In the UK, by-laws are a type of delegated legislation in the form of regulations or ordinances made by local authorities pursuant to powers given to them through Acts of Parliament, or, generally, the internal rules of an organization (but not a company).

In the UK, only individuals go bankrupt; companies are put or placed into insolvent liquidation.

Dear Mr. Dryden:

I have never met you, we have had insufficient contact for me to be comfortable using your first name, or we have a rather adversarial relationship.

Yours truly, (or) Yours sincerely, (or) Sincerely,

Perry Mason

Dear Bob:

You are an established client or an attorney with whom I have had dealings before.

Yours truly, (or) Yours sincerely, (or) Sincerely,

Ally McBeal

How British lawyers (barristers and solicitors) open and close letters

Dear Mr Smythe,

Re: Increase in share capital (may be in bold type, may include or omit “Re:”)

You are a new client or someone with whom I am not on a first-name basis.

Yours faithfully, (or) Yours sincerely,

John Kavanagh

Dear Marie,

Re: Increase in share capital

We have an established working relationship.

Yours sincerely,

Horace Rumpole

DIFFERENCES TO NOTICE

British usually write abbreviated titles, initials, dates, addresses, salutations and closings without punctuation. e.g. commas may be omitted after the salutation and closing.
In the British forms, the salutation and closing must correspond. “Yours faithfully” usually used when salutation is “Dear Sir(s)” or “Dear Madam”
Position of the “Re:” line in British forms.

You can also say:
• file proceedings
• commence proceedings
• institute proceedings

Second charge is the UK term for a mortgage ranking behind a first mortgage. In the US this is called a second loan or second mortgage. If more than one loan is secured against a property, the lender with the first charge has the first call on the property in the event of default. Second charges and loans from subsequent lenders get the remains of the equity.

Charge may also be used to mean a request payment for a service or product, e.g. “The firm is going to charge us for their services on an hourly basis.” In finance, to charge means to make a purchase on credit, e.g. “We will charge the vacation on our credit card.” In criminal law, to charge is to make a formal accusation against a defendant, “The charge is burglary”.

In Great Britain, a company is a form of doing business in which the liability of members (i.e. the owners of the company) for the company’s liabilities is limited to the extent of the holding of shares.

In the United States, a company is a generic term for a legal entity conducting business. Thus, it can refer to a sole proprietorship (called a sole trader in the UK), a partnership, a limited partnership, or any other type of business entity.

The American version of British words that end in “our” often use “or” instead. Consider “honour” and “honor”, “neighbour” and “neighbor” and “behaviour” and “behavior”.

Words that end in “re” in UK English often end in “er” in US English. Consider “metre” and “meter”, “centre” and “center”, and “fibre” and “fiber”. However, where the letter preceding the “re” is a hard “c” (pronounced like “k”), American English also uses “re”. This is the case with words like “acre” and “mediocre”.

Similarly, and very important in a lawyer’s everyday practise (or practice), words that end in “se” in the UK may end in “ce” in the US and vice versa. In addition to practise (UK)/practice (US), this is true of licence (UK) /license (US), and defence (UK)/defense (US). However, note that the verb form of licence/license is license in both countries. Finally, don’t be misled into thinking that advice and advise are similarly interchangeable. Advice is the noun form and advise is the verb form in both variations.