This chapter begins with an overview of company law and the role of directors and members. It then discusses: the sources of company law (UK Companies Acts, case law, European law, human rights legislation, and self-regulation); the process of company law reform; the purpose of company law; classification of companies; companies and partnerships; and incorporation, registration, and the role of the registrar.
Book
Neil Parpworth
The purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to the fundamental principles and concepts of constitutional and administrative law. It is highly popular with undergraduates for its clear writing style and the ease with which it guides the reader through key principles of public law. This twelfth edition incorporates the significant developments in this ever-changing area of the law. The book also includes a range of useful features to help students get to grips with the subject matter. These include further reading suggestions to support deeper research, a large number of self-test questions to help reinforce knowledge, and chapter summaries and numbered paragraphs to aid navigation and revision. This new edition has been fully updated to cover all the latest reforms in constitutional and administrative law, including those relating to devolution and Brexit.
Book
Neil Parpworth
The purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to the fundamental principles and concepts of constitutional and administrative law. It is highly popular with undergraduates for its clear writing style and the ease with which it guides the reader through key principles of public law. This eleventh edition incorporates the significant developments in this ever-changing area of the law. The book also includes a range of useful features to help students get to grips with the subject matter. These include further reading suggestions to support deeper research, a large number of self-test questions to help reinforce knowledge, and chapter summaries and numbered paragraphs to aid navigation and revision. This new edition has been fully updated to cover all the latest developments in constitutional and administrative law, including those relating to devolution and Brexit.
Chapter
This chapter explores some of the wider issues raised by the rules applying to private rights to use land, along with the nature of the challenges faced by judges and Parliament when deciding how best to develop those rules. It begins by discussing the importance of concepts and contexts in land law, as well as the tension between concepts and contexts and the effect of different judicial approaches to land law. It then considers the relative merits of judicial and legislative reform of land law and goes on to examine the impact of statutory reform, particularly of registration statutes, in land law. It also assesses the impact of human rights and regulation on land law, citing the Supreme Court ruling in Scott v Southern Pacific Mortgages Ltd (2015), before concluding with an analysis of the role of non-doctrinal approaches in evaluating land law.
Chapter
In this chapter, there is a recognition that the intervention of equity in the family home represents a pragmatic response to a real problem, but it is not a perfect solution. It considers some of a number of grounds of critique of the current approach, including attempts at legislative reform to provide a solution. It can be criticized on a number of grounds, quite apart from the issue as to whether it constitutes a usurpation of a legislative function. There is also a consideration of whether the approach we have now has moved away from traditional assertion of property principles to a sense of redistributive justice more familiar to family lawyers.
Chapter
This chapter begins by discussing the origins and meaning of the term ‘royal prerogative’. It identifies some examples of prerogative powers and considers how certain personal or reserve powers of the monarch might be exercised in practice. The chapter also explores the relationship between prerogative power and statutes, and focuses on how the courts have dealt with the prerogative. The chapter also discusses the adaptation of prerogative powers, the relationship between the prerogative and the courts, and the courts’ recent willingness to review the exercise of certain prerogative powers. The chapter concludes by looking at several ways in which the prerogative could be reformed.
Chapter
This chapter starts by presenting a brief sketch of the key stages and decisions of the criminal process which forms part of the English criminal justice system. The significance of those stages and decisions is discussed before they are then classified according to their nature and consequence. This is followed in the next section by differentiating between the criminal process and the system before moving on to orient the reader by outlining significant reforms that have shaped the criminal process in the past decades. There is a final concluding section.
Chapter
Sir William Wade and Christopher Forsyth
This chapter begins with a discussion of statutory inquiry, which is the standard technique for giving a fair hearing to objectors before the final decision is made on some question of government policy affecting citizens' rights or interests. It then turns to complaints and reforms; law and practice today in statutory inquiries; and other inquiry procedures.
Chapter
This chapter starts with a brief history of divorce. The chapter then considers the current law on divorce, its historical origins and strengths, and its weaknesses. It then turns to the new law on divorce which is due to come into effect in the autumn of 2021. The chapter asks: Why was reform needed? What role does divorce play in our society? What does divorce say about marriage as an institution? The chapter uses a real-life scenario to answer these questions.
Chapter
Edwina Higgins and Kathryn Newton
This chapter considers the law and process for seeking a divorce in England and Wales. It examines the current legal framework and the gap between the ‘law in books’ and the practical reality. It looks at the current legal provisions, the criticisms that have been made of them, and whether there are any strengths to the current law. The discussion is placed in the context of divorce statistics in order to determine the link between the divorce law and the divorce rate, and whether this matters. In so doing, the chapter considers how much of a role the state should play in regulating divorce and the place of ‘fault’ in a modern divorce law. It also considers matters of process and procedure, and whether reform of process rather than substantive law is the right focus.
Chapter
The family home is the key property asset that most family members will own in their lifetimes. However, many people living together in a home do not give any real thought to whether the property is owned between them, or what would happen if they separated. This chapter explores the reasons why cohabitants do not often think through their entitlements to the property, and why the law has been slow to provide redress to them. It considers the rules applicable to the application of trusts and proprietary estoppel to aid cohabitants, as well as critiques them. It also examines the practical impact of the remedies provided by outlining what happens when property is to be sold. Finally, it considers the many attempts at law reform and why they have, to date, failed to reach the statute books.
