Undergraduate Course: Business Entities (LAWS08134)

Course Outline
School	School of Law	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate)	Availability	Available to all students
SCQF Credits	10	ECTS Credits	5
Summary	Business Entities (ordinary) is designed to offer an introduction to business entities in Scotland. The course covers both the general law and statutory law.
Course description	The course will look at the following: (i) agency (including commercial agents); (ii) partnerships (general and limited partnerships); (iii) limited liability partnerships; and (iv) companies (the main vehicle through which business is done). The course is, essentially, comprised of two parts: (i) Agency and Partnership law; and (ii) Company law. It will involve looking at relevant primary sources (cases and legislation), and secondary sources (textbooks and articles). The course will not look at corporate insolvency (liquidation, receivership and administration) in the section on Company Law. Corporate insolvency will be dealt with in the Commercial Law (Ordinary) course in semester two, where it will be taught in conjunction with personal insolvency (bankruptcy). Given common legislation in some areas, e.g. company law and commercial agents, there is a reasonable amount of overlap with English law, as these areas refer to United Kingdom or British legislation. Thus, English case law will frequently be referred to in relation to matters concerning the interpretation of provision of statutes, as well as the general law; this will be particularly so for company law.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites	Students MUST have passed: ( Contract and Unjustified Enrichment (LAWS08094) AND Legal Reasoning and Legal System (LAWS08106)) OR ( Contract and Unjustified Enrichment (LAWS08127) AND Scottish Legal System (LAWS08128))	Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	This course is only open to visiting students coming through a direct exchange with the School of Law (this includes Erasmus students on a Law Exchange). Visiting students must be enrolled on the VV1 instance of this course. As the exam is in May, visiting students who are here in semester 1 only must submit an essay in December in place of sitting the exam. Full year visiting students MUST sit the exam in May.
High Demand Course?	Yes

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2016/17, Available to all students (SV1)		Quota: 250
Course Start	Semester 1
Course Start Date	19/09/2016
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 20, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 5, Online Activities 2, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 69 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 100 %, Coursework 0 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Degree Examination : 100% of final mark. Students are required to answer (i) 20 multiple choice questions (40%); (ii) a problem question on the Agency/Partnership part of the course (30%); and (iii) a problem question on the Company Law part of the course (30%). The examination is two hours long. Students may take authorised statutory material into the examination. In relation to the problem questions, students will have a choice of questions.
Feedback	In addition to answering questions and providing comments in lectures and tutorials, feedback is provided to students in four ways: (1) Formative Assessment ¿ Tutorial Moots As part of the tutorial process, students are required to participate in a moot, on either partnership law, or company law. They will work with a team of three, with two other students. Each student in the team will present arguments for the side they are representing. This tests oral presentation, as well as research skills, an ability to analyse the law, and frame a legal argument, and the ability to work in a team. The moot will be judged by the students¿ tutor, who give a decision, as a matter of law, as to which side has won the case. The tutor will also give students feedback on their mooting performance. Hence, students, through the tutor¿s comments, will obtain an appreciation of how they are progressing in terms of their understanding of the subject-matter, and their ability to deal with legal issues. (2) Practice Multiple Choice Questions (¿MCQs¿) with Answers As the MCQs are not provided in the online archive versions of the Business Entities examination (although the problem questions are), students are provided with over 25 specimen MCQs in the same format as they would be in the examination. (In the examination, students are only required to answer 20 MCQs.) Students are provided with the answers to the MCQs separately, so that they can see how they have performed after attempting to answer the MCQ questions. (In addition, specimen problem questions are also placed on the course website.) (3) Summative Assessment ¿ the Examination Feedback from the examiners on the problem questions in the examination is provided after the examination on the course website. The examiners highlight the key points relating to each problem question, together with comments as to how a particular question was done, or should have been done, by students. This allows students to see how they have performed in relation to the questions they have attempted in the examination, as they can compare what they have written in the examination, with the examiner¿s suggested answer/key points. (4) Discussing Examination Script with Course Organiser (or Other Member of Staff) Students are able to make an appointment with the Course Organiser (or another member of staff) to discuss their examination script, and see where they might be able to improve their performance in relation to the problem questions. Hence, students are given direct feedback about their examination performance, and where they might improve.
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)			2:00
Resit Exam Diet (August)			2:00

