Legal Solutions for Business Disputes: Case Studies

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Business law
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Section1. Legal system's nature and legislation impacting the business.........................................4
Task1................................................................................................................................................4
Meaning of the statement “Parliament is sovereign” and discussion about the different sources
of law...........................................................................................................................................4
The role of the UK government in the process of law-making...................................................5
Common law and statutory law application in the justice courts................................................6
Impact of employment law, contract law and company law on the business..............................6
Difference between standards, regulations, and legislation.........................................................7
Task2................................................................................................................................................8
Nature and formation of different types of the business..............................................................8
Difference between the unicorporate and the incoproted business.............................................9
Advantages and disadvantage of partnership and company......................................................10
Section 2 Legal solution to the business problems........................................................................12
Appropriate legal solution to resolve the dispute......................................................................12
Case 1.........................................................................................................................................12
Case 2.........................................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction
Business law which is also referred to as the commercial law is the governing the body of law
that exercises governing power towards commerce and business and deals with both public and
private laws. The main function of the business law is to protect liberties and rights, the
establishment of standards, order maintenance, and dispute resolution. Two areas of business law
exist including commercial entities’ regulation through the partnership laws, the bankruptcy of
the company. The second one is related to the commercial transaction’s regulations through the
contract's law. In the UK there prevail different sources of law such as international treaties,
custom, equity, case laws, and legislation.
This report's first section will cover explaining the term parliament sovereignty. The government
plays an important role in making different laws after passing of the bill through different stages
that later becomes an act of parliament. The description of the application of the statutory and
common law in the justice court will be made. The business organizations of UK has to follow
the company law, employment laws, and contract law the elaboration of the same will be made
discussing the potential impact of all these laws on business. Different business types will be
explained and critical evaluation of the incorporated business and unincorporated business will
be done after referring their management and funding. The pros and cons of the company and
partnership firm will also be made by referring to the case. The second section of the report will
explain about the different legal solutions to the different cases of business problems.
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Section1. Legal system's nature and legislation impacting the business
Task1.
Meaning of the statement “Parliament is sovereign” and discussion about the different
sources of law
UK constitution’s principle is termed as “Parliamentary sovereignty” which makes the
parliament in the UK as the supreme legal authority that has the power of creating or ending the
law. Commonly, the legislation cannot be overruled by the UK courts and no such laws can be
passed that cannot be changed by the parliament in the future. Parliamentary sovereignty is also
known as the “legislative supremacy”. The term expresses that absolute sovereignty is held by
the legislative body and it is supreme over all the institutions of government including judicial or
executive body. Any of the previous legislation can be changed or repealed by the legislative
body and is not bound by precedent or written law (Beatty, et. al, 2018).
There are numerous law sources in the UK that give power to the UK government to exercise
governance and all these sources are binding and obligatory. They are explained below-
 Legislation- It is termed as the primary source of law and serves various purposes such as
to authorize, to provide funds, to grant, to regulate, to enable, to restrict or to declare. The
new laws are framed by the parliament like “acts of parliament” and old laws are repeal
or amend. The lower bodies may be delegated powers of lawmaking by the legislature. In
UK parliament is called as the supreme authority of law that can enact the law which it
wishes to.
 Common law or case law- These laws are based on the judgments given by the judges
and are not created by the parliament. The “doctrine of judicial precedents” are unique
characteristics of UK law where the court's reported decisions to form binding law source
for making future decisions. The decisions made by the superior courts are binding on
judges but that is not bound by the inferior court's decisions (Mahoney, 2013).
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 European Union Law- UK is the member nation of the EU and therefore, it is binding by
the EU laws. EU law includes treaty provisions, precedents, regulations, decisions, and
directives.
 Equity- Equity is termed as the case law which is developed by the court of chancery.
This law prevails over the case law but it has discretionary application. The main
achievements of these laws include probate, equitable, trusts and charities remedies.
 International treaties- International treaties can be signed by the government of the UK
but these are binding only after they get ratified. The conventions become active only
after the ratification by the stated number of signatories. The rights of citizens of the UK
are protected through these treaties. Incorporation of an international convention can be
made into the statute (Besson, and d'Aspremont, 2017).
 Custom- These are not generally written but if followed or practiced for the longer period
of time (“since time immemorial”) they become the law source.
The role of the UK government in the process of law-making
Laws are the rules that are required to be followed by everyone in the country. Various
parliamentary acts are introduced by the government in the greater majority. Firstly the draft is
prepared including the contents that should be covered in the proposed bill and how it can impact
society as a whole. The draft is earlier termed as a bill. The process of lawmaking starts with the
bill. There are three types of the bill including a private bill that is proposed by the public, local
authority or public company that is large in size. Private members bill is prepared by the MP
who is backbench and are required to get entry into the ballot for winning this right. Then the
government persuasion is necessary so that enough parliamentary time can be allowed for the bill
to go through a different process. Public bills are those bills that have the ability to affect the
country as a whole or the large portion of the country (Koskenniemi, 2017). Such bills are
prepared by the cabinet so that the laws can be changed in the country and green appear can
precede them.
