Overview
A study of company and securities industry law. Topics include partnership, trusts and companies, and incorporated associations. There is reference to the formation of companies, effects of incorporation, the corporate constitution, corporate governance, prospectus and share issues, administration of companies, raising finance, directors and shareholders meetings, transfer of shares, reorganisation and winding up of companies.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
LAWS11030 or LAWS19031 or LAWS11054
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2020
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student evaluations
Students appreciated the practical nature of the assignment, but were sometimes unsure how to answer the practical component.
We should persist with authentic style assessments, but consider how we can enhance the instructions to support this learning experience. The thinking part of the assessment is up to the students, but the approach to that thinking task can be clarified in the instructions.
Feedback from Marker, self-reflection
Students fail to properly address the questions in the assessments and instead try to turn assessments into a regurgitation exercise.
The UC needs to address with teachers how to increase the amount of written practice incorporated into classes, and stress the fact that answers need to be coherent attempts to address issues, not just regurgitation of law or copied answers from other sources. The tutorials as designed allow scope for such practice. For distance students, the UC needs to promote and encourage students to submit written tutorial answers to get feedback throughout the term.
- Describe and explain the various business structures considered in the court
- Locate, interpret and analyse various sections of legislation applicable to corporations and other business structures
- Apply your knowledge of law to particular fact situations relevant to the unit so that the legal issues raised are discussed coherently and reasonable conclusions are reached.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 40% | |||
| 2 - Take Home Exam - 60% | |||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||
| 5 - Team Work | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Take Home Exam - 60% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
Commercial Applications of Company Law 2020
Edition: 21st ed (2020)
Authors: Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon
Oxford University Press
Docklands Docklands , Victoria , Australia
ISBN: 9780190323929
Binding: Paperback
Additional Textbook Information
If you prefer to study with a paper copy, they are available at the CQUni Bookshop here: http://bookshop.cqu.edu.au (search on the Unit code). eBooks are available at the publisher's website.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Australian Guide to Legal Citation, 4th ed
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
a.capuano@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Business organisations
Chapter
Lexis Advance Pacific, Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, Section 305
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Companies and incorporation
Chapter
Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law (Oxford University Press, 21st ed, 2020), ch 1 (sections 1-001 to 1-140), ch 2 (sections 2-100 to 2-120, 2-500 to 2-540), ch 3 (all), ch 4 (sections 4-300 to 4-540), ch 5 (sections 5-100 to 5-140).
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Corporate governance and company management
Chapter
Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law (Oxford University Press, 21st ed, 2020), ch 6, ch 2 (sections 2-520, 2-540).
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Company constitution
Chapter
Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law (Oxford University Press, 21st ed, 2020), ch 5, ch 9 (sections 9-200 to 9-260), ch 16.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Companies, outsiders and corporate liability
Chapter
Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law (Oxford University Press, 21st ed, 2020), ch 23, ch 3 (sections [3-500] to [3-550]).
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Directors’ and officers’ duties A
Chapter
Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law (Oxford University Press, 21st ed, 2020), chs 11, 12.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Directors’ and officers’ duties B
Chapter
Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law (Oxford University Press, 21st ed, 2020), chs 13, 14 and 15.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Membership, members’ powers and dividends
Chapter
Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law (Oxford University Press, 21st ed, 2020), chs 7, 8.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Members’ remedies
Chapter
Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law (Oxford University Press, 21st ed, 2020), ch 16.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Financing a company
Chapter
Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law (Oxford University Press, 21st ed, 2020), chs 18, 19, ch 20 (section 20-220).
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
External administration
Chapter
Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law (Oxford University Press, 21st ed, 2020), chs 24, 25.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Revision
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Take-home exam will be due at a date to be set
1 Written Assessment
The assignment will be an exercise in planning and conducting an interview with the client in which you will advise the client on an appropriate business structure for his/her new business. The detail of the assignment will be provided on the Moodle site. The assignment will take you through the following steps:
- working out what law is relevant to a client who is considering a decision on what business structure to adopt;
- working out what information you need to get from the client in the interview to make a recommendation about a business structure;
- working out what questions to ask the client to obtain that information;
- conducting the interview with the client (who will be a real person acting as a pretend client) to obtain the requisite information;
- advising the client on the law;
- weighing up the options for the client based on the information that the client provided; and
- making a recommendation about a business structure based on the information that the client provided.
Week 6 Thursday (27 Aug 2020) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 8 Thursday (10 Sept 2020)
The assignment contains several stages in which different skills will be developed and assessed. Clearly, legal research skills will be important, because a professional cannot give inaccurate advice, but the main focus will be on practical skills such as:
- ability to put oneself in the place of the client to appreciate the problem from the client's perspective;
- insight into how legal differences between business structures can have practical impacts on businesses;
- ability to judge what law is relevant to the client's decision making process and what law is not;
- ability to weigh up multiple alternatives and make a professional judgment about a recommendation;
- ability to explain that weighing up process and the argument for the recommendation so that the client can understand it;
- ability to express oneself in a professional manner to a fellow professional, and in a plain English manner to a client.
These criteria overlap in practice so they will not be allocated separate marks. The description of the assignment on the Moodle site will contain a detailed rubric.
- Describe and explain the various business structures considered in the court
- Locate, interpret and analyse various sections of legislation applicable to corporations and other business structures
- Apply your knowledge of law to particular fact situations relevant to the unit so that the legal issues raised are discussed coherently and reasonable conclusions are reached.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Take Home Exam
Students will be required to solve legal problems and answer questions concerning different business structures, such as partnerships, trusts, companies and incorporated associations. Students will be required to have knowledge of relevant law, and apply that law to answer questions and solve problems. A detailed rubric will be provided on the unit's Moodle page.
Take-home exam will be due at a date to be set
The take-home exam will assess a number of skills, such as:
- written expression;
- referencing;
- the ability to use legislation and case law;
- the ability to identify legal issues;
- the ability to identify applicable law;
- the ability to accurately explain the law;
- the ability to apply law to solve problems, and/or to answer questions;
- the ability to reach a conclusion and/or provide advice based on legal analysis.
- Describe and explain the various business structures considered in the court
- Locate, interpret and analyse various sections of legislation applicable to corporations and other business structures
- Apply your knowledge of law to particular fact situations relevant to the unit so that the legal issues raised are discussed coherently and reasonable conclusions are reached.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
