LL.B. III Term LB – 303: COMPANY LAW

Topic 1 : Nature and Kinds of Companies

(a) ‘Company’ – Definition; Evolution; History of Company Legislation in India; Meaning and Nature
of Company with Emphasis on its Advantages and Disadvantages over other forms of Business
organizations. Comparison between Company and Partnership and Company and Limited Liability
Partnership, Companies (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019, Companies (Amendment) Act, 2020.
(b) Theory of ‘Corporate Personality’; Concept of Separate Legal Entity, Company not a citizen of India;
Lifting of the Corporate Veil, Statutory Exceptions to Limited Liability.

1. Salomon v. Salomon & Co., Ltd.(1897) AC 22 (HL)
2. State Trading Corpn. of India, Ltd. v. CTO(1964) 4 SCR 99
3. TELCO Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. Ltd. v. State of Bihar(1964) 6 SCR 885
4. Bennett Coleman & Co. & Ors v. Union Of India & Ors(1972) 2 SCC 788: AIR 1973 SC 106.
5. Daimler Co., Ltd. v. Continental Tyre and Rubber Co. (G.B.), Ltd.[1916-17] All ER Rep. 191
6. Lee v. Lee’s Air Farming Ltd.[1960] 3 All ER 420
7. In re Sir Dinshaw Maneckjee Petit BariAIR 1927 Bom. 371
8. CIT v. Sri Meenakshi Mills Ltd.(1967) 1 SCR 934 : AIR 1967 SC 819

10. Workmen v. Associated Rubber Industry Ltd.(1985) 4 SCC 114
11. Gilford Motor Company, Limited v. Horne(1933) Ch. 935 : [1933] All Er Rep. 109(CA)
12. Subhra Mukherjee v. Bharat Coking Coal Ltd.(2000) 3 SCC 312
13. Kapila Hingorani v. State of Bihar (2003) 6 SCC 1
    
    (c) Kinds of Companies – Public Sec.2(71) and Private Companies Sec.2(68); Holding Sec.2(46)
    and Subsidiary Companies Sec.2(87); Limited and Unlimited Companies Sec.2(92); Share-holding
    and Guarantee Companies Sec.2(21/22); Small company Sec.2(85); One person company Sec.2(62);
    Government company Sec.2(45); and foreign company Sec.2(42).

Topic 2 : Promotion and Formation of Company
(a) Promotion: Promotion of Company, Promoters Sec.2 (69), their position, Powers, Duties and
Liabilities.
(b) Formation: Formation of Company (Sec.3), Procedure of registration including online
registration of a company, Effects of Certificate of Incorporation and Registration of company
(Sec.9).

14. Erlanger v. New Sombrero Phosphate Co.(1874-80) All ER Rep. 271

Topic 3 : Company’s Constitutional Documents
(a) Memorandum of Association Section 4 and Articles of Association Section 5 – Importance,
Registration and Its Effect; Binding Nature; Clauses in Memorandum of Association, Alteration of
Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association Section 10-16
(b) Doctrine of Ultra vires – A Critical Analysis of doctrine of Ultra Vires.

15. Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company Limited v. Riche[1874-80] All E.R. Rep. 2219 (HL)
16. Cotman v. Brougham[1918-19] All E.R. Rep. 265(HL)
17. In re Jon Beauforte (London) Ltd.[1953] 1 Ch. 131
18. Bell Houses, Ltd. v. City Wall Properties, Ltd.[1966] 2 All ER 674
19. Re Introductions, Ltd.Introductions, Ltd. v. National Provincial Bank Ltd.[1969] 1 All E.R. 887
20. A. Lakshmanaswami v. Life Insurance Corporation of IndiaAIR 1963 SC 1185
    
    (c) Doctrine of Indoor Management; Binding Nature of Articles of Association between
    members/shareholders inter se and also outsiders; Rule of Constructive Notice; Doctrine of Indoor
    Management and its exceptions.
21. The Royal British Bank v. Turquand[1843-60] All ER Rep. 435
22. Freeman and Lockyer v. Buckhurst Park Properties (Mangal), Ltd.[1964] 1 All E.R. 630
23. Kotla Venkataswamy v. Chinta RamamurthyAIR 1934 Mad. 579
24. Dehradun-Mussoorie Electric Tramway Co. v. Jagmandar Das andOthersAIR 1932 All 141

Topic 4 : Prospectus
Prospectus Sec. 2(70), Kinds- Abridged Sec.2 (1), Deemed Sec.25, Shelf Sec. 31, Red-Herring Sec.
32, Information Memorandum, Registration Sec.26, Remedies against Misrepresentation, LiabilitiesCivil and Criminal.

