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The Dickson Poon School of Law

Undergraduate Modules 2014-15


4FFLK902 Elements of the Law of Contract (Level 4)

Availability: Compulsory for 1
st
years (optional for Exchange students)
Credit Value: 30 (ECTS value 15)
Convenor: Mrs Jane Henderson
Teacher/s: Professor John Phillips, Ms Catriona Cook
Teaching methods: Lectures (2 x 1 hour per week); Tutorials (1 x 1 hour per week) and Seminars (2
x 2 hour research seminar per term).
Module materials i.e. lecture case lists, tutorial and seminar suggested reading and questions for
discussion, as well as other relevant materials are available through KEATS.

Recommended reading/texts:
Currently O'Sullivan and Hilliard, The Law of Contract 5
th
edition (2012, OUP) ISBN 978-0-19-964480-3 and
Poole's Casebook on Contract Law 11
th
edition (2012, OUP) ISBN 978-0-19-9699483

Assessment: 2-hour closed book examination (70%) note- lecture case lists and texts of
appropriate statutes are supplied; 1 Summative Essay (30%).
______________________________________________________
Introduction
If you want a qualifying law degree, then you must have studied law of contract. Also, you make
contracts every day, so it is quite interesting to know the law supporting them. Apart from that,
more generally, in the English legal system, contract law is mainly based on case law, that is,
previous case decisions made by the Supreme Court (formerly, the Judicial Committee of the
House of Lords) and Court of Appeal. You therefore learn how case law works as a source of law,
which involves inductive logic and living with uncertainty. This is explored further in the seminars.
In the tutorials, application of the legal rules to hypothetical factual situations (apart from being fun)
is an excellent exercise in analytic reasoning and allows you practice in formulating arguments.
Thus, both intrinsically and in view of transferable skills which you will acquire, study of the
Elements of Contract Law is an excellent beginning to your law degree.

Module content
The order of topics may vary but assuming the same pattern as 2013-14: Semester 1, basically, the
first half of the semester we cover formation of a contract (making contracts); the second half,
factors which might break a contract (vitiating factors) such as Mistake, Misrepresentation,
Frustration, Duress and Undue Influence. In the first half of Semester 2 we look in more detail at
what is in a contract i.e. terms (express and implied), exclusion clauses, control of unfair contract
terms; in the second half, what happens when it all goes wrong remedies for breach of contract.

In addition there are 4 pieces of formative coursework set during the two teaching semesters
(including a 1 hour midsessional exam) although these are for practice purposes and do not count
towards your final mark of the module.

Compulsory for the Law Society: YES
Exemption for LPC: YES

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