Assignment
Assignment Requirements
The assignment will be no more than 2,000 words. Students must use a 12 size font, double spacing and default Microsoft Word margins. You must use the IRAC approach for problem based legal questions. If the assignment contains a theory question, the IRAC approach is not used. Your work will be marked on the basis that you have followed the instructions above.
The assignment is marked out of 30 and is worth 30% of the final unit grade.
All references are to be cited in accordance with the Murdoch University Library citation guide at http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/find/citation/.
Assignment submission
Assignments MUST be submitted electronically through the LMS as this is linked to the University’s grading system. Look at
http://our.murdoch.edu.au/Educational-technologies/LMS/Assignment-submission/
and you will see a list of the steps you need to follow.
Assignment cover sheets
When submitting assignments electronically, please use the Electronic Cover Sheet available at
http://www.murdoch.edu.au/goto/ElectronicAssignmentSubmission
Plagiarism-checking software
The University uses software called Turnitin which checks for plagiarism. Please note you must also submit your assignment through Turnitin and that when you submit your assignment electronically to Turnitin, a copy of your work is retained on the database to check collusion and future plagiarism. The University has a legal agreement with Turnitin that it will not share or reproduce student work in any form.
Advice on using Turnitin can be found at:
http://our.murdoch.edu.au/Educational-technologies/Turnitin/
It is of utmost importance that you have your assignment completed before the deadline so that you can load it to Turnitin and view the Turnitin report before final submission of the assignment, making any adjustments if necessary. The turnaround time on Turnitin 24 24 hours so be careful not to lodge into Turnitin within 24 hours of the assignment being due as you may not receive it in time for the deadline and you would lose marks for lateness of the Turnitin report.
To conclude the assignment must be lodged through LMS and Turnitin.
Electronic assignment submission
Where assignments are submitted in Microsoft Word, the coversheet and assignment should be submitted as a single file.
So your work doesn't get mixed up with others', use a filename which follows the convention: Unit Code, Assignment Number, the first three characters of your last name, your first initial and your Student Number. e.g. FDN155Assign2ChoJ12345678 for student Jun Chong.
If you need to submit a coversheet separately (e.g. when the assignment is written in another package, such as Excel), append CS to the same filename, to signify that this is a coversheet
*****Remember to always retain a copy of your assignment.
Assignment Due date and Extensions
The due date for submission of the assignment is Sunday 5 July 5pm WST. Please see below for details of extension to this deadline.
The assignment MUST be treated as a “work in progress”. This means you must work on your assignment progressively. Therefore you must start your assignment as soon as it is posted to the LMS.
Extensions
Extensions can only be granted by the Unit Coordinator, Liz Mansveld. Requests for extensions will only be granted if made prior to a due date and the request must be sent via email stating the reason for the request.
Extensions will usually only be granted in valid pressing medical or compassionate situations, where the student acts promptly to contact the Unit Coordinator. Work obligations, family celebrations such as weddings, moving house, computer failures, car failures or other transportation difficulties, other study commitments and similar matters are not valid reasons and thus are not accepted as grounds for an extension. It is up to the student to manage their study time efficiently and effectively so that the assignment is completed on a progressive basis over a number of weeks.
As such, any valid request for an extension must be accompanied by the assignment completed up to the point of the request as well as supporting evidentiary documentation. There is little point in requesting an extension if you have made no progress with your assignment as this simply indicates lack of time management skills as well as disregarding the instructions contained within this unit learning guide in terms of treating the assignment as a ”work in progress”.
For all extension requests, documentary evidence supporting the grounds for the extension request must be provided. For example, a student requesting an extension based on medical grounds (valid grounds), will need to produce a valid medical certificate. Students without medical certificates will receive zero marks.
In cases where the student provides appropriate supporting documentation to the unit coordinator and an extension is granted, if the submission does not meet the extension deadline, it will receive a zero mark.
Assignment penalties
Late submissions which have no agreed due date extension will have 10% of the marks deducted per day of delay.
The marks for the assignment will be awarded on the following basis:
Identification of relevant issue(s)
1 mark for each question
3
Discussion of the law relevant to the issue(s)
4 marks for question 1, 3 marks for question 2 and 2 marks for question 3
9
Application & analysis of the law to the facts provided
7 marks for question 1, 5 marks for question 2 and 3 marks for question 3
15
Conclusion
1 mark for each question 3
TOTAL 30
ASSIGNMENT
Question One (13 marks)
Jack is the managing director of Beanstalk Ltd. The company has a constitution which states that the company may only sell agricultural products grown in Queensland. The board of directors have implemented a company policy that all transactions over $100,000 require board approval.
Jack attends a trade fair in Victoria and is so impressed with the quality of the beans grown on a Victorian farm by Giant Ltd that he signs a $150,000 purchase agreement.
The board of directors of Beanstalk Ltd decide that this purchase will undermine the company’s marketing campaign promoting Queensland products. They advise Giant Ltd that the company will not make payment under the purchase agreement as:
(i) Jack did not have authority to sign a contract above $100,000;
(ii) Beanstalk Ltd had no legal capacity under its constitution to buy any produce from outside Queensland so the agreement cannot be enforced against it;
(iii) The constitution of Beanstalk Ltd was available in the public record and Giant Ltd had a responsibility to know its contents and comply with it.
REQUIRED:
Advise Giant Ltd by separately addressing each of the three points raised by Beanstalk Ltd. If you consider that the contract is enforceable you should identify in your answer the type of authority that Jack had.
Refer to the CA and cases where appropriate.
Question Two (10 marks)
Pan Ltd is a company without a constitution. At a members' meeting five items of business were passed as special resolutions and placed in a new constitution of the company. These were:
(a) that dividends can only be paid if they have been recommended by the directors and declared by the members;
(b) that the transfer of shares in the company requires the approval of the directors;
(c) that Wendy Weird be a director of the company for life;
(d) that directors of the company are to be appointed by Wendy Weird;
(e) that the directors may issue the company’s shares only with the approval of the members.
REQUIRED:
Applying any relevant sections of the Corporations Act consider the validity of each of the five constitutional rules above.
Question Three (7 marks)
In order to obtain the funds necessary to expand its business Growth Ltd is to make a $M20 share issue. Advise the directors of Growth Ltd over the following matters.
REQUIRED:
(a) Can the funds be raised from existing members or anyone else without a prospectus?
(b) Will the directors be safe from prosecution if they provide to investors in a prospectus everything they know that is relevant about the investment? If the company issues a prospectus and the directors then become aware that there is a false and misleading statement in it, what alternatives are available to them under the CA?
(c) Does the CA provide any protection for directors where funds are raised under a prospectus that contains a misleading statement?