Английский язык для юристов. Предпринимательское право
Шрифт:
3. Describe and distinguish between the rights and duties of the mortgagor and the rights and duties of the mortgagee.
4. Decide whether security interests are perfected in cases involving various kinds of collateral.
5. Discuss what rights a secured party has when a debtor defaults by failing to make payments when due.
Exercise 5. Make up your own dialog on the case: In In re Manuel, buyer bought a television set and seller claimed a purchase money security interest in the television set and in several items previously purchased. The Fifth Circuit, reasoning that to have a purchase money security interest the collateral must secure its own price, held that the seller did not have a purchase money security interest in the previously purchased items. The court expressly left open the question whether the seller had a purchase money security interest in the television.
Unit 17
Partnership
Товарищество
Хозяйственными
– annuity – аннуитет; ежегодная выплата, установленная договором, завещанием или другим актом
– articles of partnership – договор об учреждении товарищества
– assigned – правопреемник, цессионарий
– assign – передавать; переуступать; цедировать; отчуждать
– capital contributions – взнос в уставный капитал; возмещение доли ответственности
– fiduciary – доверенное лицо, фидуциарий || основанный на доверии, фидуциарный
– general partner – член полного товарищества
– goodwill – стоимость «фирмы» (репутация и деловые связи фирмы, нематериальные элементы фирмы, включающие наименование фирмы, товарные знаки, клиентуру)
– limited liability – ограниченная ответственность
– limited partners – компаньон-вкладчик, компаньон с ограниченной ответственностью
– limited partnership – коммандитное товарищество, товарищество на вере
– partnership at will – бессрочное товарищество
– partnership by estoppel – товарищество в силу неопровержимой правовой презумпции (когда товарищ лишен права отрицать наличие представительства в силу характера своих действий)
– prima facie evidence – доказательство, достаточное при отсутствии опровержения; первичное доказательство; презумпция доказательства
– surplus – активное сальдо (торгового или платежного баланса); активный торговый или платежный баланс
– tenancy in partnership – овладение (преимущественно недвижимостью)
There are the two essential elements of a partnership. First, partnerships must involve at least two persons. (Note that the term person include corporations and other legally created organizations.) Second, a partnership must involve a sharing of profits and sharing losses equally by the partners. This point is so crucial that the sharing of profits and losses is considered prima facie (sufficient) evidence of the existence of a partnership. Prima facie evidence in this context means that the law presumes, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that an individual receiving profits and sharing losses is a partner.
Unlimited liability (the most unattractive feature of a partnership) places the partner's own property at risk, which means that the partner's nonpartnership property can be used to satisfy debts owed by the partnership. In general, a partner's individual nonpartnership property cannot be tapped until the partnership runs out of assets. It is also possible to stipulate in a given contract that nonpartnership property will never be used to satisfy a debt arising out of that agreement. Finally, partners can take out insurance to protect themselves against the loss of individual property due to partnership indebtedness.
A partnership can be formed by contract, by proof of existence, or by estoppel.
The written agreement that establishes a partnership is called the partnership agreement, or articles of partnership. In addition to the date of formation, the identity of the parties, and the purpose of the partnership, the agreement generally includes the name and duration of the partnership, amount of capital (net assets) each partner contributed to the partnership, amount of reserve funds (retained earnings) from profits to be accumulated, location and withdrawal procedure for all partnership funds, duties of partners, location and accessibility of a full and accurate account of partnership transactions, the times and amounts each partner is entitled to withdraw from partnership earnings, provision for the preparation of an annual balance sheet and income statement and the distribution of net profits or net losses between partners, limitations on partners, and termination notice procedure.
Sometimes a partnership will be created simply on the basis of the way in which people do business with one another. If one party claims that a partnership exists and the other party denies its existence, the court will look at the sharing of profits. However, a person may receive a share of the profits and avoid the label «partner» if the share is paid as repayment of a debt, as wages to an employee or rent to a landlord, as an annuity (i.e., a guaranteed retirement income), as interest on a loan, or as consideration for the sale of goodwill (i.e., the expected continuance of public patronage).
When an individual says or does something that leads a third party to the reasonable belief that a partnership exists, partnership by estoppel occurs. Partnership by estoppel does not create a true partnership.
The capital contributions of all partners are considered to be the property of the partnership. Capital contributions are sums that are contributed by the partners as permanent investments and that the partners are entitled to have returned when the partnership is dissolved. In contrast, loans or later advances that partners make to the partnership and accumulated but undivided profits belong to the partners on an individual basis.
Each partner has a property interest in specific terms of partnership property, making him or her a co-owner of that property. This form of ownership is known as tenancy in partnership. A tenancy in partnership has the following characteristics: A partner has an equal right with partners to possess and use specific partnership property for partnership purposes, but not for that partner's personal use; a partner's interest in partnership property may not be assigned (i.e., transferred by sale, mortgage, pledge, or otherwise) to a nonpartner, unless the other partners agree to the transfer; partners' rights in partnership property are not subject to attachment (i.e., taking a person's property and bringing it into the custody of the law) for personal debts or claims against the partners themselves; a deceased partner's interest in real property held by the partnership passes to the surviving partners; and partners' rights in specific partnership property are not subject to any allowances or rights to widows, heirs, or next of kin.
A partner's interest in the partnership is his or her share of profits and surplus. Surplus includes any funds that remain after a partnership has been dissolved and all other debts and prior obligations have been settled. Partners share profits and surplus equally, unless the articles of partnership specify otherwise.
All partners have equal rights in the management of partnership business. Participating is not limited by the proportional value of the partner's contribution. Any differences arising as to ordinary matters connected with the business may be decided by a majority vote of the partners.