Also refer to the MCom + MIB Student Guide

Description

The unit reviews contract law and the statutory additions to it - in particular, the Trade Practices Act (the consumer provisions which are largely replicated by the Fair Trading Act at the State level) and the Sale of Goods Act. As well, the related topic of principal and agency will be reviewed, and the principles of equity will be illustrated through a review of selected cases and doctrines.

The unit will seek to put the basic principles of contract law and these related topics, into the broader commercial context and to consider such issues as the extent to which contract law realistically meets the needs of commerce (its complexity, and the cost of invoking it, will be sub-themes); the extent to which the traditional laissez-faire notion of freedom of contract has been entrenched upon by modern legislation seeking to inject standards of fair dealing into the law, and whether this approach has gone too far, or not far enough; and where the balance should be struck between regulation through black-letter law on the one hand and self-regulation on the other (such as by resort to ethical standards not necessarily embodied in the law).

The unit's aims, broadly, are:

• to develop or enhance an appreciation by business managers and related professions of the legal context in which they operate;
• to create an enlightened awareness by individual professionals of the legal basis for, and scope of, their roles;
• generally, to contribute to the legal literacy of these professions.

Topics

• Overview of the legal system
• Contracts - an overview
• Contracts - formation; offer and acceptance; intent to enter into legal relations
• Contracts - formation; consideration
• Contracts - terms
• Contracts - vitiating elements
• Breach of contract
• Statutory developments affecting contracts
• Principal and agent