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 law governing company directors and shareholders. The common law duties on directors have been codified and expanded through the Companies Act (CA) 2006. Directors are responsible to the company itself, not to individual shareholders. Minority protection (of shareholders) is provided through the CA 2006 to restrict directors’ acts that may unfairly disadvantage them. Public companies must have a company secretary and they must satisfy statutory requirements in relation to their qualifications. Shareholders have no automatic right of management in the company although, through attendance and the rights to vote at shareholder meetings, they may have influence over the business conducted.
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Chapter
10. Company law II: directors, finance, and capital
Chapter
7. Employment I: employment status, equal pay, and equality
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 reviews the law on the employment contract, employment status, equal pay, and equality. Individuals may be engaged as workers, but their employment status will most commonly be as an employee or independent contractor. Employment status is significant in relation to the rights and obligations each type of contract has for the individual and employer. Given the lack of an adequate statutory definition, the common law has developed tests to identify employment status. Employment contracts contain express and implied terms. Employees and people employed personally to perform work under a contract are protected against various forms of discrimination and enjoy enforceable rights to equality at work.
Chapter
8. Employment II: termination—wrongful dismissal, unfair dismissal, and redundancy
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 reviews the law on the termination of the employment contract. Employees have a statutory right not to be unfairly dismissed and the Employment Rights Act (ERA) 1996 identifies the criteria to be satisfied in order for the employee to gain protection. The common law protects against wrongful dismissal and provides tests and guidance for situations involving a breach of an employment contract. The chapter also considers redundancy situations. As this is governed by statute, it is necessary to appreciate the obligations imposed on the employer to adopt fair procedures.
Chapter
2. Sources of constitutional law and constitutional conventions
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 first discusses the five key sources of UK law: the common law in the form of judicial decisions and cases involving the interpretation of statutes, Acts of Parliament, EU retained and converted law, and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It then turns to the issue of constitutional conventions, covering the distinction between laws and conventions, whether constitutional conventions are binding, and examples of constitutional conventions.
Chapter
2. Sources of constitutional law and constitutional conventions
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 first discusses the five key sources of UK law: the common law in the form of judicial decisions and cases involving the interpretation of statutes, Acts of Parliament, EU retained and converted law, and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It then turns to the issue of constitutional conventions, covering the distinction between laws and conventions, whether constitutional conventions are binding, and examples of constitutional conventions.
Chapter
13. Privity of Contract
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary, and other features. This chapter explores the privity of contract. Traditionally the doctrine of privity of contract regards contract as based upon agreement and consequently only the parties to that agreement can enforce it. This chapter discusses common law limitations to the doctrine of privity; common law attempts to evade privity; and statutory developments. It covers the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999, including the freedom given to the contracting parties to exclude the provisions of the Act, or to set out procedures for post-contractual variation of arrangements that avoid the need to obtain the third party’s consent.
Chapter
5. Exemption Clauses and Unfair Terms
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary, and other features. This chapter focuses on the regulation of exclusion/exemption clauses and other potentially unfair terms. It discusses both common law (such as approaches to incorporation and interpretation) and statutory regulation (such as the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015). It also explores two key debates: the nature of an exemption clause, and the tension between freedom of contract and judicial and statutory intervention in the context of exemption clauses.
Chapter
9. Passing-off and trade marks
Passing-off is a common law cause of action that protects traders with goodwill in their business against misrepresentations made by their competitors which confuse customers as to the source of goods or services. The typical passing-off scenario is where a trader, by the use of a brand name, logo, slogan, or packaging, deceives customers into thinking that its products or services are associated with another trader. Trade marks can be registered for signs or symbols that identify products or services as coming from a particular trader, so to be registrable a trade mark must be distinctive of a trader’s goods and not similar to any earlier registered mark, or a non-registered mark that is in use. Registration of a trade mark gives substantial advantages over relying on passing-off. The law of registered trade marks has been harmonized by the European Union.
Chapter
1. The history and development of equity
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 development of equity. Equity tackles injustice caused by a strict application of common law rules or unconscionable behaviour. Equity was originally dispensed by the King. However, this was soon delegated to the Lord Chancellor and the Court of Chancery. Equity and the common law were originally administered by separate court systems that coexisted uneasily until the Earl of Oxford’s Case (1615), when the King held that equity prevailed over the common law in the event of a conflict. The administration of equity and the common law was unified by the Judicature Acts 1873–75, meaning that all judges could apply both equitable and common law rules and responses.
Chapter
13. Equitable 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. The common law provides the remedy of damages as of right for any breach. However, damages may not always provide a suitable or adequate remedy. One of the key equitable maxims states that ‘equity will not suffer a wrong without a remedy’. Therefore, over the years the courts have developed a number of equitable remedies to address the limitations of the common law response. This chapter considers the range of equitable remedies which have been developed by the courts: specific performance; injunctions; rescission; rectification; and account.
