The Law and Business Administration in Canada, 15th edition

Published by Pearson Canada (February 15, 2019) © 2021
  • J E. Smyth
  • Dan Soberman
  • A J. Easson
  • Shelley McGill

Title overview

For courses in Business Law.

The Law and Business Administration in Canada is a multi-purpose text that meets the needs and priorities of different types of courses. The comprehensive coverage of a wide variety of relevant legal topics make this text perfect for the business law survey course offered in most business schools. 

The Law and Business Administration in Canada presents a comprehensive overview of traditional and current business law topics in a readable, practical, multi-platform format with online content and resources. Real case examples support the legal principles described in each chapter and students may examine the legal issues facing a single fictional business as it evolves through every chapter's Cases and Problems section. 

Hallmark features of this title

  • Cases: Real court decisions that demonstrate how judges create or apply a legal principle.
  • Illustrations: Simple factual scenarios that allow students to see a simple example the legal principle in action.
  • Checklists: Summaries that condense the text into a simple list of steps to follow when defining the law or applying a legal principle.
  • Ethical Issues: Descriptions of real events that present an ethical dilemma or demonstrate the link between law and ethics.
  • International Issues: Descriptions of real events that present an example of conflict of laws between jurisdictions.
  • Contemporary Issues: Current examples of situations that involve the legal principles of the chapter.
  • Strategies to Manage the Risk: A practical look at proactive ways a manager can address the legal issues presented in the chapter.

New and updated features of this title

  • Alberta and British Columbia case examples are added to most chapters of the book so that users from across the county can draw province specific content for their students. The 15th edition retains its Canada wide perspective but at reviewers' request, this edition attempts to balance examples with new cases from western provinces.
  • Indigenous content remains topic specific, but the 15th edition significantly expands the detail in the constitutional discussion of division of powers in Chapters 1 and 2 and in the Aboriginal rights and land claims discussion in Chapter 21. It incorporates several landmark Supreme Court of Canada decisions issued in 2014, 2015, and 2017. 
  • Accreditation from AASCB does not involve a list of substantive legal topics to be taught but does include “ethical understanding and reasoning” and legal principles for a “global society”. The 15th edition embraces the existing format of not only including a stand-alone chapter on international but also embedding an international issue box into each chapter of the book so that instructors can ensure student receive the required AACSB global perspective even if the international chapter is not being taught. The similarly placed ethical issues boxes reinforce the content in Chapters 1 and 2 on law and ethics and corporate social responsibility. 

Table of contents

  1. Law, Society, and Business
  2. The Machinery of Justice
  3. Government Regulation of Business
  4. The Law of Torts
  5. Professional Liability The Legal Challenges
  6. Formation of a Contract Offer and Acceptance
  7. Formation of a Contract Consideration and Intention
  8. Formation of a Contract Capacity to Contract and Legality of Object
  9. Contract Issues Mistake and Misrepresentation
  10. Writing and Interpretation
  11. Privity of Contract and the Assignment of Contractual Rights
  12. The Discharge of Contracts
  13. Breach of Contract and Its Remedies
  14. Sale of Goods and Consumer Contracts
  15. Bailment and Leasing
  16. Insurance and Guarantee
  17. Agency and Franchising
  18. The Contract of Employment
  19. Banking and Negotiable Instruments
  20. Intellectual Property
  21. Interests in Land and Their Transfer
  22. Landlord and Tenant
  23. Mortgages of Land and Real Estate Transactions
  24. Sole Proprietorships and Partnerships
  25. The Nature of a Corporation and Its Formation
  26. Corporate Governance The Internal Affairs of Corporations
  27. Corporate Governance External Responsibilities
  28. Secured Transactions
  29. Creditors' Rights
  30. International Business Transactions
  31. Electronic Commerce
  32. Privacy

Author bios

J.E. Smyth

James Everil (Ev) Smyth (1920–1983) studied commerce at the University of Toronto, where he earned a B.A. and an M.A. He also became a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He taught at Queen's University from 1946 to 1963, and then returned to the University of Toronto where he taught until 1983. He was an outstanding teacher and also served a term as head of the Department of Political Economy and then as head of the School of Business at the University of Toronto. He was the author of Introduction to Accounting Methods (Kingston: Jackson Press, 1951) and The Basis of Accounting (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1954). In 1983, he was posthumously given the L.S. Rosen Award for Outstanding Contribution to Canadian Accounting Education by the Canadian Academic Accounting Association.

Dan Soberman

Dan Soberman (1929–2010) studied law at Dalhousie University and Harvard University. He began teaching at Dalhousie in 1955, and in 1957 moved to Queen's University to help start the law faculty. He was dean of the faculty from 1968 to 1977, taught full-time until retirement in 1993, and continued to teach part-time there and in the School of Business until 1999. In the late 1960s, he was a member of the federal Business Corporations Task Force that drafted the Canada Business Corporations Act. In the autumn term of 2000, he was visiting professor at Kwansai Gakuin University in Japan. From 1977 until 2000, he was an adjudicator on human rights tribunals in Ontario and federally, and also acted as an arbitrator in labour disputes. He authored, or co-authored, chapters in various legal books and articles in law journals.

Alex Easson

Alex Easson (1936–2007) studied law in England, at Oxford University and the London School of Economics. Prior to coming to Canada, he practised law as a solicitor in London and taught at the University of Southampton. He was appointed professor of law at Queen's University in 1976 and remained at Queen's until he retired from full-time teaching in 2000. He then concentrated on his consulting practice, working principally for international organizations such as the IMF and the OECD, and specializing in international taxation, foreign investment, and economic reform. His work took him to more than forty countries on five continents. He authored, or co-authored, more than a dozen books, the most recent being Tax Incentives for Foreign Direct Investment (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2004). We at Pearson Canada appreciate his contributions to several editions of this highly acclaimed text.

Shelley McGill

Shelley McGill holds an LL.B. from the University of Western Ontario and an LL.M. from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. She is a full professor of business law in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University. Professor McGill teaches law to graduate and undergraduate business students. She is also a deputy judge of the Ontario Small Claims Court where she presides on a part-time basis. Prior to joining Laurier, Professor McGill was a partner in the Ontario law firm of Sims Clement Eastman. Her research focuses on consumer protection issues and is published in a variety of Canadian and international law journals, including the Canadian Business Law Journal and the American Business Law Journal.

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