Stages of law-making include the following-
First Reading In the House of Commons, the bill title is read along with the
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contents that will be included in it.
Second reading At this stage, the debate is conducted on the bill in a detailed
way and necessary amendments are made accordingly. Then the
voting is done by different MPs to decide if the bill should be
preceded further or not.
Committee stage For examining the bill in detail the reference is made to the
house of commons. In case of necessity, the further amendments
can be made to the bill
Report Stage The reporting is done by the committee regarding the
amendments and debates to the house which is debated further
and voting is done by the house (Horspool, and Humphreys,
2012).
Third reading The house is represented with the bill and it is possible that the
short debate on the bill can be conducted on which is the voting
is cast to decide whether it should be rejected or accepted.
Royal Assent At this stage, the final approval of the bill is made by the
monarch. Later this bill becomes an act of parliament (Kerwin,
et. al, 2018).
Common law and statutory law application in the justice courts
Statutory law- The statutory law is the law which is written and it is passed by the
legislator body. This law is deliberately created by the government
through the process of official legislative or through the elected
legislature. The statutory law can be enforced or interpreted by the
judiciary but cannot be created by the judiciary. These are in the form
of the codified statute or acts which are considered by the officers
and judges so that they can give judgmental decision ( Anderson, et.
al, 2012).
Common law Common law is the body of law that is unwritten and is based on the
legal precedents which are established by the courts. The process of
decision-making is influenced by the common law in cases where
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there is no existing statute or written statutory law ( Llewellyn, 2016).
Impact of employment law, contract law and company law on the business
 Employment law- This law regulates the strong relations between the business’
employees and employer. It governs the rights of employees and what is expected from
the employer. As per the national minimum wage act, 1998 the minimum wage of about
£8.21 is mandatorily required to be paid to the workers over 25 years old. The regulation
of working time, 1998 give the right to employees to get 28 days paid holidays, attempts
at limiting excessive working hours, and work breaks. The focus of the law is to protect
the rights of employees and to check that they are not exploited by their employees. They
are provided with fair wages, the good environment of working, and with the necessities
that are basic (Raz, 2017).
 Company law- The regulations of the corporations are done by the company law in the
UK that is formed under the companies act, 2006. This law’s main purpose is to provide
protection to the stakeholders of the company and define the rules and regulations of the
company's managers and directors. The companies are required to get incorporated under
this act. The legislation mainly focuses on ensuring that the principles of corporate
governance are duly complied with and the operations of the company are taking place in
good and reliable faith.
 Contract Laws- In E&W the contract law is the regulating body of law through which the
contracts are regulated. As per this law, the aggrieved party will be paid with the
compensation in case of contract breaching. The contract law deals with the civil matters
and it is ensured that the parties to the agreement are served with the proper rights and
interest. English common law is contract law in the UK (Hillman, 2012).
Difference between standards, regulations, and legislation
 Standards- The standard institution of British is the quality standard that is set for the
products and services of the UK organizations. It is very essential for all the
organizations of the UK to ensure that their products and services are efficient in quality,
and safety. These standards are the codified norms that are required to be followed by
each corporation. The organization’s articles should include the prescribed standards.
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 Regulations- Regulations refers to the set of trends and rules that are issued by various
government agencies and departments. The provisions of the legislation are mandatory to
be carried out. The regulation includes the proper procedure for the legislation applies.
 Legislation- These are the statutes or laws that are enacted by the legislature or by the
governing body. The legislation is proposed by a legislative member and it is amended
before being passage. These laws are applicable to all UK organizations.
Task2.
Nature and formation of different types of the business
After being graduated the partnership venture was established by Jane, Marie and Penny named
as “JPM Publishing”. The partners are thinking to expand their business by extra funding. For
which their accountant has advised them to get registered as the LLP. There are different
business forms which JPM can adopt for getting the fund.
Sole Proprietorship- It is the simplest form of business which is not a legal entity. Only one
person is responsible for owning the business that is called as a sole trader and he is responsible
personally for all the debts of the company. All the profits of the company are received by the
sole trader. The business assets are owned by him and he can hire employees for getting
assistance for the functions and operations of the business (Elsing, et. al, 2014).
Limited Liability partnership- LLP is that partnership firm which needs at least two of the
persons to get registered under the LLP act, 2000. Their internal management function is very
flexible. It is the body corporate that has a separate legal entity from its members and the
members are having limited liability meaning that the misconduct done by the one partner will
not affect other partner’s liability.
