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Business Law, 3rd Edition

ISBN: 978-0-730-30574-3

September 2013

710 pages

Description

The third edition of James’ innovativetext continues to demonstrate business law principles in a clear and accessible style.  The objective of a business law subject is to ensure that students acquire sufficient knowledge of the law of business so they can recognise and solve simple legal problems, organise their affairs in order to avoid more complex or serious legal problems and appreciate the connection of legal principles within a range of commercial environments.

 

Because the majority of students are required to study business law as part of either a commerce or business degree, this textbook follows a functional approach to the study of business law rather than doctrinal so the principles of business law are contextualised within a business environment.

 

Business students need to know more than what the law is, they need to know where to find it, how to read it, how to use it and how it impacts on all facets of business. Students who use this textbook will develop a greater awareness of the law and its broad application to business and commercial environments. 

About the Author

Nick James has been teaching Business Law since 1996. He is a Professor within the Faculty of Law at Bond University, where he is also the Deputy Dean and Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning). He received the University of Queensland Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004, a National Carrick Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2007, and a UQ Citation for Programs that Enhance Learning in 2010. He is the Editor in Chief of the Legal Education Review, and the author of three textbooks — Business Law, Critical Legal Thinking and - The New Lawyer  (with Rachael Field) — as well as numerous journal articles, conference papers and book chapters in the areas of legal education, critical thinking and critical legal theory.

New to Edition
  • Emphasis on presenting balance of cases nationwide

 

  • Chapter 5 Making Deals contracts coverage bolstered

 

  • Chapter 8 Dealing with consumers and competitors has had significant revision in accordance with the requirements in the Australian Consumer Law, as set out in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Its expanded coverage will include more detail regarding ‘cartel conduct’.

 

  • Chapter 7 Dealing with agents is revised, and expands the coverage of contract law in the text to 4 chapters

 

  • Chapter 9 Protecting IP has been revised in accordance with changes under the Copyright Act and includes recent law cases relating to intellectual property and copyright infringements

 

  • New ‘Caution!’ feature identifies legal consequences that may arise

 

  • New ‘Checklist’ feature lists the key legal learning outcomes from reading various chapter sections

 

  • Updated Case Law summaries

 

  • Chapter 10 Financing a business – revised to cover rules relating to securities over personal property and the minimum levels of capital and solvency required for insurers under the Insurance Act

 

  • Chapter 13 Experiencing financial difficulty – updated to cover changes to credit licences and responsible lending requirements under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009.
Features
  • Each chapter begins and ends with ‘Johnny and Ash’ – a framing narrative which establishes the importance and relevance of the business law concepts presented, by describing a particular problem or situation. This feature appears in each chapter and involves a range of scenarios between two characters: Johnny, a restaurant owner, and Ash, a solicitor. Johnny and Ash begin each chapter by discussing one of more of the key issues explored within the chapter, and conclude each chapter with the resolution of those issues. They do so in a way which grounds these key issues in the real world, demonstrating how and why these issues might arise in business practice. The various scenarios link together into a continuing storyline, engaging the students’ interest as they progress from chapter to chapter

 

  • Chapter 3, Exercising Legal Skills, describes and develops important legal skills such as research, reading, interpretation and writing. This is an important chapter, not found in most introductory business law textbooks

 

  • Where appropriate, tables, diagrams, flowcharts and concept maps are used to illustrate  the more complex material within the text

 

  • Each chapter is periodically punctuated with questions which require the student to either reflect, research or revise key points. These questions ensure that students engage with the text actively rather than passively. Each section within a chapter concludes with a set of revision questions testing the student’s ability to recall the key points from the section

 

  • Throughout the text the student is referred to the many useful online resources relevant to the practice of business law in Australia

 

  • ‘Law in context’ boxes offer alternative perspectives on the law described in the main text. These perspectives include the operation of the law in practice, ethical perspectives, the portrayal of the law in popular culture, philosophical or historical perspectives on the law, insights upon the law from other disciplines such as economics or social science, the political context within which the law was developed and the law in a global context

 

  • Each chapter concludes with a set of quiz questions for students to test their own understanding of the content, as well as a set of exercises where the student can apply their knowledge to the solution of particular legal problems or further explore more challenging aspects of the law

 

  • Balances legal doctrine, practical perspectives, law in context and critical perspectives.

 

  • Organised into 13 manageable chapters corresponding with a typical semester, making it possible to use the entire textbook and cover all relevant business law topics in appropriate depth. No need to customise this textbook to suit the subject outline

 

  • Presents a functional rather than doctrinal approach, e.g. instead of ‘tort law’ and ‘contract law’, the chapters look at ‘causing harm’ and ‘making deals’.