- •Contents
- •1. Words to be remembered.
- •2. Text for reading. The Classification of English Law
- •Legal Personality
- •Natural persons
- •Corporations
- •Unincorporated associations
- •The Sources of English Law
- •Case law
- •Legislation
- •The Courts in Great Britain European Community Law
- •The direct applicability and direct effectivity of Community law
- •Legislation Treaty provisions
- •Regulations
- •3. Questions.
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main points of the text. Unit 2. Business Organisations
- •1. Words to be remembered.
- •2. Text for reading.
- •A. The Sole Trader
- •B. The Partnership
- •The existence of a business
- •Carried on in common
- •With a view of profit
- •Persons capable of being partners
- •Firm and the firm name
- •Illegal Partnerships
- •The Relations of Partners to One Another
- •Partnership Property
- •The rights of Partnership Inter Se
- •The expulsion of a partner
- •Duties of Partners Rendering true accounts and full information
- •Duty to account for secret profits
- •Liability in Torts
- •Vicarious liability
- •3. Questions.
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main points of the text. Unit 3. Business Organisations The Registered Company
- •1. Words to be remembered.
- •2. Text for reading. C. The Registered Company
- •Unlimited liability companies
- •Limited liability companies
- •Private and public companies limited by shares
- •Groups of Companies: Holding and Subsidiary Companies
- •Separate legal person
- •The Constitution of a Registered Company
- •The contents of the Memorandum
- •The name clause
- •Change of name
- •Common law restrictions on choice of name: ‘passing off’
- •The registered office clause
- •The capital clause
- •Company Promoters
- •Fiduciary duties of promoters
- •Provisional Contracts by Public Companies
- •3. Questions.
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main points of the text. Unit 4. Business Organisations The Registered Company as Itself
- •1. Words to be remembered.
- •2. Text for reading. The Directors
- •The appointment of directors
- •The retirement of directors
- •Age restrictions on directors
- •Disqualification of directors
- •Duty to disqualify unfit directors of insolvent companies
- •The Company Secretary
- •The Enforcement of Directors’ Duties
- •Common law exceptions to the rule in Foss V. Harbottle
- •Illegal acts
- •Personal rights of a shareholder
- •The form of the minority action.
- •Statutory exceptions to Foss V. Harbottle
- •Just and equitable winding up
- •Department of Trade investigations.
- •3. Questions.
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main points of the text. Unit 5. Shares and Shareholders
- •1. Words to be remembered.
- •2. Text for reading. Shares and Shareholders
- •The rights and liabilities of the shareholder
- •Registered and bearer shares
- •Mortgages of shares
- •Classes of share
- •Variation of shareholders’ rights
- •Becoming a Member of a Company
- •Ceasing to be Member
- •Transfer of Shares
- •Restrictions on transfers
- •The Register of Members
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main point of the text. Unit 6. Consumer Protection
- •1. Words to be remembered.
- •Merger – поглощение, слияние компаний
- •2. Text for reading. Aims of Competition Law
- •The Fair Trading Act 1973
- •Control of Rogue Dealers
- •Monopolies
- •Mergers
- •The Consumer Protection Act 1987
- •Defective product
- •3. Questions.
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main points of the text. Unit 7. Bankruptcy
- •1. Words to be remembered.
- •2. Text for reading. Bankruptcy
- •Persons who can be made bankrupt
- •The bankruptcy petition
- •The consequences of the bankruptcy order
- •3. Questions.
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •1. Words to be remembered.
- •2. Text for reading. Definition of Agency
- •Types of Agent
- •The Authority of the Agent
- •By conscent of the principal
- •Ratification
- •Authority by operation of the law: agency of necessity
- •3. Questions.
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main points of the text.
- •1. Words to be remembered. Tort – деликт, гражданское правонарушение
- •2. Text for reading.
- •Importance of Tortious Liability
- •Torts affecting the person
- •Torts affecting property
- •Torts affecting economic rights
- •Torts affecting reputation
- •Torts affecting rights generally
- •3. Questions.
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main points of the text. Unit 10. The Law of Contract
- •1. Words to be remembered.
- •2. Text for reading. The Law of Contract
- •Essentials of a Contract
- •Contracts for the Sale of Goods
- •The Form of the Contract
- •The Implied Terms in a Contract for the Sale of Goods
- •3. Questions.