Chapter
Sir William Wade, Christopher Forsyth, and Julian Ghosh
This chapter begins with a discussion of statutory inquiry, which is the standard technique for giving a fair hearing to objectors before the final decision is made on some question of government policy affecting citizens’ rights or interests. It then turns to complaints and reforms; law and practice today in statutory inquiries; and other inquiry procedures.
Chapter
Toby Seddon and Alex Stevens
This chapter presents an overview of the phenomenon of illicit drugs and their control. We show that drugs are not just a matter of crime, morality, or health but rather are also a global commodity the use and control of which continue to run along lines shaped by inequalities of geography, wealth and power. Viewing the drug problem through the lens of political economy, and in global and historical perspective, provides a clearer view of the issue. It allows us to see how some facets of the problem are exaggerated (e.g. crime and health harms) whilst others are under-stated (e.g. pleasure, harms to producer countries in the Global South). It also sheds new light on why some policy approaches and interventions continue to fail and why others may be more promising. Lastly, the prospects for radical alternatives to prohibition through drug law reform are considered.
Chapter
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter discusses the law on divorce and separation. It covers divorces in England and Wales; the nature, function, and limits of divorce law; a brief history of divorce law to 1969; the present law of divorce and judicial separation; evaluation of the current law; options for reform of divorce law and the process of divorce; and the future of English divorce law.
Chapter
The doctrine of frustration excuses parties from further contractual performance when unforeseen events, subsequent to contract formation, make performance illegal, impossible, or radically different from the obligations the parties undertook at formation. Any obligations accruing before the frustrating event remain binding, but neither party can be sued for failure to perform outstanding obligations (they are extinguished). This chapter discusses: (1) the relationship between the doctrines of frustration and of mistake; (2) the justification for the frustration doctrine; (3) how to prove frustration of a contract; (4) the effect of frustration; and (5) whether the current law on frustration is satisfactory, and if not, how it might be developed.
Chapter
This book focuses on employment law, which has been the subject of as rapid a transformation as can have happened to any legal subject in recent times, and is certainly one of the most difficult areas of law in which to keep up to date. In some ways employment law is a curious mixture of ancient and modern, for much old law lies behind or at the basis of new statutory law and in some cases the old law continues to exist alongside the new. The subject is, however, unrecognizable from what it was only 40 years ago, with the enormous increase in statute law and the ever-increasing volume of case law on the modern statutes. Thus, the intending student must be able to exercise the lawyer’s skill in dealing with both extensive case law and major statutes, sometimes of astounding complexity. As well as setting out the history of this area of law, this chapter covers important background features of procedure and the enforcement of the law through tribunals, including significant developments such as ACAS early conciliation, the fiasco over tribunal fees, and possible future reforms to the system of adjudication.
Chapter
Ian Smith, Owen Warnock, and Gemma Mitchell
This book focuses on employment law, which has been the subject of as rapid a transformation as can have happened to any legal subject in recent times, and is certainly one of the most difficult areas of law in which to keep up to date. In some ways employment law is a curious mixture of ancient and modern, for much old law lies behind or at the basis of new statutory law and in some cases the old law continues to exist alongside the new. The subject is, however, unrecognizable from what it was only 40 years ago, with the enormous increase in statute law and the ever-increasing volume of case law on the modern statutes. Thus, the intending student must be able to exercise the lawyer’s skill in dealing with both extensive case law and major statutes, sometimes of astounding complexity. As well as setting out the history of this area of law, this chapter covers important background features of procedure and the enforcement of the law through tribunals, including significant developments such as ACAS early conciliation, the fiasco over tribunal fees, and possible future reforms to the system of adjudication.
Chapter
This chapter considers the evolution of modern copyright law against the background of its historical development in the UK and the international and European legal frameworks within which UK copyright law has been increasingly set since the nineteenth century. It examines the rationale and justifications for copyright and identifies the general policy context within which law and policy has developed in the UK and the EU. It also highlights the rapid development of new technologies which has brought copyright reform to the forefront in recent times, the difficulties which this new environment presents for the copyright framework, and how the framework has developed to such challenges.
Chapter
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 what criminal liability is and is not about; the meaning of burden of proof; and the reform of criminal law. The study of criminal law is the study of liability. It is not about whether a person can be charged with a crime, or what sentence he may face if convicted, but rather it deals with whether a person is innocent or guilty of an offence (ie whether or not he can be convicted). The burden of proof means the requirement on a party to adduce sufficient evidence to persuade the fact-finder (the magistrates or the jury), to a standard set by law, that a particular fact is true.
Chapter
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 what criminal liability is and is not about; the meaning of burden of proof; and the reform of criminal law. The study of criminal law is the study of liability. It is not about whether a person can be charged with a crime, or what sentence he may face if convicted, but rather it deals with whether a person is innocent or guilty of an offence (ie whether or not he can be convicted). The burden of proof means the requirement on a party to adduce sufficient evidence to persuade the fact-finder (the magistrates or the jury), to a standard set by law, that a particular fact is true.
