Concise Australian Commercial Law

CONCISE AUSTRALIAN COMMERCIAL LAW 00_halftitle.indd 1 13-Dec-18 9:04:32 PM Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited 19 Harris Street Pyrmont NSW 2009 Tel: (02) 8587 7000 care.ANZ.thomsonreuters.com http://​legal.thomsonreuters.com.au/​ For all customer inquiries please ring 1300 304 195 (for calls within Australia only) INTERNATIONAL AGENTS & DISTRIBUTORS 00_halftitle.indd 2 NORTH AMERICA Thomson Reuters Eagan United States of America ASIA PACIFIC Thomson Reuters Sydney Australia LATIN AMERICA Thomson Reuters São Paulo Brazil EUROPE Thomson Reuters London United Kingdom 13-Dec-18 9:04:32 PM Concise Australian Commercial Law CLIVE TURNER LLB (B’ham), PhD (ANU) Honorary Associate Professor of Law University of Queensland JOHN TRONE BA, LLB, PhD (UQ) Research Fellow Curtin Law School Curtin University ROGER GAMBLE LLB (Melb), LLM (Mon), Dip Ed (Rus) Senior Lecturer in Law in the Department of Business Law and Taxation Monash Business School, Monash University FIFTH EDITION LAWBOOK CO. 2019 01_bookinfo.indd 3 13-Dec-18 9:05:10 PM Published in Sydney by Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited ABN 64 058 914 668 19 Harris Street, Pyrmont, NSW 2009 ISBN: 9780455241418 © 2019  Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited This publication is copyright. Other than for the purposes of and subject to the conditions prescribed under the Copyright Act, no part of it may in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, microcopying, photocopying, recording or otherwise) be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without prior written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publishers. All legislative material herein is reproduced by permission but does not purport to be the official or authorised version. It is subject to Commonwealth of Australia copyright. The Copyright Act 1968 permits certain reproduction and publication of Commonwealth legislation. In particular, s 182A of the Act enables a complete copy to be made by or on behalf of a particular person. For reproduction or publication beyond that permitted by the Act, permission should be sought in writing. Requests should be submitted online at www.ag.gov.au/​cca, faxed to (02) 6250 5989 or mailed to Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney-​General’s Department, Robert Garran Offices, National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600. Product Developer: Vickie Ma Edited and typeset by Newgen KnowledgeWorks Printed by Ligare Pty Ltd, Riverwood, NSW This book has been printed on paper certified by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). PEFC is committed to sustainable forest management through third party forest certification of responsibly managed forests. For more info: http://​www.pefc.org 01_bookinfo.indd 4 13-Dec-18 9:05:10 PM PREFACE The fifth edition of Concise Australian Commercial Law, like its predecessors, has two basic objectives: first, to provide students with a general understanding of the legal environment of business and to expose them to the language and perspectives of legal professionals, regulators and others with whom they will increasingly be required to interact; and second, to cover the main commercial law topics in a way that is clear and accessible but in sufficient depth to challenge non-​law students, many of whom will be studying law for the first time and may be doing so with a heavy heart. In the first chapter, we introduce students to the meaning and functions of law and provide a broad overview of the Australian legal system focusing on the sources of law and how laws are made. Thereafter, we examine the most important substantive commercial law topics beginning with the basic building block of commercial life