Partnership- it refers to the arrangement or agreement among the parties who are known as the
partners and agree for advancing their mutual interest. In the UK, the partnership firms have to
get themselves registered under the partnership act, 1890 as per which the partners of the firm
are having the unlimited liability and they are held responsible personally for the losses and
debts to the firm. The profits are shared as per the capital contribution made by them or
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according to the profit sharing ratio decided mutually by the partners (Painter, and Holmes,
2015).
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Difference between the unicorporate and the incoproted business
There are various differences between the unicorporated business and the incorporated business
that must be understood so as to achieve the knwoledge and advantage and various disadvantage
of incorporating the business or registering the business with the incorporating body.
 Incorporated business: This is the type of business which is considered to have the
registration done with the government of the country so that they get constituted in the
country as a legal body that is having the objective of performing the business operations
more importantly. Hence this is seen that the business has the separate legal constitution
in the eyes of law. They have the liability in their own name and the owners of the
company are not personally liable for the amount of debt the business has attained. The
business organisation being the separate legal entity has the separate tax implication on
them and the owners of the business has separate legal entity for the same. The owners of
the business cannot attain the credit for their own return. In this type of business this is
seen that it is important for the organisation to record the documents such as record of the
minutes of the meeting as this is important for the organisation according the government
rule to make the record of the same (Orlov, 2016). The company has to file the return
quarterly the reports which includes the balance sheet and the income statement of the
company or the business. Hence this is seen that there is a requirement of extensive
paperwork that helps in performing the objective more specifically. Also this is
considered that the incorporate business is managed by the owners who are the directors
of the business also they appoint the managers on their behalf who takes control over the
business operation on their behalf. The manager and the directors of the company has
delegated the power to the other business organisation. The business is considered to
have one the best advantage where they are able to achieve the objective of getting fund
for the company. The company has the best advantage for getting the fund as there are
various source through which the funds can be generated from the public. Some of the
funds includes the debentures, shareholders equity, bonds, bank loans, etc. as various
source for the funds for the company.
 Unincorporated business: this is the type of business which is considered to be the
extension of their owners or the managers. This type of business does not require to make
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the registration done with the government of the country. it is seen that here the
registration of the business Is not compulsory and the business operation can be done
without getting themselves registered with the government. Here in this type of business
there is flexibility in doing the business as there is provisions where the tax credit can be
taken for the personal of the business (Vagts, Koh, Dodge and Buxbaum, 2015). Also
there is an advantage where there is no requirement to make any paperwork for the
purpose of government record. Also this is seen that the life of the business is considered
to be limited as the business does carries on for unlimited life. The life of the business is
dependent on the life of the owner of the business and hence has the limited life. There
are various types of business in this regard of unincorporated business. Some of these
includes them includes partnership and the sole proprietorship firms. It is seen that the
management of the business is based partners or the single owner based on the structure
of the business under which the business is working. Here in this type of business
organisation has very few source for raising the funds of which the main part consist the
owners own capital. Various other source includes bank loans and the other forms of
credits that are personally arranged by the owner for the operation of the business.
Advantages and disadvantage of partnership and company
Basis Advantages Disadvantages
Partnership The partnership firm has
various advantages of which
one of the most important is
formation of the firm. It is
also seen that there is less
legal formality for the same
and also has fewer legal
obligations for the same
(Mayss and Reed, 2018). The
main advantage over here is
that it has the mutual support
and companionship which
There is a disadvantage of the
same where the liability is on
partners of the firm where
they have to share the same if
the firm is not able to pay for
the debts that are generated in
their own name. also there is
a disadvantage where the
disagreement can be
generated among the partners.
This is seen that the partners
are liable for the acts that are
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helps them in doing the task
more specifically and work
with each other so as to
achieve the joint objective of
profit maximisation. This
helps in getting the better
partnership decision for the
same. Also this is seen that
more capital can be achieved
through this purpose of the
formation of the partnership
as compared to the sole
proprietorship firms. The
partners of the business has
different skills and
knowledge that helps them to
achieve the objective of
maximisation of the
performance of the business.
It has one more advantage
where the risk can be shared
among the partners of the
firm.
done by each other hence the
fiduciary relationship exist
between the two. Here no
independent status of the
business exist as it has no
legal existence and it is based
on the partners of the firm.
The raising of money is not
easy as compared to the sole
proprietorship firm. There is
limit on the business
development of the firm.
Company It is considered as the
company which has the
separate legal entity for the
business which is different
from the owners of the
business. Here in this type of
business there is no limit for
the maximum number of the
The main disadvantage of the
company is that they have to
maintain various types of the
records and has to comply
with the different rules that
are applicable on the same.
This is the seen that in the
case of the company there is
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