Chapter
13. Occupiers’ liability
This chapter discusses the law on occupiers’ liability, a form of negligence liability which was governed previously by the common law and now by statute law. The key statutes are the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 which governs duty to lawful visitors and the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1984, regarding non-visitors, or trespassers. In determining to whom the duty is owed, it is necessary to identify the status of the entrant onto land. To determine who owes the duty as occupier, the main criterion is control of the land. Exclusion of liability and defences are included.
Chapter
4. Sources of Law II: Case Law
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. This chapter focuses on case law, a major source of law providing for the interpretation of statutes and the application of law to particular circumstances. Case law, also known as the common law, is a set of judge-made rules that have either a binding or persuasive effect on future cases. Judge-made means that a member of the judiciary has decided a case in a certain way, which has led to the development of that particular piece of law. Certain courts are obliged to follow previous judgments, whereas other can ignore them due to their seniority. Indeed, the doctrine of precedent denotes a system of case law—binding or not—that a lower court may or may not have to follow. Whether precedent is binding is dependent on whether there is a statement of law, as opposed to fact, certain reasoning for that decision (known as ratio decidendi), and the decision of a superior court.
Chapter
4. Termination of the contract of employment
The Q&A series offer the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary, and illustrative diagrams and flowcharts. This chapter presents sample exam questions about termination of the contract of employment. Through a mixture of problem questions and essays, students are guided through some of the key issues on the topic of termination of the employment contract including the different ways a contract may be terminated, the meaning of dismissal, the right to reasonable notice, and wrongful dismissal. Students are also introduced to the current key debates in the area and provided with suggestions for additional reading for those who want to take things further.
Chapter
5. Psychiatric injury
This chapter discusses the law on psychiatric injury. Psychiatric injury which is not derived from physical injury is a type of damage which is not always recoverable in negligence. It is an aspect of duty of care. The range of allowable actions has evolved through developments of control mechanisms in the common law, often policy-based. The legal distinction between the primary and secondary victim is explored, as are more atypical situations. The four key cases are McLoughlin v O’Brian (1983), Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (1991), Page v Smith (1995), and White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police (1999).
Chapter
4. Strict liability
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 crime of strict liability. A strict liability offence is one which does not require mens rea in respect of at least one element of the actus reus. Strict liability is often referred to as no-fault liability. Strict liability is very rare at common law. Where a statute is silent as to mens rea, the judge must interpret the provision to decide if the offence has mens rea (the starting point) or is one of strict liability. There is a debate about whether the imposition of criminal liability in the absence of proof of fault can be justified.
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10. Product liability
This chapter discusses the law on product liability. Common law product liability is based upon the law of negligence. Beginning with the narrow ratio in Donoghue v Stevenson (1932), it further developed the concept of intermediate examination in Grant v Australian Knitting Mills (1936). The relevant statute is the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (CPA 1987), passed in response to a European Union Directive. This introduces strict liability, when a defective product causes damage. The CPA 19876 establishes a hierarchy of possible defendants beginning with the producer. Defences under the CPA 1987 include the ‘development risks’ defence to protect scientific and technical innovation. If damage relates to quality or value, the only remedy will be in contract.
Chapter
11. Intentional torts
This chapter discusses both common law and statute in relation to the torts of trespass to the person: battery, assault, and false imprisonment. These torts have three common characteristics: they are the result of intentional actions, take the form of direct harm, and are actionable per se, that is, without proof of damage. An additional intentional tort is derived from Wilkinson v Downton (1897), the wilful infliction of physical harm upon the claimant by indirect means. This category of intentional harm is also augmented by the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Defences to the intentional torts are also discussed.
Chapter
9. Employers’ liability and vicarious liability
This chapter discusses both common law and statute on employers’ liability and vicarious liability. Employers’ liability is concerned with the employer’s personal, non-delegable duty in respect of the physical and psychological safety of his employees. This was established in Wilsons and Clyde Coal v English (1938) and is reinforced by the statutory requirement that employers have compulsory insurance. Vicarious liability involves the employer being liable to a third party for the tort of his employee. This must occur in the course of employment, a concept which was redefined in Lister v Hesley Hall (2002). The employment relationship has been re-examined in the light of institutional child abuse cases.
Chapter
13. Breach of Trust
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offer the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans, suggested answers, and author commentary. This book offers advice on what to expect in exams and how best to prepare. This chapter covers questions on breach of trusts.
Chapter
2. Nature of Equity and the Law of Trusts
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offer the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans, suggested answers, and author commentary. This book offers advice on what to expect in exams and how best to prepare. This chapter covers questions on the nature of equity and the law of trusts.
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