Course

Business Law Fundamentals for Accountants

Faculty
Commerce & Business Administration
Department
Business Law
Course Code
BLAW 1005
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15 Weeks
Max Class Size
35
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
This course is specifically intended for Accounting students, and is meant to provide a basic level of understanding regarding an array of business law topics. More particularly, the course will expose students to basic concepts regarding the Canadian legal system, as well as the law of contracts, torts, business organizations, agency, intellectual property, real and personal property, environmental protection, consumer protection, creditor's rights, secured transactions and bankruptcy. Accounting students who wish to obtain greater understanding of business law topics are advised to enrol in BLAW 1320 (Introductory Business Law) and BLAW 3720 (Business Law for Accountants). BLAW 1320 and 3720 can be counted towards the Concentration in Business Law. BLAW 1005 does not meet prerequisite requirements for any upper level Business Law course. Students who have already received credit for BUSN 1005 will not get further credit for this course.
Course Content

 

  1. Sources of Canadian and British Columbia law
  2. Law of Torts
    1. general principles including liability insurance and vicarious liability
    2. intentional torts
    3. strict liability torts
    4. the tort of negligence
  3. Law of Contracts
    1. nature of a contract
    2. elements of a contract
    3. terms of a contract
    4. factors affecting the contractual relationship (ex. misrepresentation, illegality, undue influence)
    5. discharge and breach of contract
    6. contractual remedies
  4. Law of Agency
  5. Business Organizations
    1. sole proprietorships
    2. partnerships and limited partnerships
    3. corporations
  6. Consumer Transactions, including Sale of Goods
  7. Real Property Law and Environmental Protection
  8. Personal Property Law
  9. Negotiable Instruments
  10. Secured Transactions and Creditor's Rights
  11. Bankruptcy Law
  12. Intellectual Property Law
    1. trade-marks
    2. copyright
    3. patents, trade secrets and confidential information
Learning Activities

Lectures, assignments, anaylsis of legal issues, discussion of legal cases, and/or group activities.

Means of Assessment
Term examinations (2-3) 55-60%*
Final examination 30-35%
Class participation and/or assignments and/or quizzes       5-10%
  100%

 *No one examination may be worth more than 40%

Students may conduct research as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans, which can require obtaining Informed Consent from participants and getting the approval of the Douglas College Research Ethics Board prior to conducting the research.

 

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this course, successful students will be able to:

  • describe the structure of the Canadian legal system;
  • recognize the main aspects of the Canadian judicial system including the sources of law, and the levels and roles of courts in the judicial system;
  • set out the difference between common law, statute law, administrative law, and criminal law;
  • demonstrate a basic understanding of the law of contracts;
  • describe fundamental principles of tort law and identify some of the important common law torts;
  • distinguish between the main forms of business organizations;
  • identify the important legal aspects pertaining to corporate governance;
  • recognize key principles of the law of intellectual property, personal property, and real property (including environmental protection);
  • summarize the rights and priorities that arise in a secured transaction;
  • set out the main features of bankruptcy proceedings;
  • recognize general characteristics of the law of negotiable instruments; and
  • describe basic sources of consumer protection, including sale of goods legislation.
Textbook Materials

Yates, Richard, T. Bereznicki-Korol, and T. Clarke, Business Law in Canada. Latest editon (Toronto: Pearson Education Canada), or

Duplessis, Dorothy, S. O'Byrne, P. King, L. Adams, and S. Enman, Canadian Business and the Law. Latest edition (Toronto: Nelson), or 

Other textbook(s) as approved by the Business Law Department, and

Additional cases and/or readings as per the Instructor's discretion.

Requisites

Prerequisites

No prerequisite courses.

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

BUSN 1005

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer Details for BLAW 1005
Alexander College (ALEX) ALEX COMM 1XX (3)
Athabasca University (AU) AU LGST 2XX (3)
Camosun College (CAMO) CAMO BUS 1XX (3)
Coast Mountain College (CMTN) CMTN BLAW 152 (3)
College of the Rockies (COTR) COTR MGMT 212 (3)
College of the Rockies (COTR) COTR ACCT 2XX (3)
Columbia College (COLU) COLU BUSN 1st (3)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU BUSI 2390 (3)
North Island College (NIC) NIC BUS 2XX (3)
Okanagan College (OC) OC BUAD 209 (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU BUS 2XX (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU BLAW 2910 (3)
University Canada West (UCW) UCW BUSI 1XX (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) UBCO MGMT_O 1st (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV COMM_V 1st (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC COMM 2XX (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC COMM 300 (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV BUS 2XX (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC COM 302 (1.5)
Vancouver Community College (VCC) VCC HOSP 2460 (3)
Vancouver Island University (VIU) VIU LAWW 1st (3)
Yorkville University (YVU) YVU BUSI 2023 (3)

Course Offerings

Winter 2025