Admission requirements
Bachelor degree in law and sufficient knowledge of the English language.
Description
This course will study in detail certain aspects of the English law of contract, including formation, breach and remedies.
The principal working method is the analysis of cases (court decisions) in order to ascertain the law, and then the application of the law to hypothetical fact situations (problem questions). The fundamental rules of English contract law are not contained in any statutory text, but in the common law—the law which has been devised and developed by the courts over the centuries. Statutes have intervened to change particular common law rules relating to contract law. But the fundamental rules are found in cases, including cases dating back to the 19th century or even earlier.
Course objectives
The purpose will be not only to discover the essential nature of English Contract Law, but also to use the law of contract as a starting point for learning about legal reasoning and how to find and apply the law in a common law system. There will be an opportunity to compare this method with the civil lawyer’s approach to legal reasoning, as well as to compare differences between English law and the law of other common law jurisdictions (such as the United States and Australia).
At the end of this course, students have a good understanding of the nature and content of English Contract Law and the differences between the common lawyer’s and the civil lawyer’s approach to legal reasoning.
Timetable
The timetable of this course can be found in uSis.
Mode of instruction
Lectures
None.
Seminars
Number of (2 hour) seminars: 10 (two seminars each week)
Required preparation by students: Mandatory weekly reading assignments. Students are required to read the relevant sections of J. Cartwright, Contract Law (see below) together with two cases printed in the Reader, and to prepare in advance hypothetical problem questions. During class meetings Prof. Cartwright will expect students to participate in discussing the cases which have been read, and to discuss how to apply the law to the problem questions.
Assessment method
Examination form(s) : 3-hour written examination (closed book: no notes or course documents allowed; questions will be in English and answers are to be written in English).
The retake will most likely be a written exam.
Submission procedures
None.
Areas to be tested within the exam
The general principles of English contract law, with a focus on the particular topics covered in the seminars; the techniques of analyzing English cases and of applying the law to hypothetical problem questions.
Blackboard
More information on this course is offered in “Blackboard”: http://blackboard.leidenuniv.nl/.
Reading list
Obligatory course materials
Reader: English Contract Law
The background to the particular cases which will be studied in detail (see ‘Description’) is found in textbooks. The book which students will be expected to use is:
J. Cartwright, Contract Law: An Introduction to the English Law of Contract for the Civil Lawyer (3rd ed. Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2016).
Registration
See uSis.
Contact information
Co-ordinator: mr. C.P.L. van Woensel
Work address: KOG, Steenschuur 25
Contact information: Room C 2.01
Telephone number: +31 (0)71 527 1568
Institution/division
Institute: Private Law
Department: Civil Law
Room number secretary: KOG, C 2.02
Opening hours: 9.00 – 13:30 hrs
Telephone number secretariat: 071 – 527 7381
Remarks
None.