Unit information: Law of Contract in 2014/15

Unit name	Law of Contract
Unit code	LAWD10008
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Professor. McVea
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	University of Bristol Law School
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

Contract law is a component of the modern law of obligations. Fundamentally, contract law is concerned with the promises which people make to one another. It governs questions such as:

• which agreements will the law enforce?
• what obligations are imposed by the agreement in question? and
• what remedies are imposed if the obligations that have been promised are not fulfilled?

Topics covered include: offer and acceptance; consideration and promissory estoppel; intention to create legal relations; privity; illegitimate pressure; express and implied terms, including exclusion and limitation clauses; misrepresentation; mistake; frustration; performance and breach; and remedies.

The unit aims to ensure that students are able to:

• identify and craft a ratio decidendi for any particular contract law case;
• demonstrate an in-depth, critical understanding of the application of the rules of contract;
• apply the law relating to contracts to complex situations, noting any areas of legal or factual uncertainty;
• recognise the strengths and weaknesses of existing case law;
• present complex legal arguments in a coherent and persuasive fashion;
• analyse and evaluate case law;
• synthesise case law.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On completing the unit, students will be able to demonstrate a basic working knowledge of the English law of contract as well as the technical and intellectual skills identified above.

Teaching Information

The unit will be taught by a combination of up to 25-6 substantive lectures, 9 tutorials, with 1-2 revision lectures.

Assessment Information

Formative assessment: mid-sessional examination (90 mins – 2 questions). Summative assessment: one 3-hour (unseen) exam consisting of essays and problem questions (100% of mark).

Reading and References

• A Burrows, A Casebook on Contract Law ((4th edn., Hart, 2013)
• E McKendrick, Contract Law (10th edn., Palgrave MacMillan, 2013)
• Beatson et al, Ansons Law of Contract 29th edn., OUP, 2010)
• Chen-Wishart, Contract Law (4th edn., Oxford, 2012)
• Cheshire, Fifoot & Furmston, The Law of Contract (16th edn., Oxford, 2012)
• Peel, Treitel: The Law of Contract (13th edn., Thomson, Sweet & Maxwell, 2011)