Topic 5 : Company’s Share Capital/Debenture
(a) Equity Finance: Shares Sec. 2(84), Kinds of Share capital Sec.43
(a) Equity share (b) Preference share
(b) Debt Finance: Debentures Sec. 2(30) Nature of shares or debentures Sec.44
Comparison Between Share and Debenture

Topic 6 : Board of Directors
Corporate Governance; Appointment of Directors; Duties of Directors and their Criminal and Civil
liabilities.
Director’s Identification Number Sec.153-159
Independent Director Sec.2 (47)
Case Study on Satyam Scandal

25. Percival v. Wright(1902) 2 Ch. 421
26. Burland v. Earle (Consolidated)(1900-3) All E.R. 1452
27. City Equitable Fire Insurance Co., Re (1925) Ch. 407
28. Regal (Hastings),Ltd. v. Gulliver(1942) 1 All ER 378 : (1967) 2 A.C. 134 (H.L.)
29. Industrial Development Consultants Ltd. v. Cooley(1972) 1 W.L.R. 443
30. Standard Chartered Bank v. Pakistan National Shipping Corporation[2003] 1 All ER 173 (HL)

Topic 7 : General Meetings
Types / Kinds of Meetings, Essential Conditions of a Valid Meeting, Procedure for Calling
Company Meetings.

Topic 8: Prevention of Oppression and Mismanagement
Protection of Minority Shareholders; Powers of Tribunal and Central Government; Prevention of
Oppression and Mismanagement Sec.241-244;
Class Action Suit (Sec.245)
Foss v. Harbottle Rule – Exceptions – acts ultra vires, fraud on minority, acts requiring special
majority, wrongdoers in control, etc.

31. Foss v. Harbottle (1843) 67 ER 189 (1943) 2 Hare 461
32. H.R. Harmer Ltd., Re (1958) 3 All E.R. 689
33. Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society, Ltd. v. Meyer 1959 AC 324
34. Shanti Prasad Jain v. Kalinga Tubes Ltd.AIR 1965 SC 1535
35. Rajahmundry Electric Supply Corporation Ltd. v. A. Nageshwara RaoAIR 1956 SC 213
36. Bharat Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Kanhaya Lal GaubaAIR 1935 Lah. 792
37. Needle Industries (India) Ltd. v. Needle Industries Newey (India) Holdings Ltd.,AIR 1981 SC
    1298
38. Radharamanan (M.S.D.C.) v. Chandrasekara Raja (M.S.D.)(2008) 6 SCC 750
39. Tata Consultancy Services Limited v. Cyrus Investments Private Ltd.

Topic 9 : Winding up of Companies
Winding up by the Tribunal: Sec.270 – Winding up by the Tribunal Sec.271-303;

40. In re German Date Coffee Company(1882) 20 Ch. D. 169
41. Seth Mohan Lal v. Grain Chambers, MuzaffarnagarAIR 1968 SC 772
42. Aluminium Corp. of India Ltd. v. Lakshmi Ratan Cotton Mills Co. Ltd.AIR 1978 All. 452
43. Yenidje Tobacco Co. Ltd., Re (1916) 2 Ch. D. 169
44. Devas Employees Mauritius Private Limited v. Union of India, High court of Karnataka, Writ
    petition no.6191 of 2021, decided on 28th April, 2021

Topic 10 : Adjudicatory Bodies
National Company Law Tribunal; National Company Law Appellate Tribunal – Constitution,
Powers, Jurisdiction, Procedure, Judicial Review Sec. 407-434

45. Madras Bar Association Vs Union of India & Anr.Writ Petition (C) No. 1072 Of 2013
46. Embassy Property Developments Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Karnataka andOrs.MANU/SC/1661/2019

Topic 11 : Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Criminal Liability
Introduction to CSR; Need for CSR; CSR Sec. 135 under Companies Act, 2013; Companies
(Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules 2014 (CSR Rules, as amended) and Schedule VII of
Companies Act, 2013