Module Identifier LA33020  
Module Title COMPANY LAW  
Academic Year 2000/2001  
Co-ordinator Uta Kohl  
Semester Semester 1  
Other staff Mr Andrew Campbell  
Pre-Requisite LA10110 or LA30110 or LA15710 and LA15830 or LA35830  
Mutually Exclusive LA35410 LA35410  
Course delivery Lecture   40 Hours Two two hour lectures per week  
  Seminar   8 Hours Four two hour seminars during the semester  
Assessment Exam   3 Hours Open book examination. Students may take into the examination any material except library books   100%  
  Resit assessment   By Examination.    
Professional Exemptions Not Required for Professional Purposes  

Module description
The company law course is concerned with an examination of the status, organisation and actitivites of companies which are today the major vehicle for conducting economic activity in the United Kingdom and beyond. This course introduces you to the registered company, ie companies that have attained their corporate status by complying with registration provisions in the Companies Act 1985. The registered company dates back to the Victorian era when it was first created to encourage and expand business growth. Since then companies have become a fundamental facet in economic, but also in social and cultural, spheres whether in the form of large public multinational or small family companies. This course aims to instruct you not only about the fundamental principles governing companies but also how these are constantly changing in response to new commercial realities. Company law, which remains an essentially national legal regime, is introduced against the background of increasing globalisation and European integration. The module aims to illustrate how the harmonisation of company law within the European Union, while far from complete, has affected many aspects of company law in the United Kingdom. The course commences by examining the theoretical and practical implications of a company's separate legal identity and limited liability status and by outlining the various sources of company law. It then moves on to examine the constitutional documents and the organs of the corporate entity and their relationship with each other, concluding with an overview of principles of corporate governance as, for example, promoted by international institutions. The course also examines how the company relates to outsiders, what its contractual capacity is, and its potential to incur tortious or criminal liability. The legal rights and interests of shareholders and the protection of minority interests are also considered before the final moments of an insolvent company take centre stage. The course is designed to stimulate your understanding of both the practical and theoretical aspects of the subject. The study of company law will leave you well prepared in your quest for a career in the legal profession, accountancy, banking and other business related areas.

Aims
The study of company law is designed to give you the legal knowledge and skills necessary to a thorough understanding of the subject and its core relevance in the commercial world. The forum for debate and argument is very much alive within this subject and it is a fundamental aim of the course to promote independent thought and to encourage you to critically reflect on the rationale and wider impact of legal principles governing companies. This aim is combined with the more practical objective of enabling you to solve legal problems by creatively applying your knowledge to factual scenarios. The study of company law provides you with an opportunity to explore a detailed and often complex commercial subject which has a tangible relevance to the real world.

Module objectives / Learning outcomes
The company law course is concerned primarily with an examination of companies registered in accordance with the Companies legislation against the background of European regulation. The study of company law is designed to stimulate your understanding of both the practical and theoretical aspects of the subject, albeit that the educational bias of this course is quite naturally devoted to the former. The primary objective of the company law course is to examine the internal and external implications associated with the creation and subsistence of the registered company. You will be expected to expand and develop your analytical skills, which are essential to the understanding of judicial decisions and statutory interpretation. The study of company law aspires to enrich your legal education and will also aid and develop your understanding of the modern commercial world in which companies operate. Company law forms an integral part of the qualifying examinations for the legal and business related professions.

Syllabus
1. Defining Companies
1.1. Company versus Partnership or Sole Trader
1.2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Incorporation
1.3. Types of Companies
1.4. Historical Origins of Companies and Companies Today
1.5. European Company Law
1.6. Sources of Company Law and Justification for Legal Regulation

2. Formation and Flotation
2.1. Registration
2.2. Memorandum and Articles of Association
2.3. Promoters and Pre-Incorporation Contracts
2.4. Flotation and the Stock Exchange

3. The Company's Organs - Corporate Governance
3.1. The Players
3.2. General Meeting of Shareholders
3.3. The Board of Directors
3.4. Directors's Duties
3.5. Corporate Governance - A Wider Perspective

4. The Company in Action
4.1. Constitutional Limits on Capacity to Act
4.2. Agency - Corporate Contracting
4.3. The Negligent and Criminal Company

5. Share Capital
5.1. Nature and Types of Shares
5.2. Raising, Maintaining and Reducing Capital
5.3. Minority Shareholders
5.4. Insider Dealing

6. Loan Capital
6.1. Types of Debt Finance
6.2. Bonds and Debentures
6.3. Loans: Typical Terms and Conditions
6.4. Company Charges
6.5. Lender Liability

7. The Company's Final Moments
7.1. Insolvency Generally
7.2. Secured Creditors and the Floating Charge
7.3. Administrative Receivership
7.4. Liquidation
7.5. Corporate Rescue Mechanisms
7.6. Proposals for Reform

8. Lifting the Corporate Veil

Teaching
The course will be taught by lectures and seminars. The seminars will act as a forum for the analytical discusssion of the topics covered in lectures. You are expected to participate in seminar groups. You have the option to submit one piece of non-assessed written work .

Reading Lists
Books
** Recommended Text
Mayson French Ryan. (1999) Company Law. 16th. Blackstone
Derek French. (1999) Statutes on Company Law. 3rd. Blackstone
Sealy. (1996) Cases and Materials. 5th. Butterworths
** Supplementary Text
Farrar. (1998) Company Law. 3rd. Butterworths
Gower. (1997) Principles of Company Law. 6th. Sweet & Maxwell