Business Law Assignment: Legal Requirements for Transactions

This report analyzes various aspects of business law, addressing key legal requirements for transactions. It explores the territorial effect of legislation, fundamental rights, and the rule of lenity in criminal and taxation laws. The report delves into industry self-regulation, comparing its advantages and disadvantages with state regulation. It also examines different business structures (sole proprietorship, partnership, and company), outlining their pros and cons. Furthermore, the assignment summarizes an article on domestic violence and discusses the importance of state and federal legislation in conveyancing practices, providing examples of relevant acts and regulations.

Running head: BUSINESS LAW
Business Law
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Question 7
a) The Parliament of Australia intends to legislate laws that are only applicable within the
Australian territorial limits, unless otherwise expressed. They are not meant to interfere
into cases that are governed by laws of a different country. They do not extend to the
matters of overseas foreigners. However, exceptions like the Crimes Act 1914 (section 3)
expressly operates beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the Commonwealth (Aph.gov.au
2018).
b) The legislations are refrained from making any alterations or interfere with the
Fundamental Rights of the citizens as the Australian Constitution solely governs them,
and only the Constitution can add, alter or make necessary changes to the rights of the
Citizens (Alrc.gov.au 2018).
c) Cases related to crimes and taxation law should be treated as per the Rule of Lenity. It
says that the court is required to apply an ambiguous law in favour of the defendant
giving him the benefit of doubt (Fedcourt.gov.au 2018).
d) Generally, it is not possible to violate a law, which is yet to be legislated. However,
legislations having a retrospective effect is the exception to the general rule. Legislations
are not supposed to have a retrospective effect unless that effects the major change of
legal procedure (Rule of Law Institute of Australia 2018).
Question 12
The article on Domestic Violence under the Hot Topic 87 of the State Library of New
South Wales. Domestic Violence is one of the most common violation of human right prevalent

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even in the most modern States. Women face violence, cruel and degrading treatment from her
own family, more specifically from the men in the family. Violence is observed due to financial
issues, dowry debts, substance addiction of the oppressor, sexual torture, mental cruelty and
various other reasons. The article thus strives to point out the issues faced by women from such
violence and the legal framework that are present to safeguard them. The article has been divided
into eight chapters that talks about the various facets of domestic violence at length. It throws
light on Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 for discussing about Apprehended
Violence Orders. It also discusses about Women’s Legal Services available to the Australian
women. It has incorporated the changed Domestic Violence Orders issued from 25 November
2017 that is recognized as protective measure to domestic violence all across Australia. It adds
Victims Right and Support Act 2013 to its topic of discussion as well. However, the article
clearly mentions that it should be treated as a guide and not as a legal advice (State Library of
NSW 2018).
Question 15
Industry Self-regulation has several advantages and disadvantages at the same time. The
advantages are as follows:
 It helps the industry to reduce the production costs that arises due to unnecessary
regulations, which are eventually borne by the consumers.
 It helps to diminish information asymmetry that creates issues in the market.
 It boosts the economy by forming a flexible and hassle-free regulatory environment, in
contrary to the complicated and inefficient state regulatory bodies.

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Disadvantages are:
 It can be seen as ‘weaker’ in comparison to the state regulatory bodies as its rules are
less stringent and it enforces its rule quite ineffectively.
 There may be chances of collusion within the self-regulatory body of an industry,
which is difficult to be ascertained. Anti-trust suits are brought against such bodies
often.
 Conflict of interest, more often, comes into the way of the proper functioning of a
self-regulatory industry (Cohen and Sundararajan 2015).
Question 22
Advantages and disadvantages of:
a) Sole Proprietorship:
The sole proprietor has total control and power to take all decisions regarding the
business. He does not need to pay any corporate tax, except for his personal tax based on
the income from the business. Sole proprietorship attracts minimal legal cost to establish
a business. Unlike other forms of business, it does not require too many business
formalities.
A sole proprietor may be held liable personally for any debt of his business.
Investors usually refrain from investing in a sole proprietorship. Moreover, all
responsibilities of the business are on the shoulder of the proprietor that puts a burden on
him.
b) Partnership:

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The partnership business does not require filing of income tax, while the partner
file individual income tax returns. Due to the presence of one than one owner, a
partnership business has a better probability to raise fund, has vast knowledge and
contacts and a better management system.
Conflict of interest and decision-making is the major problem faced by
partnership businesses as for any transaction, it needs unanimous affirmations of all
partners. Moreover, partners are individually liable to creditors.
c) Company:
I would choose Company over the other two types of businesses as it is easier to
get investment in a company than any other types of business due to the shares offered by
the company. The company separates itself from the directors by a corporate veil, which
does not make the directors individually liable to the debts of the company.
However, the directors faces double taxation, which is individual tax and the
corporate tax. The directors dominates over the minority shareholders as they hold the
significant number of shares (Archive.nytimes.com 2018).
Question 5
The rules regarding the conduct of professional conveyancers are laid down in the
Conveyancers (Professional Conduct) Regulations 2018. It is procedural guide for conveyancers.
Conveyancers Act 2006 is a state legislation. It lays down the provisions for making any
transacting relating to private property and guides the conveyancers to solve legal issues
regarding such matters. Section 4 of this Act states the meaning of ‘conveyancing work’

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(Vcat.vic.gov.au 2018). While, Conveyancing Act 1913 is a federal legislation that lays down the
details about land registrars who help in registering lands formally. It helps conveyancers to
register lands correctly, vested by their clients (Legislation.gov.au 2018).

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References:
Alrc.gov.au. (2018). Common law foundations | ALRC. [online] Available at:
https://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/common-law-foundations [Accessed 17 Sep. 2018].
Aph.gov.au. (2018). Supporting Materials – Parliament of Australia. [online] Available at:
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/
pubs/rp/rp0102/02rp13#doc11 [Accessed 17 Sep. 2018].
Archive.nytimes.com. (2018). Advantages and Disadvantages of Sole Proprietorships - New
York Times. [online] Available at:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/allbusiness/AB4113314_primary.html?mcubz=0
[Accessed 17 Sep. 2018].
Cohen, M. and Sundararajan, A., 2015. Self-regulation and innovation in the peer-to-peer sharing
economy. U. Chi. L. Rev. Dialogue, 82, p.116.
Fedcourt.gov.au. (2018). Legality, rights and statutory interpretation. [online] Available at:
http://www.fedcourt.gov.au/digital-law-library/judges-speeches/justice-rares/rares-j-20130620
[Accessed 17 Sep. 2018].
Legislation.gov.au. (2018). Conveyancing Act 1913 (NI). [online] Available at:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015Q00105 [Accessed 17 Sep. 2018].

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Rule of Law Institute of Australia. (2018). Retrospective Legislation and the Rule of Law - Rule
of Law Institute of Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.ruleoflaw.org.au/retrospective-
legislation-and-the-rule-of-law/ [Accessed 17 Sep. 2018].
State Library of NSW. (2018). Hot Topics 87: Domestic Violence. [online] Available at:
https://legalanswers.sl.nsw.gov.au/hot-topics-87-domestic-violence [Accessed 17 Sep. 2018].
Vcat.vic.gov.au. (2018). Conveyancers Act 2006 | VCAT. [online] Available at:
https://www.vcat.vic.gov.au/case-types/review-and-regulation/conveyancers-act-2006-review-
inquiry [Accessed 17 Sep. 2018].