Explore the aspects of law that affect business activities in today’s economy.

 

Carrying out business dealings in today’s world of commerce is a challenging, and at times, risky process. Great sums of money are frequently involved, and anyone who is part of a commercial transaction will always have the concern to have their own interests looked out for.

 

Law plays a very important role in such circumstances by ensuring that all is fair and within the boundaries of the law in any business agreement. Whether or not you are part of the legal profession, it is crucial that you are clued in on the laws that govern your actions and those with whom you deal.

Here are some of the branches of law that you should know about in order to have good business sense:

 

Corporate law oversees the business activities of organisations that are carried out within an economy. It specifies how companies should be formed or wound up, taxation issues, duties expected of company directors and much more. On the whole, the main principle being upheld here is that a corporation is viewed as having limited liability, thus its shareholders are protected from becoming personally liable for things done by the company.

 

The business world is not exempt from its share of criminal activities and so the need for justice is maintained by the practice of criminal law. Crimes which are commonly faced include tax evasion, money laundering, counterfeiting, bribery, blackmail, embezzlement and many more. Just like other forms of crime, the action of an accused needs to be matched with a proven intention to commit a crime such that it is ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ before the person can be convicted of the crime concerned in a court of law.

 

Issues that are addressed here are concerning the relationships between workers and the organisations which hire them. Aspects that are covered under employment law include contractual obligations, minimum wage, working hours, health and safety issues, unfair dismissal, anti-discrimination and child labour. Certain workers may also come under the protection of a trade union, and the law outlines the procedures that should be followed before any action can be taken against an employer, what requirements should be observed by members of a union, etc.

 

The aim of this division of law is to protect a creator’s exclusive rights over a particular item (whether it is an idea, invention etc) that he or she has created. Broadly speaking, there are basically four main types of intellectual property protections under the law: patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets.

Land is a very valuable asset in the world today. Thus, it is crucial that the interests of land owners are protected, especially with regards to its sale or purchase. Theoretically, all land in a country is said to belong to the government and citizens only own an estate in land – that means they have rights with regards to a particular piece of land.
There are two types of estate that are available under land law: freehold and leasehold title. Leasehold implies that the owner of the land can only have estate over the land for a limited period of time, depending on the conditions laid out in the land’s title deed. Freehold title, on the other hand, does not have any time restrictions imposed on it.

 

Also known as admiralty law, maritime/shipping is one of the oldest fields of law. This branch of law covers situations where business transactions involve some form of transportation by sea. Therefore, it looks into matters such as maintenance and cure (the obligation to provide medical care to seamen who are serving on a ship), crews’ wages, duty of reasonable care towards passengers (where applicable), international trade, purchase and sale of vessels, carriage of goods, collision and wake damage, insurance and piracy, etc.

 

The word ‘tort’ refers to an act of civil wrongdoing. It is different from a crime, because a crime is an act committed against the local authorities’ law, whereas a tort is a dispute between two individual parties (whether it be citizens or business organisations or a combination of both). Successful court cases under the law of tort will usually earn the winning party damages, which is a monetary compensation for whatever loss was suffered due to the tort concerned.
In general, there are three kinds of situations that can cause liability to arise under the law of tort: