Module SXL-3121:
Partnerships and Company Law

Module Facts

Run by School of History, Law and Social Sciences

20.000 Credits or 10.000 ECTS Credits

Semester 2

Organiser: Dr Ama Eyo

Overall aims and purpose

The module aims to ensure students acquire an understanding of the core legal principles that regulate various business structures, and to promote in them a critical awareness of the role of the law in regulating business organisations.

Students completing this module will be also be equipped to evaluate the idea of the company in a broader social context by considering a range of issues, including the consequences of wrongdoing by companies and the extent to which companies have responsibilities to society at large (corporate social responsibility), and perspectives on corporate governance.

Course content

The module will allow students to study a range of issues on the organisation of businesses, including but not limited to the law on the following:

  • Classifications of business organisations - Sole traders, Partnerships, and Companies and differences between them, including the advantages and disadvantages of different business forms;
  • Partnerships;
  • Introduction to company law;
  • Pre-incorporation contracts and promoters;
  • Incorporation requirements;
  • Limited liability and lifting the veil;
  • The company’s constitution and variation of constitutional documents;
  • Corporate activities and liabilities for contracts, torts, and criminal activities;
  • Corporate Social Responsibility;
  • Corporate Governance;
  • Company Administration;
  • Protection of minority shareholders’ rights;
  • Corporate Finance and share capital issues;
  • Corporate Restructuring; and
  • Corporate failures – insolvency, liquidation and liability for improper trading.

Assessment Criteria

threshold

Threshold: D- to D+ (40-49%) An answer which, while predominantly correct in its presentation of material, contains a significant level of error and is therefore not entirely reliable.

excellent

Excellent: A- to A* (70+%) An outstanding, possibly brilliant, answer, containing all the material relevant to the question and no irrelevancy, all the material and references being accurate and correct, there being no inaccuracy or error, the whole presented in a clear, logical, critical argument with little room for improvement. An answer which demonstrates a complete mastery of the subject.

good

Good: B- to B+ (60-69%) High Standard: A comprehensive answer, containing all the material relevant to the question and no irrelevancy, all the material and references being accurate and correct, there being no inaccuracy or error, the whole presented in an argument which, while clear, logical and critical, leaves room for improvement in its construction and presentation. An answer which shows complete competence in the subject.

C- to C+

C- to C+ (50-59%) An answer which, while always in the main accurate and correct, fails to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant material and is lacking in criticism. An answer which while reliable with regard to correctness is either not comprehensive or not entirely pertinent.

Learning outcomes

  1. Formulate original interpretations and arguments on legal topics relating to various business organisations.

  2. Appraise the broader contemporary contexts in which the legal regime on partnerships and companies operate.

  3. Compose arguments for legal reform of contentious aspects of the Companies Act 2006 in the light of contemporary developments.

  4. Identify and critically evaluate the law relating to different types of business organisations and the similarities and differences between the various business structures.

  5. Synthesise and critically apply information from primary and secondary legal authorities to solve factual and hypothetical business problems.

Assessment Methods

Type Name Description Weight
COURSEWORK Written assignment

Students will complete a 3,000 word essay on topics taken from first five weeks of the semester.

 40.00
EXAM Final examination

Students will sit a two hour exam on topics taken from their studies across the semester. Students will answer two questions; one essay format and one problem question format.

 60.00

Teaching and Learning Strategy

Hours
Private study

The module requires students to undertake private study in order to prepare for seminars and assessments. Students will be assigned reading and materials for private study throughout the duration of the course.

 156
Seminar

The module will be taught by means of 44 hours of seminars over the course of one semester.

Seminars will be by means of 2 x 2 hour sessions per week over 11 weeks using a blended learning approach.

Students will be expected to engage in dialogue and discussion about substantive issues during each seminar, and be actively engaged in activities that will enhance their understanding.

 44

Transferable skills

  • Literacy - Proficiency in reading and writing through a variety of media
  • Computer Literacy - Proficiency in using a varied range of computer software
  • Self-Management - Able to work unsupervised in an efficient, punctual and structured manner. To examine the outcomes of tasks and events, and judge levels of quality and importance
  • Exploring - Able to investigate, research and consider alternatives
  • Information retrieval - Able to access different and multiple sources of information
  • Inter-personal - Able to question, actively listen, examine given answers and interact sensitevely with others
  • Critical analysis & Problem Solving - Able to deconstruct and analyse problems or complex situations. To find solutions to problems through analyses and exploration of all possibilities using appropriate methods, rescources and creativity.
  • Presentation - Able to clearly present information and explanations to an audience. Through the written or oral mode of communication accurately and concisely.
  • Argument - Able to put forward, debate and justify an opinion or a course of action, with an individual or in a wider group setting
  • Self-awareness & Reflectivity - Having an awareness of your own strengths, weaknesses, aims and objectives. Able to regularly review, evaluate and reflect upon the performance of yourself and others

Subject specific skills

  • Develop the ability to interpret legal rules and employ techniques of legal reasoning competently and efficiently in order to offer a range of solutions and conclusions to actual or hypothetical complex legal problems, all supported by relevant academic literature, jurisprudence and legislative research. Such solutions will be clearly communicated and presented
  • Develop the ability to analyse complex legal issues, set against the background of the political, social, economic or cultural contexts in which they may arise
  • Develop those skills which are necessary for scholarship and research in legal subjects, namely the ability to identify relevant primary and secondary legal sources and to retrieve accurate legal information using paper and electronic sources

Resources

Resource implications for students

Students should have a copy of the core textbook

Talis Reading list

http://readinglists.bangor.ac.uk/modules/sxl-3121.html

Reading list

The Core Textbook for the module is - Lee Roach, Company Law, Oxford University Press, 2019.

Students may also choose other books including the following: - L. Sealy and S. Worthington, Cases and Materials in Company Law, (11th edn, OUP, 2016); or - Alan Dignam, Hicks and Goo’s Cases and Materials on Company Law (7th edn, OUP 2011).

Statute Book: Derek French, Blackstone’s Statutes on Company Law or any other Company Law Statute Book.

Pre- and Co-requisite Modules

Courses including this module

Compulsory in courses:

Optional in courses: