Commercial Law aims to provide students with a grounding in the law applicable to common commercial transactions. Commercial Law builds upon the principles studied in Contracts by examining the regulatory framework that impacts upon contracts entered into by parties in both a commercial and consumer context. Many common commercial and consumer contracts involve personal property and the course will also examine the framework for the regulation of interests in personal property.  The subject may also involve a selection of the following topic areas:

• Agency
• Sale of goods
• International sale of goods
• Insurance
• Property security
• Bailment

Consistent with student-centred learning, the course is directed towards achieving the following objectives:

• by the end of the course, students should have a detailed knowledge of the topics covered in this subject and be able to appreciate the development of these areas of law
• students should also be able to think critically about the topics covered in the course
• Students should be able to read and understand all material on the course outline including case law, statutes, textbooks and articles
• they should be able to communicate both orally and in writing their knowledge of the topics covered and be able to resolve problems
• students should acquire an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of the topics covered, and should develop their skills in legal research and legal writing
• they should be able to cooperate with their colleagues within limits set by rules governing proper academic discourse.

At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of fundamental principles of the law of contract
• construct a proposition of law established by case law
• identify the relevant legal issues that arise on a given set of facts
• make arguments about the way in which those legal issues are likely to be resolved, noting contrary arguments and their strengths
• provide case authorities for propositions of law that they use in those arguments
• apply case law and legislation to a given set of facts
• where applicable, distinguish the facts in decided cases from those in a given set of facts and build this into an argument
• structure an answer to a problem question in a logical and coherent manner
• comment critically on the outcome and reasoning in cases studied during the course and identify the considerations of policy that may underpin them.

The assessment for this course will involve a compulsory piece of written assessment during the semester, a final exam in the examination period and continuous assessment for class participation in tutorials.  Tutorial attendance is compulsory and marks will be deducted for failing to attend more than two tutorials during the semester.  More information about the means of assessment and the relationship of the assessment to the learning outcomes of the course will be availalbe on the course home page by the first week of semester.

The contact hours for this course will be 3 hours each week.  The usual format is a 2 hour lecture and a 1 hour lecture in the first 2 weeks of the semester.  From week 3, the 1 hour lecture is replaced with a 1 hour tutorial.

Contracts LAWS1204.
Completed or completing five LAWS courses at 1000 level.

Property LAWS2204

Please refer to the course home page.

The preliminary reading required for this course will be available from the course home page at least one week prior to the commencement of the course.

The reading guide for this course is set out in the course outline.

This course provides essential background for advanced commercial law courses.