Economic torts seek to protect a person in relation to his trade, business, or livelihood. However, he will only be protected from certain kinds of interference, principally those inflicted intentionally or deliberately. Nor will an intention to harm suffice, on its own, to ground liability. There are three broad sub-categories of liability: those torts based on the defendant’s wrongful interference with the claimant’s pre-existing legal rights (inducing breach of contract and inducing breach of statutory duty, in particular); the tort of interference with trade or business by unlawful means; and the tort of conspiracy. This chapter considers each of these in turn followed by an outline of the statutory immunities in relation to trade disputes.
Chapter
15. The Economic Torts
Chapter
2. Principles of contract law
This chapter details the principles of contract law. It cites that the notion of a contract is a flexible concept which can be invoked by the courts in order to provide solutions to difficult fact situations. The general principles of contract law underpin special rules and apply to all the different classes of contract except in so far as modified by particular rules applying to the particular class of contract. The chapter then looks at the philosophy of contracts and the misleading impression of contracts' role in business. It presents a range of remedies to be invoked when there is a breach of contract.
Chapter
21. Law firms as businesses
Scott Slorach, Judith Embley, Peter Goodchild, and Catherine Shephard
This chapter first discusses the business aspect of law firms. Law firms have the same financial motivations and pressures as any other business. They need money (investment) to set up, and then to survive and grow. Law firms need to make a profit, attract clients, and stay ahead of other law firms. They operate within the legal market, producing a product-legal services-the ‘consumers’ of which are the clients. The chapter considers the different types of law firm operating within this market, who their clients are, and why those clients chose a particular firm. It examines the challenges faced by law firms in both the domestic and international markets.
Chapter
15. Business-related torts
This chapter examines the different types of torts that can affect businesses. A number of these torts (namely product liability, and wrongful interference with goods) aim to protect persons’ usage of goods, whereas other torts (such as nuisance, and the tort in Rylands v Fletcher) are more about protecting persons’ enjoyment of land and property. The tort of occupiers’ liability discusses the duties that are owed by persons who occupy land to those who are present on that land (both lawful visitors and non-lawful visotors). The chapter also discusses the protection of more abstract interests, such as how the law of defamation seeks to protect a person’s reputation. In addition, a number of other torts are discussed, including employers’ liability, and breach of statutory duty.
Book
Lucy Jones
Introduction to Business Law demonstrates the relevance of key areas of the law to a world of work that the business student can relate to. Students of business often find business law modules challenging, irrelevant to their future career, and full of alien terminology and concepts. Structured in eight parts, this book provides a foundation in the key legal concepts of the English legal system, contract law, and negligence before discussing how the law affects the everyday workings of businesses and their employees from protecting intellectual property rights to company formation, winding up and insolvency. It covers a variety of topics around the subjects of the English legal system, contract law, the law of torts, employment law, the structure and management of business and the major intellectual property rights.
