ABSTRACT
When a group of businessmen get together and decide to start a business, one decision that they will need to make early on is whether to operate as a company or as a partnership. There are certain advantages, and, indeed, certain disadvantages, that attach to incorporation. The following are therefore matters which businessmen will need to consider. The essence of the company is that it is a completely separate person in law: see Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd (1897) (para 2.1). Although a Scottish partnership, unlike its English counterpart, does have a personality of its own, its personality is limited. Thus, unlike a company, a partnership cannot own heritable property (land and buildings) in its own name and a court decree obtained against a firm can be enforced against the individual partners personally. From this very basic difference between the company and the partnership flow many of the advantages and disadvantages of incorporation.
