LAWS 1018 – Business Law
Written Assignment – Part A
Assignment Details
• Part A (this part) of the Written Assignment is worth 10% of the overall grade.
• The word limit for Part A is 500 words.
• The due date for Part A is Sunday 31 March at 11:00pm (Sunday at the end of week 5).
• Please see the “Written Assignment – Information” page (on the Assessment tab) for further information.
Assignment Instructions
• It is recommended that you use the IRAC problem solving method to answer this assignment.
• You may use headings and subheadings to structure your answer.
• Your answer must include legal references (relevant cases and/or sections of Acts).
• You are required to use the Harvard style of referencing. You should include a reference list in your assignment, including a list of legal references you have used.
• You must include the Assignment Feedback document at the end of your answer. The Feedback sheet is on the last page of this document. Please copy it into your submission.
Important:
Please note that this is not a research assignment. It is expected that you use the course materials in preparing your assignment. This includes using the lecture materials and the course text book. It is expected that you use the law that is included in these resources. You should not use law obtained from another source.

Question:
John and Lucy are friends who both love books. They decide to open a book shop together. They want the book shop to be an inviting place with a reading area and freshly made coffee.
John and Lucy both want to work in the shop full time and want to run the business together. They decide to share the profits and losses equally, and have decided that they must both agree on major decisions regarding the shop.
They have set up a business bank account in the name of ‘J&L Books’ and both John and Lucy have access to this account. They each deposit $20,000 into the account.
John contributes a coffee machine from his home, and Lucy contributes some lamps, cushions and artworks for the reading area.
They know that setting up a business will be a lot of work, so they decide to divide up some of the tasks. John is in charge of finding a suitable venue for the shop, as well as organising the necessary computer software. Lucy is in charge of registering the business name and ordering inventory. They will work together to fit out the shop with furniture and to create the business logo and marketing materials.
A few months later, everything is finished and the store is ready to open. But just before opening day, John and Lucy have a huge argument (about something personal) and do not want to speak to each other ever again. They decide that they cannot run a business together and decide not to open up the shop.
Later, when selling off the assets, John sells one of the lamps from the reading area for a large sum of money. When Lucy finds out she claims that she should receive the entire sum of the lamp as it was her lamp that was sold. John claims that as they were in a partnership, it was a partnership asset, and therefore the money should be shared equally. Lucy claims that they never formed a partnership because they never opened the shop.
Using the Partnership Act 1891 (SA) and key cases, discuss whether a partnership exists between John and Lucy. In your answer, make sure to provide detailed reasons supporting your assertions and make sure that your reasons are based upon the law.
Note: You are not required to discuss whether or not the lamp is partnership property or how the money should be distributed.
(Please remember to copy the Feedback Sheet – on the next page – into your assignment as the last page)
Assessment Feedback
Business Law
Key components of this assignment
Not all areas are weighted evenly. Performance on this component
Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor Very Poor
1. Relevant legal issues identified
2. Rules / case law / Legislation
Relevant law correctly identified and accurately stated
3. Analysis
Clear application of the facts to the rules/law
Clear and logical arguments presented
4. Structure
Answer clearly and logically structured
5. Language
Correct English expression, grammar, spelling and punctuation
6. Referencing
Correct in-text referencing
Complete and accurate reference list
Summary comment
Assignment Grade: