also the publicity. The last branch of the government is judiciary.
This basically is the system of the court in which the Supreme Court has the highest authority
among all the other courts in the UK. The members of this branch of the Government have the
highest authority and possess great power only because they are entitled to decide what law will

be implied in any of the particular case matter. The main function of the Judiciary is to interpret
the laws that are made by the parliament.
Specific performance basically is a remedy which is available when there is breach of
contract. This remedy is available only at the discretion of the court. It is a legal order in which
one person is to fulfil their obligation and commitment towards the other party of the contract
(Hunter and Sanders, 2021). There are various other types of remedies which court prefers but in
certain circumstances the court when is satisfied that the party even if do not want to fulfil the
obligation of the contract is still liable for its fulfilment then in such a circumstances specific
performance is granted by the court. When Court decide for the remedy of specific performance
they consider that whether the damages will be an appropriate type of a compensation or whether
the equity demands such an order or not. It is discretionary power of the court to grant specific
performance (Treitel, 2020). In the case of "Nutbrown v. Thornton (1805)", claimant purchased
machinery from the defendant under a contract which was reached by the defendant and he
refused to make delivery of the Machines. The defendant was the sole manufacturer of that type
of machine. Plaintiff filed Suit against defendant for the breach of contract and under this he was
seeking for the contract specific performance. In this case the court held that the damages would
have been granted to the plaintiff as the goods were not delivered but defendant being the sole
manufacturer of the Machines and therefore the defendant would not get machines from
anywhere else. Keeping this in mind, the court granted specific performance to complete the
contract and deliver the Machines to the plaintiff.
The business structure that offers its shareholders with limited liability, total number of
restrictions along with the legal protection is called as a company which have limited liability.
Whereas, the business structure in which two or more than two people agree on the same terms
relating to the business and its operations for the profit is termed as general partnership. There
are many differences between the company and general partnership, few of them are discussed
further. Company have a separate legal entity which is different from the people who are
running, which makes company liable for all the actions and the activities of the company
(Hannigan, 2018). Whereas partnership firms the partners of the firm personally liable for all the
actions at an unlimited extend. The shareholders of the company has been granted with the
limited liability upon them by the company. Whereas, in the partnership firm all the partners

have unlimited liability and they are held equally responsible for all the liability of the firm (de
Vicq, 2021). Another main difference is that the ownership in the company of any of the
shareholder is Transferable by making a transfer of share by one share holder to another person.
Where as in the case of partnership firm there can be no such transfer of ownership possible.
A dismissal is basically termination of the contract of employment that exist between an
employee and an employer. The law of employment provides employee with right under which
they are protected from fairly dismissing them from the employment. Therefore employer must
always be fair and state the true and ethical reason for the termination of contract to the
employee (Li, 2018). There are 5 reasons upon which an employer may dismiss their employee
fairly. First is the capabilities and the qualification of an employee was not sufficient for its lack
of qualification for a particular job. The next is the conduct of an employee was such that it was
mandatory for him to be terminated. Another reason could be if the employee was continued at
the drop it would have contravene any of the law. The next reason for the removal of an
employee could be redundancy. This is the state in which the employment is no longer available.
Other than these there can be any substantial reasons for the removal of an employee by an
employer. If any employer remove or terminate his employee on the basis of racial
discrimination or by using any unfair means then they shall be liable under the employment act.
The employee shall also be made punishable by the employment Tribunal for the unfair
dismissal of an employee and termination of an employment contract.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above discussion that business law plays an important role in
various business activities. There are mainly three branches of the government in UK that
regulates the country either directly or indirectly. They are executive Judiciary and legislature. It
is also concluded that when there is any breach of contract then the court upon understanding the
relevant matter in question may grand party with the specific performance of the court if they are
satisfied by the facts. The above discussion also concludes that there is a vast difference between
general partnership and that of the company on the basis of company being the separate legal
entity whereas partnership is not. Also the major difference which is discussed above was
relating to the limited liability of the company and unlimited liability of the partners in
partnership firm. The above discussion also concludes that there are many ways under which an
employer may terminate or remove an employee from his company and therefore they shall not
terminate by using any unfair means or otherwise they shall be held liable by the court of
employment Tribunal.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Buckley, F.H., 2020. The Fall and Rise of Crown Government. Drake L. Rev., 68, p.247.
de Vicq, A., 2021. Exploring the Limits of the Limited Partnership: The Case of the Bank of
Twente, 1860s–1920s. Enterprise & Society, pp.1-26.
Hannigan, B., 2018. Company law. Oxford University Press, USA.
Hunter, A.P. and Sanders, G., 2021. Measuring Service Contract Performance: Preliminary
Findings on Effects of Service Complexity, Managerial Capacity, and Paired History.
Rowman & Littlefield.
Li, Y.C., 2018. Law review and comparison of dismissal regulations. In Severance Payment and
Labor Mobility (pp. 125-146). Springer, Singapore.
Mance, J., 2018. The frontiers of executive and judicial power: differences in common law
constitutional traditions. Asia Pacific Law Review, 26(2), pp.109-126.
Rendtorff, J.D., 2019. The concept of business legitimacy: Corporate social responsibility,
corporate citizenship, corporate governance as essential elements of ethical business
legitimacy. In Responsibility and Governance (pp. 45-60). Springer, Singapore.
Treitel, G.H., 2020. IV. Termination Of The Contract. In Contracts in general, Chapter 16:
Remedies for Breach of Contract (Courses of Action Open to a Party Aggrieved) (pp.
110-152). De Gruyter.