Company Law Overview

Course : Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Accounting and Finance

Subject Code and Title : BAB 1102: BUSINESS LAW

Semester : January 2010

Contact Hour : 6 hours/week

Lecturer and Tutor : P.Vijayganesh

E-mail address : vijayganesh88@gmail.com

Room : Department of Law, School of Business and Law

Telephone No. : 012 9200906

Consultation Hours : (By appointment only)

Subject Description

Defining law is never easy. There are thousands of books written that attempt to define or provide some perspective as to the meaning of law. We live in a society that has a legal system in operation and we often take the law and its existence for granted. However, if you spent a few minutes to ponder this question, you may find a variety of meanings that can be attributed to the phrase ‘law'.

For some, the law represents what the police or the courts do. For others it represents the written laws in a country. Alternatively, law could be viewed as the set of rules that regulate and govern human behaviour as established by those who have legitimate authority to do so. So really there is no one singular meaning to the phrase ‘law'.

There is no human conduct or behaviour that does not have a corresponding legal principle, concept or argument entwined in it. In the context of the business environment, there are numerous ways in which the law will play a part in determining various rights and obligations.

For example, in a business environment, parties may have entered into legal agreements or contracts. Alternatively, there may be commercial transactions that involve insurance laws or shipping laws. There may be some form of regulatory or legal control that determines whether a factory can be purchased by your company. More importantly in a financial and accounting environment, there are numerous laws that deal with how you manage accounts or the extent you are allowed to disclose information or laws that regulate financial institutions.

These are just some examples of how the law and legal principles relate to the business and accounting environment. There are many more types of situations and we can only just explore some of them. The primary focus therefore is limited to the study of contract law, the law of tort, the laws that govern partnership and agency as well as the laws that govern the employment of individuals. These are areas that are fundamental in the business environment and have an impact on how you function in the environment that you will find