Academic year 2016/17, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 1
Course Start Date	19/09/2016
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 20, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 5, Online Activities 2, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 69 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Degree Examination : 100% of final mark. Students are required to answer (i) 20 multiple choice questions (40%); (ii) a problem question on the Agency/Partnership part of the course (30%); and (iii) a problem question on the Company Law part of the course (30%). The examination is two hours long. Students may take authorised statutory material into the examination. In relation to the problem questions, students will have a choice of questions.
Feedback	In addition to answering questions and providing comments in lectures and tutorials, feedback is provided to students in four ways: (1) Formative Assessment ¿ Tutorial Moots As part of the tutorial process, students are required to participate in a moot, on either partnership law, or company law. They will work with a team of three, with two other students. Each student in the team will present arguments for the side they are representing. This tests oral presentation, as well as research skills, an ability to analyse the law, and frame a legal argument, and the ability to work in a team. The moot will be judged by the students¿ tutor, who give a decision, as a matter of law, as to which side has won the case. The tutor will also give students feedback on their mooting performance. Hence, students, through the tutor¿s comments, will obtain an appreciation of how they are progressing in terms of their understanding of the subject-matter, and their ability to deal with legal issues. (2) Practice Multiple Choice Questions (¿MCQs¿) with Answers As the MCQs are not provided in the online archive versions of the Business Entities examination (although the problem questions are), students are provided with over 25 specimen MCQs in the same format as they would be in the examination. (In the examination, students are only required to answer 20 MCQs.) Students are provided with the answers to the MCQs separately, so that they can see how they have performed after attempting to answer the MCQ questions. (In addition, specimen problem questions are also placed on the course website.) (3) Summative Assessment ¿ the Examination Feedback from the examiners on the problem questions in the examination is provided after the examination on the course website. The examiners highlight the key points relating to each problem question, together with comments as to how a particular question was done, or should have been done, by students. This allows students to see how they have performed in relation to the questions they have attempted in the examination, as they can compare what they have written in the examination, with the examiner¿s suggested answer/key points. (4) Discussing Examination Script with Course Organiser (or Other Member of Staff) Students are able to make an appointment with the Course Organiser (or another member of staff) to discuss their examination script, and see where they might be able to improve their performance in relation to the problem questions. Hence, students are given direct feedback about their examination performance, and where they might improve.
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: Recognise and understand the different types of business entities, and their key characteristics. Understand and appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of business entity. Appreciate the nature and effect of the similarities and differences between the different types of business entity. Appreciate the role of business entities in a wider legal, economic and business context. Demonstrate an ability to use and analyse primary and secondary sources relating to business entities, and to think critically about the law concerning business entities and related issues.

Reading List
Below is a list of recommended textbooks for the different parts of the course. Agency and Partnership The recommended text for agency and partnership is: *(i) F Davidson and LJ Macgregor, Commercial Law in Scotland (2014, 3rd edn). However, students may also like to use: I MacNeill (ed), Scots¿ Commercial Law (2014, 2nd edn). Company Law For company law, the following texts recommended are: (i) French, Mayson & Ryan on Company Law (2014/2015, 31st edn) (new edition to be ordered) (a very good student textbook) (new edition forthcoming); or (ii) PL Davies and S Worthington, Gower and Davies¿ Principles of Modern Company Law (2012, 9th edn) (the leading monograph on company law); or (iii) N Grier, Company Law (2014, 4th edn) (a Scottish student book on company law ¿ very readable); or (iv) LS Sealy and S Worthington, Cases and Materials in Company Law (2010, 9th edn) (an excellent cases and materials book¿ as good as a textbook); or (v) J Birds and AJ Boyle et al, Boyle & Birds¿ Company Law (2014, 9th edn) (a well-respected student text); or (vi) S Girvan, A Hudson and S Frisby, Charlesworth¿s Company Law (2010,18th edn) (a new team has taken over a much respected student textbook ¿ now a little dated); or (vii) D Kershaw, Company Law in Context: Text and Materials (2013, 2nd edn); or (viii) P Davies, An Introduction to Company Law (2010, 2nd edn) (a very good introductory book, which takes more of a philosophical approach to the subject); or (ix) J Dine and M Koutsias, Company Law (2010, 7th edn); (a good introductory book). These books deal with the new Companies Act 2006. They will be on Reserve in the Law Library.

Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills	Having completed the course, students should be able to exhibit the following skills: (a) recognise, analyse, address and rank legal arguments and evidence in terms of relevance and importance means of being able to: (i) identify the legal issues from the information provided to the student; (ii) identify the relevant legal primary and secondary sources (both hard copy and electronic), which pertain to the issues in hand. (iii) identify arguments for and against particular propositions. (iv) assess the merits of these arguments. (v) apply the law to the relevant issues, and solve legal problems (including legal problems which may involve an element of numeracy, either directly or indirectly). (vi) provide written and/or oral answers to legal problems . (vi) manage the volume of legal sources (b) be able to support arguments by reference to appropriate sources, and appreciate the difference and importance between sources. (c) apply and analyse knowledge and legal principles learned regarding complex problems, in a creative way, so as to be able to provide arguable, or defensible, solutions to these problems by being able to provide a range of viable options from a set of facts and law. (d) think in a critical way, and make critical judgements regarding the relative and absolute merits of particular arguments and solutions. (e) work independently in relation to planning and undertaking tasks in areas of law which the student has studied already.
Keywords	Business Entities

Contacts
Course organiser	Mr Parker Hood Tel: (0131 6)50 2048 Email: Parker.Hood@ed.ac.uk	Course secretary	Ms Krystal Hanley Tel: (0131 6)50 2056 Email: Krystal.Hanley@ed.ac.uk