Comparison of the USA and the UK Laws - Essay Example

Comparison of US and UK Laws College COMPARISON OF US AND UK LAWS Legal systems are paramount features of any country that provides the regulations that government. From a close look, the UK and US legal systems are founded on the same history and have developed over time to become the different entities that they are today. The UK and US court systems operate the same way in handling minor and major legal issues. However, it is clear that the two legal systems are much different especially in regulating the labour, contract, property and trade systems within the two countries. While the US legal system appears to be more liberal, it is unfriendly to the minority groups such as foreigners and non-US persons and companies. On the other hand, the UK legal systems are stricter and protect the plight of traders, employees and members of contracts. The EU laws provide a clearly approach to define relationships within contracts and encourage foreign investors by providing a friendlier tax system as compared to the situation in the US legal system. From this perspective, it is crucial for both legal structures to harmonise their regulations to provide a better legal framework for its public. Employment Laws Question England The US 1. Is there a contract of employment? In the UK, there exists a written contract of employment that puts obligations both on the employee and the employer. The contract of employment requires that both parties the conditions implies in the contract letter. In the US, there is no contract of employment and employee enters into the job at their own will.1 2. Is there statutory protection? The UK is one of the countries that offer protection to its employees. The employer is answerable to court if he or she breaks any term implied in the contract. For instance, an employer must issue a notice before terminating an employee.2 On the other hand, the US government provides no statutory protection to employees. Hence, the employer can fire the employee any time. Unless there is a personal offense, the court does not protect the employee 3. Are there laws on minimum wages? The EU laws provide a minimum wage law that any employee can earn The US law refers a salary as an agreement between the employee and the employer. 4. How does the law treat wrongful discharge of employee? In the UK, the law requires that all employers work within the contract laws while discharging their employees. Wrongful discharge will attract legal intervention.3 Differently, the federal law on wrongful employee dismissal. The law only protects those who are dismissed on grounds of gender, race and any other form of discrimination 5. Is there continuation of benefits for employees? The UK law has not legislated laws that ensure employee benefit after they are dismissed from their work.4 However, the US law requires that the employer continues to pay benefits such as Healthy insurance after termination the employee 6. Laws on Holidays The UK law requires that all organizations provide leaves and holidays to their employees US law does not stipulate any laws regarding leaves and holidays5 7. Pay during holidays and Leaves There is no pay during holidays The organization must pay their employees during such occasions 8. Is Minimum Working Hours included in Law There are 8 working hours per day according to the law The employer and employee agree on the number of working hours 9. Maternal Leave Laws More than one year maternity or paternity leave 12 weeks of maternity leave 10. Who makes the decision for dismissal? In UK, the labour inspectorate must be involved during employee dismissal The employer has the right to dismiss an employee any time. Hence the high instances of dismissal in US From a close observation, there exists a wide range of similarities and differences within the UK and US Employment laws. The two legal systems are similar in the sense that they seek to end discrimination within the employment sector. Hence both laws have clauses that prohibit employment discrimination in terms of gender, origin, race or even color. This appears to be an effort to embrace diversity management within these nations. However, the UK and US employment laws differ in a great way. To begin with, the US Laws provide no contract stipulations for employment. Therefore, issues of termination, salary, holidays and allowances all depend on the agreement between the employee and employer. This is much different from the UK legal system that requires that an employer and an employee be bound by a work contract that regulates their conduct. Hence, the UK law is more detailed in terms of protecting the employee as compared to the federal laws. From this perspective, the UK legal system has treated labor as an important issue. The Export and import Policies Question England The US 1. How do the taxation rates compare The UK legal system provides a lower percentage of tax for imports into the country. The US import tax is about 1.2% higher as compared to the US.6 2. Is there inspection of goods within the country? In UK it is legal to import goods that may affect the public negatively, hence a serious inspection is conducted to ascertain this fact In the inspection is conducted by there is a little evidence of how this should be conducted. Mainly inspections target illegal imports.7 3. Are imports from member countries treated different? The government allows members of the EU to import and export with no tax duties The situation is different in the sense member countries decide how to treat their neighbours depending on their relations. 4. Is there a discriminative treatment of some countries The UK treats all countries fairly equal as long the imports are within the legal prescription The US import and export laws discriminate imports from embargoed countries such as Iraq and Iran8 5. Is there different treatment of residents and non-residents The UK provides same treatment for both residents and non-residents On the other hand, the US provides higher tax exemptions for residents than non-residents 6. Treatment of Fraud and Illegal Imports The UK system treats any illegal customs as a breach of law and a legal matter subject to court jurisdiction. The US treats such cases as irregularities and its action is dependent on the parties involved. There exists no clear approach 7. Restrictions The UK system restricts the import of goods that may result to any form of harm to the nation The US is more strict and restricts the import of animals such as cats without a health certificate 8. International Company restrictions In the UK, countries that invest outside are taxed much similar to domestic companies In US companies that invest outside must pay higher tax from profits accrued from other countries9 9. Are there free