QUESTION: Business
Context – Law Assignment
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Programme: BA
Business
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Year/Level:
1/4
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Module
code: BUS407
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Word guide: 2000 words +/- 10%
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Learning Outcomes Tested in this Assignment:
1.
To study features of the English Legal system and the
legal rules affecting business.
2.
To explain the role of justice administered in the
role of resolving commercial disputes.
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Assessment Criteria
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Marks Available
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Marks Awarded
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1
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Outline and
articulate the statutory and common law provisions in relation to the
relevant law. Use a wide variety of case law to illustrate the legal issues.
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35
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2
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Critically
analyse potential problems regarding the application of the law as it applies
to the English Legal system. Sustained arguments should be used throughout.
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45
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3
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Wide-ranging
references with the correct use of the Harvard referencing system.
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10
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4
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Quality of the
written work. Clear structure to the work and correct spelling used
throughout.
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10
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INSTRUCTIONS
· Maximum word limit of 2000 +/- 10% tolerance
· There should be a separate
introduction and conclusion for each task
· Please include a Title page, Table
of Contents, and Appendices if necessary, each on a new page
· Each task should be on a separate
new page.
· Font style: Arial; Font size: 12;
Line spacing: 1.5
· Stated word count at the end of each
task
· Cite and reference your research
sources as appropriate and in Harvard style.
· Use credible sources only
(textbooks, journal articles, and established credible websites).
TASK 1
Mr Jack Brown, a Marketing
consultant, and Mr Charlie Longbottom, an Accountant, run a small but fairly
successful consultancy firm, called ‘Horizons’ in Waterloo, London. The
business has been in operation for 7 years and its annual turnover is
approximately £250,000 per annum. The business has 120 local clients for whom
it provides services in marketing and accountancy.
The partners decide that the
business needs some new blood in the form of a new business partner. They
identify one potential partner in the form of Mrs Jessica Fry, who would bring
much needed expertise in Law and also would also boost the business’ finances
in the form of a capital injection.
Before investing, Jessica wants the
financial statements (Profit & Loss account, and Balance Sheet) of the
practice audited independently.
The independent auditor’s report is
very concerning. It seems that Charlie, has been embezzling money to the tune
of £500,000 over the 7 years the business has been in operation.
Least to say, Jessica pulls out of
the investment. Afraid of legal consequences and being held complicit, Jack seeks
advice from a reputable solicitor, you. Admittedly, Jack knows very little of
the law, and as a first step asks you, the solicitor, about statutory
interpretation.
Explain, analyse and apply the rules
of statutory interpretation to the scenario above.
(40
marks)
TASK 2
Kevin Stormbringer, a close friend
of yours, bought a honeymoon package for himself and his new bride, Maryanne, from
an Internet based company called ‘Love Excursions’. The company was based in
London and were ABTA registered, which Kevin thought was a good sign.
The package cost £3,999 and included
7 nights half-board stay at a 5 star beach resort in Bali, Indonesia. It also
included return flights for two, and transport to and from the hotel. Kevin
thought the price was a ‘steal’ and quickly bought it via his debit card. He
received email confirmation regarding his purchase immediately and was very
happy to continue doing business with them.
Six weeks prior to his honeymoon, he
was to receive his electronic tickets, which didn’t materialise. Kevin, being
slightly concerned fruitlessly called up the company via the telephone number
listed on the email to him and on the company’s website. He tried again several
times to no avail and finally decided that he would pay a physical visit to the
company. The very next day, Kevin visits the address and finds no such company
situated there.
Very concerned, he speaks to the
police and they inform him that the owner of the company is quite the
disreputable businessman. Poor Kevin is now in trouble, he does not know what
to do and furthermore his new wife is threatening to leave him due to his
inaction.
A very frustrated Kevin is advised
by you to recover his money via the small claims process. Explain to Kevin what
steps he will have to take to recover his money, and any problems he may
encounter. Are there any alternatives to using the civil court system, which he
should consider?
(40 marks)
Presentation and written English (10 marks)
Referencing / use of Harvard system (10 marks)
ANSWER: Business Context Law
PART-ONE
Introduction
In
the English legal system statutory interpretation is one of the most important
elements which are used to make decisions regarding different situations. In
this part of the report, a detail about the statutory interpretation rules is
presented and applied according the given situation.
Statutory interpretation
In the British legal system the statutory interpretation is
one of the most important processes. The process is used by the legal system to
interpret and apply the legislation regarding a specific situation (Martin, 2010). In
a sentence, the process of interpreting and applying the legislation within a
situation will be called as the statutory interpretation. For solving the
cases, a court uses different rules and techniques to solve different
situations according to their nature and suitability. Son in brief the
statutory interpretation is the process by which a court applies and interprets
legislation against a case to give decisions.
