The purpose of the Individual Assignment is to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their level of learning of the various key concepts taught in the unit and apply them in analysing and answering two case problems by citing the relevant legal rules and cases and applying these to the facts of the case. In this Individual Assignment, students are required to:
- Reflect critically on the legislation and the relevant case law relating to the different business structures, in particular corporations and partnerships, and apply legal principles to real case situations. (ULO 2)
- Analyse the incorporation process and explain the laws and regulations that govern the different forms of legal entities including the significance of the concept of separate legal entity. (ULO 3)
- Analyse the roles and duties of directors in the management of the company and the responsibilities of members in a company. (ULO 4)
Where students do not follow the above guidelines:
- Students who submit assignments that do not comply with the guidelines may be required to resubmit their assignments or incur penalties for inadequate referencing.
- Late penalties will apply per day after a student or group has been notified of resubmission requirements.
Students whose citations are identified as fictitious will be reported for academic misconduct.
Assignment Questions
- Read the questions below and plan your answers.
- Follow the word counts specified for each individual component of the individual assignment.
- A minimum of 6 genuine and relevant Australian legal references are required for this part of the report. Examples of relevant references for this question include Australian business and company law textbooks; the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth); the Australian and Securities and Investment Commission’s (ASIC) website (www.asic.gov.au), the website of the Australian Business Register’s (ABR) website
- The full citations for all sources cited in your answer must be listed in a Reference list at the end of your answer.
- In addition, any online sources cited in your answer and listed in your Reference List must include a valid hyperlink that allows access to the full text of the source.
Question 1
Cousins Lilly Henty and Samuel Curley desire to launch a business. They have always worked as employees and have never opened much less run any sort of business enterprise in their lives. They want to run a business proposed business by as simply as possible by themselves. In addition, after their business is set up, they do not want the public to easily find out what kind of business they are running. Even though they do not have business experience, they are both proactive people and are committed to make their business a success. In the future, they anticipate that they will want to expand the business and so would need additional capital from outside sources to achieve this. What type or types of business structure would suit them best? Explain your answer.
Question 2
Kubo Yutaka is an executive director of Intoku Logistics Pty Ltd, an established company founded in Sydney in 1975. The company has 4 members/shareholders (including Yutaka), with each of them owning twenty-five percent of the company shares. According to Intoku’s constitution, all loan contract, to be valid, must bear the signature of at least two directors. Yutaka wants to retire in 2021. As he has been with the company since its inception, he believes he is now entitled to a reward for all his years of faithful service. He visits a yacht dealership in Coffs Harbour and orders a boat worth $200,000. Yutaka signs the contract as a director of Intoku Pty Ltd. When the boat is delivered and the dealer sends the invoice to Intoku, the board of directors are livid with anger and refuse to pay for the boat. They also want to take legal action against Yutaka. The boat dealer threatens to sue Intoku is the boat is not paid for.
(a) Did Yutaka have authority to sign the contract to buy the boat?
(b) Is Intoku Pty Ltd legally obliged to pay for the boat? (6 marks total [3 marks per question] Maximum 350 words)
