LAWS200 - Business Organisations

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

The Rule of Law, and access to legal advice, are the basis of free, democratic, and just societies which promote personal dignity, thriving communities, and the Common Good. Law graduates working in legal practice, in business, in government, and in the community play an essential role in promoting and upholding the Rule of Law in Australia and across the world. The Bachelor of Laws degree is an accredited degree for admission as a legal practitioner in Australia.

Business organisations are an integral part of our daily lives. Our interactions with them necessitates the need for understand their dynamics. This unit therefore deals with the laws governing creation, operation and regulation of companies in Australia. It examines the various structures for conducting business activities and provides insight to the legal principles regarding the internal and external operation of corporate legal entities. Emphasis is placed on ‘companies’ as they constitute one of the most important corporate business structures.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Reflect, relate, and apply the laws governing companies, partnerships and other non-corporate business structures. (GA4, GA5, GA8, GA9, GA10)

LO2 - Analytically reason and proffer legal solutions to problems (GA4, GA5, GA7)

LO3 - Describe, explain and critically evaluate the powers, duties and liabilities of a company, shareholder, director and other officers of the company. (GA4, GA5, GA7)

LO4 - Hypothesize and apply the rules to factual situations. (GA4, GA6, GA7, GA8, GA9, GA10)

Graduate attributes

GA4 - think critically and reflectively

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively

Content

Topics will include: 

1. The corporate personality and incorporation process 
2. The internal structure, governance, administration and management of companies 
3. Corporate contracting and liability 
4. Criminal and civil liability 
5. Duties and liabilities of directors and officers 
6. Corporate finance 
7. Members’ remedies 
8. Insolvency, winding up and creditors’ remedies 
9. Partnerships 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Mode: Lectures, tutorials, electronic consultation, library tasks and presentations or Online lectures and activities. 

Duration: 4 hours per week over 12 weeks or equivalent. Students are expected to spend 150 hours in total for this unit.

This compulsory Law unit allows students to demonstrate knowledge, skills and understanding in a specialist area of law to meet the requirements of accreditation.

Our strategy is to encourage students to creatively engage with unit content and to apply legal knowledge, skills and understandings to address legal problems. 

The unit is designed to be delivered in intensive, weekly or online mode. We have taken a blended learning approach to provide accessibility and flexibility to our students and a student focused approach that increases depth of learning and engagement through actively utilising LEO.  

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment strategy is designed to assess knowledge, skills and understanding in a specialist area of law required for accreditation. 

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each of the listed learning outcomes. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Required text(s)

Austin, Robert and Ian Ramsay, Ford’s Principles of Corporations Law (LexisNexis Butterworths, 17th ed, 2018)

Further references

Stephen Bottomley, Kath Hall, Peta Spender, Beth Nosworthy, Contemporary Australian Corporate Law (Cambridge University Press, 2017)

Anderson, Colin, Jennifer Dickfos, Marina Nehme, Margaret Hyland and Andrew M Dahdal, Corporations Law (LexisNexis Butterworths, 4th ed, 2014)

Austin, Robert and Justice Ashley Black, Australian Corporations Legislation (LexisNexis Butterworths, 2014)

Cassidy, Julie, Corporations Law: Text and Essential Cases (Federation Press, 4th ed, 2013)

Ciro, Tony and Christopher Symes, Corporations Law: In Principle (Thomson Reuters/Lawbook Co, 9th ed, 2013)

Graw, Stephen, An Outline of the Law of Partnership (Thomson Reuters/Lawbook Co, 4th ed, 2011)

Hanrahan, Pamela, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law (CCH, 14th ed, 2013)

Harris, Jason, Company Law: Theories, Principles and Applications (LexisNexis Butterworths, 2012)

Harris, Jason, Anil Hargovan and Michael Adams, Australian Corporate Law (LexisNexis Butterworths, 4th ed, 2013)