- •Московская финансово-промышленная академия
- •Unit 1. The Structure of English legal System
- •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
- •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
- •Duty not to compete with the firm
- •The relations of Partners to Persons dealing with Them Powers of partners to bind the firm
- •Liability for Debts and Contractual Obligations
- •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
- •Pre-incorporation contracts
- •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.
- •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.
- •Unit 8. The Law of Agency
- •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. Unit 9. The Law of Tort
- •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
- •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.
- •Legal charge.
- •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 a
- •Latin terms
Monopolies
The whole area of the law is now within the Fair Trading Act 1973 under control of the DG and the MMC. This consists of not less than ten and not more than 27 members appointed by the Secretary of State. Its principal functions are to investigate and report on any question referred to it under the Act.
Mergers
The power to order that a merger shall not go ahead lies with the Secretary of State; the duty to keep situations under review where there might be a merger situation calling for investigation is on the DG. Many companies seek the confidential guidance of the OFT as to whether the DG might advise the Secretary of State to make a merger reference to the Commission. It is the duty of the DG to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who will in turn make any reference to the Commission – the DG may not refer merger situations personally. The Secretary of State may make a reference when it appears to him that two or more enterprises (one at least in the UK) have ceased to be distinct enterprises. He must also be of the view that, as a result, either a monopoly situation is or would be created (that is, one-quarter of the market would be supplied) or the value of the assets taken over exceeds £5m. If the merger has already taken place, it must have been within the six months prior to the reference.
The procedure is that the DG as Chair of the Interdepartmental Mergers Panel is normally able to complete his preliminary investigations and advise the Secretary of State within four weeks. If the Secretary of State decides to make a reference, the Commission must report within six months, with a possible extension of a further three months. It normally reports within three to four months. The Commission must then both establish that a merger situation exists and that it operates or may be expected to operate against the public interest. The Secretary of State has power to make orders as a result but more usually the DG is requested to obtain undertakings.
As regards newspaper mergers, the transfer of a newspaper or its assets to a newspaper proprietor whose own newspapers have an average daily circulation of 500 000 (including that of the newspaper concerned in the transfer) is unlawful and void unless written consent is given by the Secretary of State.
The Consumer Protection Act 1987
Under the Act a person who is injured by a defective product has a right of action against the manufacturer irrespective of whether or not the manufacturer was negligent. The basis of the claim is s.2, which requires the plaintiff to establish four things:
that the product contained a defect,
that the plaintiff suffered damage,
that the damage was caused by the defect,
that the defendant was producer, own-brander or importer into the EC of the product.
Defective product
A product is defective ‘if the safety of the product is not such as persons generally are entitled to expect’. Safety includes risks of death or personal injury but also extends to cover risks of damage to property. In determining whether a product is defective all the circumstances must be taken into account including:
the manner in which, and purposes for which, the product has been marketed, its get-up, the use of any mark in relation to the product and any instructions for doing or refraining from doing anything with the product;
what might reasonably be expected to be done with or in relation to the product; and
the time when the product was supplied by its producer to another; and nothing in this section shall require a defect to be inferred from the fact alone that the safety of a product which is supplied after that time is greater than the safety of the product in question.
Products are widely defined and include goods, electricity, gas and vapours. There are three exceptions: land, primary agricultural products and unprocessed game. The definition of land includes “things comprised in land by virtue of being attached to it”. This includes buildings and excludes builders from liability under the Act for any defects. Agricultural products are excluded from liability unless they have undergone an “industrial process” giving them “essential characteristics”. This presumably includes any processing of the product such as freezing, canning or otherwise transforming the product – meat into sausages, potatoes into frozen chips – when the processor is the producer for liability purposes, not the farmer.