Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the four principal business structures in the UK, namely the sole proprietorship, ordinary partnership, limited liability partnership (LLP), and company. The LLP and the company are created via a process called incorporation and are therefore known as incorporated business structures or, as they are referred to in their respective statutes, as ‘bodies corporate’. The sole proprietorship and the ordinary partnership are not created via incorporation and so are known as unincorporated business structures.
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Chapter
1. Business structures
Chapter
7. Capital and capital maintenance
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the two principal types of capital that companies acquire: share capital (capital obtained by selling shares) and debt capital (capital borrowed from others). Having obtained share capital through the selling of shares, the law requires that the company ‘maintain’ that capital by not distributing it in unauthorized ways, notably by prohibiting companies from returning capital to the shareholders prior to liquidation.
Chapter
2. Companies and Corporate Personality
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter considers the main legal forms used for businesses in the UK—particularly sole traders, general partnerships, limited liability partnerships (LLPs), and companies (public and private). It then examines how registered companies limited by shares come into existence. On registration a company becomes a legal person, separate from its shareholders and directors. This chapter explores this ‘corporate personality’ and the popular topic of when the ‘veil of incorporation’ can be lifted or pierced by statute or the courts.
Book
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. Company Law Concentrate helps readers to consolidate knowledge in this area of law. This sixth edition has been fully updated and includes coverage of the 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code, the Wates Corporate Governance Principles, the UK Stewardship Code 2020, the Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018, and the reforms proposed following the consultation on insolvency and corporate governance. Case law updates include BAT Industries plc v Sequana SA [2019], Burnden Holdings (UK) Ltd v Fielding [2019], Popely v Popely [2019], and Vedanta Resources plc v Lungowe [2019]. Chapters examine business structures, incorporation, the constitution of the company, directors, members, corporate governance, capital and capital maintenance issues, members’ remedies, and corporate rescue and liquidation.
Chapter
6. Company Management and Governance
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter explores important issues in company management and corporate governance, starting by examining the role of directors and shareholders (and the relationship between them) and the separation of ‘ownership and control’. Since the early 1990s, the governance of listed companies has been dominated by self-regulatory codes (currently the UK Corporate Governance Code). This chapter examines how these codes operate and considers key themes in corporate governance, including the role of non-executive directors and auditors; the position of institutional investors; and executive remuneration.
Book
Imogen Moore
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes: typical questions; suggested answers with commentary; illustrative diagrams; guidance on how to develop your answer; key debates; suggestions for further reading; and advice on exams and coursework. Concentrate Q&A Company Law offers expert advice on what to expect from your company law exam and coursework, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by an experienced examiner, it provides: reminders of points to consider; indications of key debates for each topic; exam-length suggested answers; clear commentary with each answer; diagram answer plans; cautionary points; tips to make your answer stand out from the crowd; and annotated further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical company law exam questions; structure and write a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; develop and demonstrate your understanding; identify connections between topics; and find relevant and helpful further reading. As well as separate chapters on exam skills and preparing coursework, it covers: companies and corporate personality; the corporate constitution; shares and shareholders; directors’ duties; company management and governance; minority shareholder remedies; corporate liability (contracts, torts, and crimes); share capital; loan capital; and corporate insolvency. The book is suitable for undergraduate students taking a module in company law on the LLB and GDL, and undergraduate students studying aspects of company law on other degreecourses.
Chapter
3. The constitution of the company
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the company constitution. A company’s constitution consists primarily of the articles of association and agreements and resolutions affecting the company’s constitution. The constitution forms a statutory contract between the company and its members, and between the members themselves, but only those provisions relating to membership rights will constitute terms of the statutory contract. A company can alter its articles by passing a special resolution, although statute and the common law restrict a company’s ability to alter its articles.
Chapter
3. The Corporate Constitution
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter discusses the company’s constitution, which can be a popular area for examination questions. The chapter focuses on the company’s articles of association, considering in particular alteration of the articles and the legal effect of the articles (the ‘statutory contract’). The chapter also considers shareholder agreements, which are often used as a supplement to the company’s constitution.
Chapter
6. Corporate governance
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the UK corporate governance system and some of the key corporate governance topics. It begins by looking at what corporate governance is and how the UK’s corporate governance system has evolved. The chapter then discusses the effectiveness of the ‘comply or explain’ approach. It also discusses a number of key corporate governance mechanisms, namely institutional investors, non-executive directors, and directors’ remuneration.
