Business Law

This sixth edition of Business Law has been thoroughly updated to include the latest developments since the last edition. These include a number of important cases (both domestic and from the European Union), the latest legislation (including the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Itemised Pay Statement) (Amendment) Order 2018 and the Employment Rights (Employment Particulars and Paid Annual Leave) (Amendment) Regulations 2018) and newly written text on the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018. All of these changes have been seamlessly incorporated without impacting the balance of the text.

Business Law is split into seven parts: introduction; the English Legal System; contractual obligations; tortious liability; company law; agency law; employment; and intellectual property and data protection. Each part (except for the introduction, agency law and intellectual property and data protection) includes a number of chapters. For example, the part on contractual obligations includes chapters on: establishing an agreement: offer and acceptance; terms of a contract; statutory regulation of contracts; and ending the contract. The part on the English Legal System includes chapters on: creating, finding, and applying the law; and dispute resolution for businesses. There are therefore very few areas of day to day business life which are not covered by Business Law.

The aim of Business Law is simple: to help the reader understand the law of a business and the legal principles surrounding its operation. This is an ambitious aim. This is because one of the difficulties of any business law course is a student is being taught the basic principles of business law; not an in-depth study of all of the area of the law covered by the module. It is therefore inherent in any textbook designed for business law students that the text’s approach will be understandably higher level. This is not, however, a criticism of Business Law: this text admirably provides a clear summary and explanation of the legal principles.

But what this approach does mean is that Business Law is an important text for both students studying business law and anyone involved in running a business from directors to senior managers. If you have the broad understanding of the law which Business Law covers, a business is more likely to operate compliantly and less likely to need to engage a lawyer in a distressed position. The Online Resource Centre also provides some excellent additional material including flashcards for cases, self-test questions, indicative answers and additional material. At £36.99 at the time of this review, Business Law is also well-priced.

Reviewed on 5 April 2021