![[DIGITALE BIBLIOTHEK DER FES]](/images/digbib/d_digbib.gif)
SECTION of DOCUMENT:
[page-number of print ed.:97]
Appendix: Glossary of Technical Terms
| Act of Parliament | A law made by Parliament (the National Assembly). Acts of Parliament are also called statutes or legislation. |
| Affidavit | A statement made under oath before a Commissioner of Oaths. |
| Articles of Association | A document which regulates the internal affairs of a company. |
| Audit | The process of checking the accuracy of financial records by an independent third party. |
| Bill | A proposal for a new law presented to Parliament |
| Case law | Past court decisions which assist the courts in applying the law in order to decide criminal and civil cases. |
| Civil court | A court, which deals with behaviour that, infringes a person's private right. |
| Class rights | The rights, which attach to a particular type of shares, such as preferential shares which, grant the holder the right to be paid a dividend before ordinary shares. |
| Commissioner of Oaths | A person who is legally entitled to sign a sworn statement or swear that a photocopy or photograph is a true copy of an original document. |
| Common law | A source of law, which in Southern Africa is the law which has been handed down from colonial times |
| Consumer | A person who buys goods or who hires services from another person |
| Contract | An agreement between two (or more) persons, which is legally binding on each of them and which can be enforced through the courts. |
| Creditor | A person who is owed money. |
[page-number of print ed.:98]
| Debenture | A claim arising from the loan of money to a company. |
| Debtor | The person who owes money to a creditor |
| Delegated legislation | The laws made by persons such as Government Ministers and local government authorities, under powers which have been given to them by Parliament. |
| Dividend | A share of a company’s profits paid to shareholders |
| Government Gazette | A weekly Government publication, which contains new Bills or Acts of Parliament, legal advertisements and notices. |
| Hire | A contract whereby one person pays another person in return for the use of something belonging to that person. |
| Hire-purchase | A contract whereby a buyer pays the purchase price (plus interest) to the seller in a number of instalments but does not obtain ownership until the full purchase price is paid. |
| Liquidation | The process of closing down a company and selling its assets to pay off its debts. |
| Liquidator | The person who liquidates a company. |
| Memorandum of association | The document, which sets out what, a company can do. |
| Passing off | A civil (private) wrong whereby someone passes off his goods or business as being that of another person, for example by using a similar name, or logo. |
| Statute | An Act of Parliament |
| Winding up | The termination of a business by selling its assets and settling its liabilities. |
[page-number of print ed.:99]
SEPAC Publications
| A Regional Network Approach to Fostering Small Business Promotion in SADC Countries. Proceedings of the Third SEPAC Conference | 1997 |
| SME Policies and Policy Formulation in SADC Countries. Papers Presented to the Workshop of the SEPAC Working Group "Policy Issues" | 1998 |
| Chambers of Commerce and Industry as Small Business Service Providers - Opportunities and Challenges. Papers Presented to the Workshop of the SEPAC Working Group "Entrepreneurship Development and Training" | 1999 |
| Appropriate Technology for Small and Medium Enterprises in SADC Countries. Papers Presented to the Workshop of the SEPAC Working Group "Information, Technology and Technology Transfer" | 1999 |
Copies can be ordered from
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Botswana Office
© Friedrich Ebert Stiftung | technical support | net edition fes-library | November 2000