Chapter
11. Corporate Insolvency
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter examines the law on corporate insolvency. It considers the important and topical subject of corporate rescue, reviewing, in particular, administration and company voluntary arrangements. The chapter addresses several issues relating to liquidation, including: winding up petitions and the meaning of ‘inability to pay debts’; assets available to creditors; distribution of assets to creditors; priority of claims; the pari passu principle; and transaction avoidance (dispositions of property after the commencement of winding up, transactions at an undervalue, preferences, voidable floating charges, and transactions defrauding creditors). The potential liability of directors on a company’s insolvent liquidation is considered, concentrating on wrongful and fraudulent trading and disqualification.
Chapter
8. Corporate Liability: Contracts, Torts, and Crimes
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter examines company contracts including: pre-incorporation contracts, the company’s capacity, directors’ authority, and restrictions on the powers of directors to bind the company. The chapter also considers liability of the company for tortious and criminal acts, including vicarious liability; attribution; and the particular area of corporate manslaughter and the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.
Chapter
9. Corporate rescue and liquidation
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the various procedures available to companies experiencing financial difficulties that are so severe that the company’s survival is in jeopardy. It focuses on procedures that aim to help struggling companies (such as administration); help creditors recover monies owed (such as receivership); and commence the process of ending the company’s existence and provide for the distribution of its remaining assets (namely winding up).
Chapter
4. Directors
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter focuses on company directors. Every private company must have at least one director, while every public company must have at least two. Directorsʼ duties are now found in the Companies Act 2006, which provides for seven general duties that directors owe to the company. A director’s term of office can terminate in several ways including resignation, retirement, or removal. The courts can also disqualify a person from acting as director.
Chapter
5. Directors’ Duties
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter examines the very important topic of directors’ duties. The chapter considers the main duties, as codified in the Companies Act 2006, including: the duty to act within powers (the proper purposes rule); the duty to promote the success of the company; the duty to exercise independent judgment; the duty to exercise reasonable care, skill, and diligence; the duty to avoid conflicts of interest; and the duty to disclose an interest in a proposed transaction with the company. Related areas such as substantial property transactions and liability for breach are considered. This chapter considers who is a ‘director’, examining the concepts of de facto and shadow directors and how far they owe duties to the company.
Chapter
1. Exam Skills for Success in Company Law
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter provides advice on exams and exam questions in company law to ensure you are best prepared for your assessment, including guidance on how to approach essay and problem questions. It provides lots of important tips for exam success, covering both your preparation for the exam, and your approach to the exam itself. The well-known approaches of IRAC (Issue, Rule, Apply, Conclude) to problem questions and PEA (Point, Explain, Analysis) to essay writing are reviewed.
Chapter
2. Incorporation
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the process of incorporation and the advantages and disadvantages of conducting business through a company. The three principal methods by which a company can be incorporated are: incorporation by Act of Parliament, incorporation by Royal Charter, and incorporation by registration. The advantages of incorporation include perpetual succession, asset ownership, and the ability to commence legal proceedings. The disadvantages of incorporation include increased formality, regulation, publicity, and civil liability.
Chapter
10. Loan Capital
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter examines loan capital—borrowing by companies. It focuses on: the legal distinction between fixed and floating charges created by companies over their assets as security for loans, the registration of charges, applications for extension of the period for registration, the priority of charges on insolvency, and the avoidance of charges under the Insolvency Act 1986.
Chapter
5. Members
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter focuses on one of the vital roles played by members of a company, namely their ability to make decisions. A significant amount of power is placed into the hands of members and numerous key decisions are reserved for them alone. This chapter looks at the rules by which general meetings are run and discusses the effectiveness of the general meeting.
Chapter
8. Members’ remedies
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the three principal remedies provided by law to members of a company: the derivative claim under Pt 11 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006); the unfair prejudice remedy under Pt 30 of the CA 2006; and the petition for winding up the company under s 122 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986).
Chapter
7. Minority Shareholder Remedies
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions and coursework. Each book includes typical questions, suggested answers with commentary, illustrative diagrams, guidance on how to develop your answer, suggestions for further reading, and advice on exams and coursework. This chapter examines the law on minority shareholder remedies, which provide some limited protection or avenues of redress for a shareholder with grievances concerning the actions of the company, directors, or majority shareholders. The chapter explores, in particular: the rule in Foss v Harbottle; derivative claims; personal claims and the issue of reflective loss; the ‘unfair prejudice’ remedy in Companies Act 2006, s. 994; and petitions to wind up the company on the ‘just and equitable’ ground under Insolvency Act 1986, s. 122(1)(g).
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