In the English Legal System the courts uses three major statutory rules
to interpret and apply the legislation (Slapper, Gary & David,
2008).
Golden Rules
In some situations, the judges see that the ordinary meaning
of legislation will be the reason for producing a defective decision by court.
This is why; in such a situation court takes decision apart from the ordinary
meaning of legislation which is called as the golden rule for statutory
interpretation by court (Bryan, 2003).
For example: In Sigsworth (1935), a son killed his mother. But after mother’s
death, a son will get the resources of mother according to English Law. But it
would be inhuman decision for giving the property mother to son who has killed
his mother. In this situation, the court has applied golden rules and apart
from ordinary interpretation of legislation court has provided a special
decision not to give property to the son (Slapper, Gary & David,
2008).
Literal rule
In some situation the court found that the rule or
legislation regarding the situation is directly applicable to make decision. In
this situation, court interprets the law according to its main theme. It will
be called as the literal statutory interpretation. So, it can be said that when
court emphasize on the real theme of legislation to make its decision regarding
a specific situation, it will be called as the literal rule applied by court (Martin, 2010). In
Fishers vs. Bell, (1960), a weapon seller has displayed a flick knife in the
shop window. According to the British Law, offering and selling dangerous
weapon will be a punishable offence. In this case the seller has displayed the
knife. Court interpret the rule as like as offering and selling such weapon is a
offence but displaying such weapon does not mean that he is offering to sell
it. So it is not an illegal task according to the literal rule of statutory
interpretation (David, 2004).
Mischief rule
In some situation, court found that there is a
significant gap within the current law to solve a specific legal problem. In
this situation, court finds the previous law and the current law to find out
the gaps. By filling the legal gaps, court makes interpretation based on the
current and the previous law (ACAS, 2014). This process to interpret
law will be called as the mischief law used by court. In Corkery vs. Curpenter, (1952), a drunk has
been accused for riding cycle in public place. In law there was a law regarding
drunk in public place but there was no rule for cycle. In this situation, to
solve the problem, court used the mischief rule (Bryan, 2003).
Application of statutory
interpretation rules in the current situation
Mr.
Jack Brown and Mr Charlie Longbottom are running a partnership consulting
business which has made annual profit of £250,000 per annum. They provided
marketing and accounting consultancy services to 120 local customers. Now they
have take decision to have a new partner Mrs Jessica Fry, a legal expert. But
she analysed different financial facts in last 7 years and found that Mr
Charlie has embezzled about £500,000 within last seven years. In this situation
she has withdrawn herself from the possible investment as it will create future
legal consequences. In this situation, Mr. Jack Brown wants to make a legal
action against Charlie to recover the damage from embezzlement.
My
interpretation based on literal rules of statutory interpretation
In
this circumstance, Jack does not know what the law is and what its
interpretation within the situation is. Before going to any legal action, he
has come to me. I am a solicitor and I will provide legal explanation to him
regarding the situation. Additionally, I will advise him the actions which will
be taken to recover his damage. I will apply here to interpret the situation
the literal rule as it is directly related to the breach of contract
within partnership business and breach of outmost good faith among the partners
(Bryan, 2003).
According
to the partnership act 1890, a partnership is a contract as it is made based on
the agreement within two or more people for their mutual interest. In this type
organization, one party is the agent of other. According to the partnership
act, if any party is harmed by the other parties’ intentional wrong action, the
partnership business will be terminated as it will be considered as the breach
of contract (Martin, 2010a). The reason behind
it is that the partnership business is established based outmost good faith (ACAS, 2014).
According to the law, in this situation the business of them will be terminated
and court will help Jack to recover the emblazed money. Additionally, court
will, by its supervision, terminate the organization and preserve the rights of
Jack in this termination (Slapper, Gary & David, 2008).
In
this situation, it will be my suggestion to Jack to prepare a case against
Charlie in the court after collection of the legal documents of the embezzlement
by Charlie. In the court to prove it the documents will be submitted (ACAS, 2014). If
the court found Charlie guilt for the breach of partnership agreement for the
embezzlement, Jack will get the chance to recover the damage from embezzlement
as well as right for the proper dissolution of the partnership (David, 2004).
Conclusion
In this part of the report
statutory rules are discussed at the beginning and then the rules have been
applied in the given situation. According to the situation, the literal
statutory rules has been applied to explain the law regarding the breach of
contract of given partnership business.
[Word
count-1084]
PART-TWO
Introduction
The given situation represents that Kevin Stormbringer
has faced a financial loss for making transaction with Love Excursion Company.
To recover his money he has come to me to get advice for taking legal actions.
I have provided different possible and profitable advices to him to recover his
money.
