TLAW607 Business and Corporations Law

This unit is for business students studying combined business and company law.
The contents of this unit are of practical relevance and importance to both your professional life as an accountant and to your personal life, perhaps as a business person or company director.

The unit is divided into two parts – Part A [Business Law] and Part B [Corporations Law].
Part A introduces you to the foundation, operation and administration of the Australian legal system and the operation of contract law. The national legal system, together with the sources of law, will be examined. The unit also explains the key features and purpose of contract law. Contracts play a large role in the daily lives of both business people and consumers. Understanding contracts is essential to understanding business. It forms the basis of business law and relationships. There would be little or no business without contracts and the legal enforcement of promises.
By the end of Part A, students will gain a good understanding of the rights and duties of people involved in business transactions under the law of contract.

Part B introduces you to the legal regulation of business structures and factors to consider when going into business, with emphasis on risk management, asset protection and limited liability under Australian corporations’ law. The unit focuses on the regulatory framework of companies, the separate legal nature of a company, the manner in which it operates, the duties and liabilities of company directors (corporate governance), the rights and remedies shareholders, the manner in which companies raises finance (equity and debt financing) and the legal options available for a company in financial difficulty. This part of the unit involves a critical analysis of decided cases and important sections in the legislation (Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)).

By the end of Part B, students will gain a good understanding of the life cycle of a company, from birth (registration) to death (dissolution) and an appreciation as to why companies are an essential feature and integral part of the business environment.

Importantly, the unit will:

• develop student’s ability to analyse fact situations and correctly identify the relevant principles of contract law and corporations law that are applicable to the resolution of problems raised by such situations;
• facilitate understanding and evaluation of commercial risk-taking and risk-management in contemporary business practice.