Lesson_6_2018

Language revision: Company law

• limited liability
• sole propriator
• third party
• constitutional documents
• corporate funding
• public listed company
• not personally liable for
• debts and liabilities
• double taxation
• enjoy many advantages
• benefits and drawbacks
• advise on the best form your business should take

Company Act 2006 in the UK  

The Companies Act 2006 is an act of parliament that currently serves as the primary source of company law in the UK. This particular act has the distinction of being the longest in the history of British Parliament, containing 1,300 sections that span over 700 pages, with a list of contents that is 59 pages long. The act also contained 16 schedules, but those have since been superseded by the Corporation Tax Act of 2009.

The provisions of the act were implemented gradually in stages, with the final provision being put into force on October 2009. Changes were made to almost every aspect of UK company law, but the following are the key components of the act:

• Introduced new provisions for public and private companies
• Implemented the European Union’s Transparency Obligations and Takeover Directives
• Codified numerous existing common law principles, including those related to directors’ duties
• Amended or restated almost all aspects of the Companies Act 1985
• Applied a single unified company law regime for the entire UK, replacing the previously used 
• Separate systems for Northern Ireland and Great Britain 

Commercial law covers a very wide body of law which includes: 

• contract law, 
• company law, 
• tax law,
• intellectual property law.

Reading 1_commercial law  pp. 60-61 - ex 2-4 

Language Use: Adverb  functions pp 62-63 ex 7-8

Bodies of Law that govern Trade and Commerce

• Istituto Commerciale Commercio Estero (ICE)

• Chamber of Commerce in Italy

• Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)

• World Trade Organization (WTO) + video (WTO)

Listening 1: Profile of  a commercial lawyer page 62 ex 5-6

Text Analysis: Letter of application for an internship pp 63-64 ex 11-13

Reading 2- 3 - 4 -

From Legalese to plain English

Reading_3 Role of Commercial agents

• commercial agency agreement
• to give agents greater protection
• under EU law
• good and services
• provision of services/a service
• on behalf of/in the name of 
• flat rate
• paid on commissions
• indipendent intermediaries 
• authority to negotiate
• provide a convenient structure
• the principal can benefit from 
• on commissions basis " no cure, no pay" basis
• to build sales volume
• temptation to circumvent 
• come to an end
• significant new customer base
• to take advantage of the goodwill 

Self study

• Reading_4 Commercial agency contract
• Language Focus page 71