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main points of the text. Unit 11. Contracts of Employment
- •1. Words to be remembered.
- •2. Text for reading. Contracts of Employment The Contract for Service and the Contract for Services
- •The distinguishing criteria
- •The position of casual workers
- •The position of temporary workers
- •Vicarious Liability
- •Continuity of Employment
- •Formation of the Contract of Employment.
- •Terms implied into a contract of employment by the common law
- •Terms implied into contracts of employment by statute
- •Unfair dismissal
- •Remedies for unfair dismissal
- •Transfers of undertakings.
- •Fixed Term and Performance Contracts
- •3. Questions.
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main points of the text. Unit 12. The Nature and Classification of Business Property
- •1. Words to be learned.
- •2. Text for reading. The Nature and Classification of Business Property
- •Introduction into English Law of Real Property
- •Freehold estates
- •Leasehold estates
- •Equitable estates
- •Legal and equitable estates compared
- •Rights Over the Property of Another
- •Easements and profits
- •Restrictive covenants
- •The Reforms of 1925
- •Registered and Unregistered Conveyancing
- •Unregistered conveyancing
- •Registered conveyancing
- •The Classification of Estates and Interest in Land: Unregistered and Registered Unregistered land
- •Registered land
- •Choses in Possession
- •Choses in Action
- •Assignable choses in action
- •Negotiable choses
- •Negotiable instruments.
- •Intellectual Property Rights Trade marks and brand names
- •3. Questions.
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main points of the text. Unit 13. The Nature of Security
- •1. Words to be learned.
- •2. Text for reading. Securities for Loans The Nature of a Security
- •Mortgages of Land
- •Legal mortgages
- •Mortgage by demise.
- •Mortgages and reality of consent
- •Priority and Protection of Mortgagees
- •Mortgage protection in unregistered conveyancing
- •Mortgage protection in registered land
- •3. Questions
- •4. Find the following sentences in the text.
- •5. Recite the main points of the text.
- •Vocabulary
- •Latin terms
Variation of shareholders’ rights
The power to vary the shareholders’ rights depends on whether there is one class or two or more classes of shares. In the first case the shareholders have membership rights and in the second they have class rights.
Variation of class rights.
Where the rights are contained in the articles or the terms of issue, there is a procedure for variation either with the written consent of three-quarters of the shareholders of that class, or the sanction of an extraordinary resolution passed at a separate class meeting.
If the memorandum prohibits variation, then the rights are unalterable except by way of a reconstruction under s.425. If there is no procedure stipulated in either the memorandum or the articles, variation of rights requires the unanimous consent of all the members of the company.
Becoming a Member of a Company
A person can become a member of the company by (i) allotment, (ii) transfer, (iii) transmission, (iv) subscribing to the memorandum and (v) estoppel (holding out). Except in the case of subscription, there are two conditions of membership: agreement to become a member, and entry on the register of members. Transmission is where the shares are passed to another on the death of a former shareholder and estoppel arises where a person allows his name to appear in the register of members without requesting a correction of the register.
Ceasing to be Member
A person ceases to be a member of the company by: (i) transfer, (ii) forfeiture or surrender, (iii) sale by the company under its power of lien, (iv) transmission and (v) redemption of redeemable shares.
Transfer of Shares
Unless the company’s articles provide otherwise, every shareholder has a right to transfer his shares freely. A share certificate is prima facie evidence of title.
The company has a duty to have ready for delivery a certificate of all shares within two months of allotment or of the date of the lodging of a transfer.
Restrictions on transfers
The articles of private companies may allow the directors to refuse to register transfers of shares.
Public companies can have restrictions on free transferability except if their shares are dealt with on the Stock Exhange or the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The most frequent restriction is the preemption clause which provides that shares cannot be transferred to a non-member as long as there is an existing member prepared to purchase them at a fair price.
The Register of Members
Every company must keep a register of members. The register must be kept at the registered office or at the place where it is made up; the Registrar of Companies must be informed where it is kept. The register must be available for inspection and members may obtain a copy of the register or part of it on the payment of the appropriate charge.
3. Questions.
What is a share?
What the principal right of a shareholder?
What is the difference between registered and bearer shares?
What are the main classes of shares?
How can a person become a member of the company?
In what cases does a person cease to be a member of the company?
How can transfer of shares be restricted?
Where must the register of members be kept?