Ingles Juridico

READING

The following are four kinds of businesses. Match each one to the four situations described below and give reasons for your choice.

a) sole trader b) public limited company
c) private limited company d) partnership

1. Henry Leverett wanted to set up an import-export business but had no capital, so he looked round for someone to finance him. Barry Goldfinger providedfinancial backing and now the two men are in business together. Henry is working very hard because he knows that if things go badly his house will be repossessed by the building society to which he is mortgaged.B
2. Bill Cuthbert trained as a car mechanic. His dad left him £5,000 to set up his own workshop. He worked very hard at first until the business got off the ground. Now he employs twojunior mechanics who get £150 take-home pay a week. He takes in an average of £5,000 a month, which leaves him about £1,700 after paying the lads, tax and overhead.A
3. At the last annual general meeting Alison Reeves was pleased to hear that the managing director was being replaced, as Askis’ profits had slumped and the share price had plummeted. She had already contacted her stockbrokerabout selling her stake in the company, but decided to keep the shares for another few months to see if the price picked up and a dividend was declared after two years of receiving nothing.D
4. James Bell, Meriel Hutchinson and Anthony Little studied computer science together. They all obtained prizes for creativity when at university and decided to work together to produce computer software.They each put in £10,000 to get going. Sensibly, they took legal advice, and set up a company. Things have not gone too well for them: debts are mounting up and they are thankful they will never lose more than the £10,000 they each originally invested.C

EXERCISES

1. Find the formal equivalent for the words italicized in the text.
2. Rewrite the following sentences in a formal style, suchas one lawyer would write to another.
a) Each friend put in £10,000 to get the business going, but it never got off the ground.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) ABC’s results have picked up and they’ve decided how muchto give as a dividend.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c) His dad left him £5,000 to set up his own workshop.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


d) He takes in about £1,700 after paying the lads, the rent and tax.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




CLASSIFYING

The following is a list of characteristics of thefour different kinds of businesses listed below. Discuss to which kind of business each characteristic would correspond. (Some characteristics are common to different kinds.)
(a) sole trader (c) private limited company
(b) partnership (d) public limited company

1. an artificial, not a natural personA
2. dissolution upon death or retirement
3. minimum of one member and twodirectors + one secretary
4. perpetual succession regardless of changes in membership
5. minimum authorized share capital of £50,000
6. one quarter of share capital paid up
7. no minimum capital requirement
8. an entity separate from its members
9. only one director required + one member + secretary
10. no minimum share payment requirement
11. compliance with...