Syllabus Information

1.1. Introduction

“Introduction to Law” is a key Introductory first term Level 1 course of the Business Administration Degree (in Spanish Grado en Adminstración y Dirección de Empresas [ADE]).

Through this course, ADE students will develop a basic knowledge of the Spanish Legal System and will be introduced to a wide range of legal topics and issues.

 This course introduces prospective ADE graduates to basic Civil and Commercial Law institutes that are indispensable for identifying market participants and how markets work.

1.2. Recommendations to take this course

No previous requirements are needed to take this course. To get the most out of this course, students are recommended to attend and actively participate both in lectures and in case sessions on a regular basis.

1.3. Context and importance of this course in the degree

“Introduction to Law” is an ADE first term key Introductory Level 1 course, with 6 ECTS  credits, embedded in the “Law Module”.

Being a key introductory course, “Introduction to Law” is aimed at enabling the student to understand and follow future degree courses.

The course presents the legal context in which a business operates.

 “Introduction to Law” is a preliminary course that enables students to analyse business organization instruments and resource assignment.

 The course is also important for a better understanding of the impact of tax regulation and accounting duties in business organizations.

1.4. Activities and key dates

Activities and key dates for following the course can be consulted in the web pages of Zaragoza Faculty of Economics and Business. (https://econz.unizar.es/,  http://fegp.unizar.es/, http://fcsh.unizar.es/) and will be dully announced by proffesors in charge of the subject during lecture periods.

2.1. Learning goals

1.- Identify Private Law institutes through which personal and patrimonial relationships are governed.

2.-  Identify who is to be deemed an entrepreneur and to understand the classification of business entities.

3.- Advising about legal structure options and entrepreneurs’ legal duties.

4.- Register companies according to the legal regime of public companies and limited liability companies.

5.- Identify the most commonly-used commercial contracts and the legal regime of negotiable instruments such as bills of exchange, cheques and promissory notes.

6.- Identify insolvency situations and analyse bankruptcy proceedings.

7.- Identify and critically evaluate relevant legal information and, in particular, acts and judiciary and administrative decisions.

8.- Learn the value of rigorous investigation and follow deontological requirements in her professional activity.

9.-  Encourage respect for Fundamental Rights and Gender Equality.

2.2. Importance of learning goals

This course explores, and facilitates a better understanding of, the context in which businesses operate. The student will become familiar with the social and legal environment in which economic activity takes place.

 The student will be shown a perspective of Private Law as a whole before identifying and classifying particular Patrimonial Law and Commercial Law institutes.

The student will experience hands-on applications of Private Law and learn how to interpret Law and how to solve real-life problems.

 The student will learn how to access databases containing Legal and Judiciary decisions.

 The student will be able to determine which business entity better fits a particular business structure. They will know how to register a company and they will also learn the scope of the obligations and responsibilities of market participants.

3.1. Aims of the course

The main objective of this course is to enable students to know the general structure of the Spanish legal system and, in particular, the basic rules that regulate business matters. The course aims to contribute to the formation of practitioners by providing them with a basic global legal background to facilitate the development of their valuation, directive, consultancy and managerial skills in any of the different fields that interact in business organizations.

3.2. Competences

Make decisions and manage business organizations

Know how any of the functional areas that interact in a business organization work

Solve problems

Frame, analyse and synthesize situations

Use their expertise to solve everyday problems

4.1. Assessment tasks (description of tasks, marking system and assessment criteria)

The arithmetic media of the sum of the grades obtained in each of the above-mentioned constitutes 60% of the final grade.

B)  A drill

It will be held after Christmas break. The student will have to solve a case. Only those who have passed the two previous exams are to sit this one.

The result of this exam constitutes 40 % of the final grade.

2.- Global assessment

The students who, for any reason, did not pass any of the exams that make up the "Continuous Assessment" method and those who want to improve their grades can take this exam.

The global assessment is a written exam referred to both theoretical and practical aspects of the subject. To pass the exam, the student must obtain at least five points out of ten.

This score is 100% of the final grade.

Second sitting

This is a written exam referred to both theoretical and practical aspects of the subject. To pass the exam, the student must obtain at least five points out of ten.

This score amounts to 100% of the final grade.

5.1. Methodological overview

This course combines both theoretical and practical aspects. Its teaching requires a combination of lectures and case-method-oriented sessions as well as autonomous work. This out-of-class work will be oriented and monitored by the professor in charge of the course.

5.2. Learning tasks

Case-solving sessions : to get the most out of these sessions, the group is divided into two subgroups. There are 30 hrs of case-solving sessions. Through case-method sessions, students are motivated to participate in class and to develop not only their skills in identifying and analysing legal problems but also their oral expression abilities.

To follow these sessions, students are required to do some legal and judiciary research in Law databases. These sessions will help students to become familiar with legal terms and expressions.

Tutorials and seminars : The aforementioned activities are completed with tutorials and seminars that are quite useful to solve students' queries about the topics dealt with in lectures and case-solving sessions. Through these tutorials and seminars, the students' out-of-class work can be oriented and monitored.

Autonomous learning or student-centred learning :

Tutorials, seminars and papers.

Students' out-of-class work is essential for their learning. This out-of-class work consists of:

• Reading the materials handed out or set by the professor.
• Information and materials search and analysis.
• Analysing and solving cases set by the professor.
• Personal study of the materials dealt with in the lectures and case-solving sessions.

(*) Although English is widely used in all fields of knowledge, it is a complicated and sometimes misleading language when trying to refer to Spanish Law institutes. This is particularly evident in Civil Law concepts that are quite difficult to translate into legal English.

5.3. Syllabus

Module I.- Principles of Patrimonial Law

Lesson 1.- Law and Economic Relationships

Lesson 2.- Law of obligations and Law of property

Lesson 3.- Trading of Goods and Services

Lesson 4.- Ownership and property acquisition

Module II.- Commercial Law

Lesson 5.- Managers and Entrepreneurs

Lesson 6.-  Registration and accounting duties

Lesson 7.- Antitrust Law and Intellectual Property Rights

Lesson 8.- Business Entities

Lesson 9.- Corporate Law (I)

Lesson 10.- Corporate Law (II)

Lesson 11.- Negotiable instruments

Lesson 12.- Bankruptcy Law

5.4. Course planning and calendar

Calendar of actual sessions and presentation of works

The calendar will be presented to the students at the beginning of the course

5.5. Bibliography and recommended resources

[BB: Bibliografía básica / BC: Bibliografía complementaria]