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Contract Law

LAW403

Course CodeLAW403
ECTS

Course Description

The aim of this unit is to provide learners with an understanding of the requirements and formalities of a legally binding agreement. The fundamentals of offer and acceptance will form the basis of the unit, and the learner will understand factors that may defeat the validity of an agreement. The ways in which a contract may be breached will be a focal point of learning, as will potential remedies applicable to various types of contractual breach.

Course Objectives

The aim of this unit is to provide learners with an understanding of the requirements and formalities of a legally binding agreement. The fundamentals of offer and acceptance will form the basis of the unit, and the learner will understand factors that may defeat the validity of an agreement. The ways in which a contract may be breached will be a focal point of learning, as will potential remedies applicable to various types of contractual breach.

Key Topics

  1. LO1: Understand the requirements of a binding agreement.
  2. LO2: Understand the contents of a contract.
  3. LO3: Understand the factors that may vitiate a contract.
  4. LO4: Understand how a contract may be breached.

Course Outline

WeekTopics
1Parties, making and communicating offers and acceptance
2Revocation of offers and withdrawal of acceptance
3Consideration, promissory estoppel and privity of contract
4Express terms and incorporation
5Exclusion and limitation clauses: common law incorporation, Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, Consumer Rights Act 2015, severance
6Misrepresentation (fraudulent, negligent, innocent) and mistake (common, mutual, unilateral) and their remedies
7Capacity (minors, necessaries, intoxication), statutory illegality and public policy
MidtermMidterm evaluation
9Breach of contract: anticipatory and repudiatory breach and the effect on remaining duties
10Damages: expectation loss, market value, loss of enjoyment
11Equitable remedies (rectification, specific performance, injunction), clean hands and laches
12Applying Contract Law in practice: case studies
13Assignment workshop: research, planning and referencing
14Assignment workshop: drafting, feedback and improvement
15Review and coursework completion
FinalFinal assessment and submission

Learning Outcomes

  1. LO1 Understand the requirements of a binding agreement.
  2. 1.1 Describe how to make a legally binding offer and acceptance.
  3. 1.2 Explain how offer and acceptance may be withdrawn.
  4. 1.3 Explain the terms invitation to treat and the intention to create legal relations.
  5. 1.4 Analyse the role of consideration in contractual agreements.
  6. LO2 Understand the contents of a contract.
  7. 2.1 Define statutory express terms.
  8. 2.2 Explain how terms may be implied in common law.
  9. 2.3 Evaluate the validity of exclusion clauses.
  10. LO3 Understand the factors that may vitiate a contract.
  11. 3.1 Describe various types of contractual mistake and misrepresentation.
  12. 3.2 Analyse how lack of capacity, illegality and public policy may void a contract.
  13. 3.3 Assess how undue influence and duress may void a contract.
  14. LO4 Understand how a contract may be breached.
  15. 4.1 Explain various types of contract breach, including anticipatory and repudiatory breach.
  16. 4.2 Describe the calculation of damages for breach of contract.
  17. 4.3 Assess the role of equitable remedies in contractual breach.
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