Situation analysis
Kevin Stormbringer is one of my friends. He has
brought a honeymoon package from an internet based company located in London
named Love Excursions which is ABTA registered he brought a package from the
company promised to provide him 5 star beach resort in Bali, Indonesia. The
additional services ware promised to provide transport and return fight within
the package money of £3,999. He paid it
through his debit card and he was to receive an electronic ticket before six
month. But he has not got. Not being able to reach over phone he physically
visited the company address but he has not got any company there named Love
Excursions. He contacted with police and police has said the business is quite
disreputable. Now he is very scared about losing his money. In this situation,
he is thinking to take the legal action against the owner of the organization
to recover his money. On the other hand, his wife is threatening him to leave
him in this circumstance. He has come to me to advice him to recover the money.
My advice
According to the legal system in UK my friend Kevin
Stormbringer has the right to recover the money. But the claim is about £3,999.
According to the British Legal system, this type of case can be resolved in
Small Claims Court as claim under 5000 pounds can be dealt with the Small Claim
Court (Martin, 2010). If he goes in the regular legal system it may cross the claimed money
against the owner which will be unprofitable for my friend. For that reason I
will suggest him to go to the Small claim court to recover the money. But he is
not familiar to the system to claim in the in the small claim court. I am here
to advice him to recover the money through the small claim court.
If Stormbringer goes to the small claim court, he will
enjoy some special benefits for resolving and recovering the money. It will be
the less costing option than the regular court system. On the other hand, he
will cost only £ 50 as according to the law the claim within £3000.01 to £5000
amount (Martin, 2010). The court environment will be highly friendly for him as here the
arbitrator will be district judge in local court. The claim will be presented
by him or any other person authorised by him which will reduce the lawyer fees
(David, 2004).
For the first time he has to collect all the related
mails and other documents and payments related facts. After that he has to
collect a special CPR form (N1, N9A, N9B, N9) named Money Claim form
from website of Her Majesty's Courts & Tribunals Service and it will
be sent to County Court Money Claims Centre. He will have to pay 50 pound in
court (Slapper, Gary & David,
2008). If he wants he can
also claim 8% percent interest on 3999 pounds. After the acceptance of the
claim by court, he will be called in the court for hearing (Bryan, 2003). Here, he may present his claim through a written document. On the
other hand, he can present it by himself/ paid solicitor/ any other authorised
person by him. At last step, if he wins, by himself he can collect the money
and he also can request to recover the winning money by the court which will
require additional 50 pounds. In this way he can recover the money from the
owner of the company Love Excisions (Martin, 2010a).
There are some major problems to use the small claim
court will be faced by Stormbringer. If he don’t feel that the court’s decision
is satisfactory he cannot appeal against the decision (Slapper, Gary & David, 2008). On the other hand, he will not be able to present
perfectly if he wants to present his claim as he is not used to court
environment. Additionally, this type of judgement has no legal base as it is
not a formal court procedure. Furthermore if he win and requires collecting the
money by him it will create an additional problem (David, 2004).
I can suggest him another alternative to recover the
money without using the civil court system which is alternative dispute
resolution. It is an informal legal process outside the court to resolve this
type of money claims or business disputes. The alternative dispute resolution
processes are the arbitration, mediation, mini-trial and the negotiation (ACAS, 2014). In these types of dispute resolution practices, he can hire a person
or third party or any regulatory body based on the natures which type of
alternative dispute resolution system is being used. They will try to resolute
the dispute between Stormbringer and the owner of Love Excursions to recover
the money of him. For using the alternative dispute resolution procedure both
the related parties will be gathered and agreed to resolve the dispute
voluntarily (ACAS, 2014).
Conclusion
As Kelvin Stormbringer has a small claim amounting
3999 pound, I have suggested him to go small claim court and suggested the
procedure in which he will approach. At last I have suggested him another
option to recover the money which is alternative dispute resolution within minimum
cost.
[Word
count-925]
REFERENCE
1.
ACAS, (2014). Settlement
Agreements: A Guide. [Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/o/a/Settlement_agreements_(the_Acas_Guide)JULY2013.pdf.] Accessed: 31-03-2014.
2.
ACAS, (2014). Settlement
agreements. [Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4395]. Accessed: 31-03-2014
3.
David, C., (2004). The
Stories of English. London: Penguin Books
4.
Bryan, G., (2003). Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage.
Oxford :Oxford University Press
5.
Martin, J., (2010). The
English Legal System. 6th ed. London: Hodder Education
6.
Martin, J., (2010a). Unlocking
the English Legal System. London: Hodder Education
7.
Slapper, Gary & David,
K., (2008). The English Legal System. London: Routledge-Cavendish.
8.
ACAS, (2014). Making
more of Alternative Dispute Resolution. [Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/d/s/making-more-of-alternative-dispute-resolution-accessible-version-July-2011.pdf]. Accessed: 31-03-2014
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