export laws? The UK export laws prohibit export of some alcoholic drinks and permit others There are any limitation on export of alcohol, tobacco or any other allowed items10 10. Which export laws are strict? The UK export and import laws are all similarly strict In US, the US export laws are more lenient as compared to import laws11 A comparison of the UK and US import and export laws portrays the US system as stricter and more amorphous as compared to UK laws. The US has higher tax rates for imports than UK and put more serious measures to control imports. However, the UK is friendlier to other countries and offers low custom taxes and encourages imports. This can be linked to UK’s intention to promote international trade which has become the backbone of its development. The US appears more unfriendly even to its global investors who must pay higher taxes when they export products to other countries. From a different perspective, the two legal systems are similar in the sense that they require that exports and importing parties obtain licenses to operate international business. This is one of the strategies to control illegal trade and ensure that all importing and exporting companies are subject to the terms embedded in the law. Business Forms Law Question England The US 1. How are companies formed according to the law? In the UK, people can establish both a limited or unlimited company In the US, they are allowed to form limited companies where guarantors share company risks 2. Transparency of Business form The UK company law requires that those starting a company disclose their prospects of the company in detail In US, transparency is required and the details of the company are less emphasized. 3. Registration of the company? After disclosure, a company is registered only if it lies within the legal limits. The UK Laws process of registration is less intensive The US company registration requires much more details including business purpose, origin of the owners and its operational procedure 4. How does the company uphold corporate personality? The company shareholders can be sued in case of any wrongful action of the company12 Differently, The US law allows the persons and the companies to be sued differently. 5. What are the tax rates for different business forms? All business forms are treated differently but the tax rates are relatively law13 The US Law treats different businesses differently but the tax rates are higher than in UK 6. How is corporate governance implemented? UK corporate law allows the government to regulate conduct between shareholders The US law is less concerned with the relationship between shareholders and pays more attention on the company liability 7. How Intercompany competition controlled? Every company must respect another and must not infringe the rights of other companies The US corporate is strict on the relationship between companies and has severe punishment for any infringing company 8. Intervention on the elections of the company directors The UK legal system plays minimal role in regulation the shareholders affairs in such matters Federal laws actively influence the way business forms conduct their elections of directors. 9. How does the law influence mergers and acquisitions The UK Corporate law require that all companies entering partnership disclose their terms before such a partnership commences. The Companies can reasonably negotiate without disclosing such information to the government 10. How easy is it to merge with a company from other regions In UK, the corporate laws are easier and allow partnership with foreign companies14 In US, foreign companies are restricted and they have to provide details of their intention to merge with home companies15 From the look of things, the UK and US Company laws play an important role in regulating from the way companies are formed. There seems to be similarity on the way both legal systems handle relationships between companies. The law requires proper registration of companies that operate within the legal limits. However, it is appear much easier to establish a company in UK due to the flexibility of the legal system. The US appears stricter in regulating business partnerships especially with foreign companies. From this perspective, the two legal systems slightly differ in terms of flexibility and the way they handle foreign relations. References DAgostino, Gluseppina. "Healing Fair Dealing-A Comparative Copyright Analysis of Canadas Fair Dealing to UK Fair Dealing and US Fair Use." McGill LJ 53 (2008): 309. Deakin, Simon, Tom Goodwin, and Alan Hughes. Cooperation and trust in inter-firm relations: beyond competition policy?. ESRC Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge, 1997. Ferner, Anthony, Phil Almond, and Trevor Colling. "Institutional theory and the cross-national transfer of employment policy: the case of ‘workforce diversity’in US multinationals." Journal of International Business Studies 36.3 (2005): 304-321. Top of Form Finch, Vanessa. Corporate Insolvency Law: Perspectives and Principles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Franks, Julian R., Kjell G. Nyborg, and Walter N. Torous. "A comparison of US, UK, and German insolvency codes." Financial Management (1996): 86-101. Kingdom of Norway. 2006. “Annual Holiday Act.” Trondheim: Directorate of Labor Inspection (September). Accessed April 25, 2007. Lucas, Rosemary E. Managing employee relations in the hotel and catering industry. Cassell plc, 1995. Bottom of Form Top of Form Mallon, Christopher, and Shai Y. Waisman. The Law and Practice of Restructuring in the Uk and Us. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print. Morgan, Glenn, and Sigrid Quack. "Institutional legacies and firm dynamics: the growth and internationalization of UK and German law firms." Organization Studies 26.12 (2005): 1765-1785. Bottom of Form Top of Form Mwenda, Kenneth K. Comparing American and British Legal Education Systems: Lessons for Commonwealth African Law Schools. Youngstown, N.Y: Cambria Press, 2007. Print. Schmidt, Susanne K. "Commission activism: subsuming telecommunications and electricity under European competition law." Journal of European Public Policy 5.1 (1998): 169-184. Sheets, Nathan, et al. Exchange rate pass-through to US import prices: some new evidence. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2005. Stiglitz, Joseph E. "Dumping on free trade: the US import trade laws." Southern Economic Journal (1997): 402-424. Wheeler, David, and Ashoka Mody. "International investment location decisions: The case of US firms." Journal of international economics 33.1 (1992): 57-76. Bottom of Form Winn, Jane K., and Mark Webber. "Impact of EU Unfair Contract Terms Law on US Business-to-Consumer Internet Merchants, the." Bus. Law. 62 (2006): 209. Read More