Course

Commercial Law - JURD7318

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: Land Law (LAWS2383/JURD7283) OR Property, Equity & Trusts 2 (LAWS2382/JURD7282). Co-requisite: Business Associations (any of LAWS1091, LAWS2010 or JURD7224).

Excluded: LAWS3018

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

Commercial Law JURD7318 is an Undergraduate Elective which introduces students to the general principles of commercial law, and builds on their foundation courses in Contracts, Business Associations 1 and Property, Equity & Trusts. It does not substantially overlap with specialised commercial options such as Law of Banking, Commercial Finance, Consumer Protection Law, Economic Analysis of Law, Insurance Law, Insolvency Law, International Trade Law, Interests in Securities, Regulation of Economic Activity, and Securities and Financial Services Regulation.

As a 6 unit elective, Commercial Law introduces students to the way in which general principles of common law, equity and statute law have developed to deal with the needs of commercial markets by focussing on:
  • The law applicable to commercial sales of goods; and
  • Agency law
The course, like the players in commercial markets, takes a problem-solving approach to subject matter, but also considers the broader policy dimensions of commercial law doctrines and practices. The problem solving approach investigates the way traders structure transactions to take best advantage of the protection offered by existing legal doctrines, and so illuminates the creative ways in which legal models or concepts are adapted to achieve pragmatic goals.


Recommended Prior Knowledge

See pre-requisites and co-requisite above. Concurrent enrolment with Consumer Protection Law (if on offer) is recommended.

Course Objectives

The aim of the course is to give students a broad understanding of commercial law principles in context, rather than a detailed knowledge of particular rules or statutes.

Learning Outcomes

  • Acquire an understanding of the way in which the basic concepts they have already learned in foundational courses (in particular, in contracts and property) are applied in a commercial environment.
  • Acquire an understanding of several (new) key legal doctrines of importance in commercial transactions.
  • Develop skills in thinking laterally about legal problems so as to find alternative approaches to achieving commercial goals.
  • Appreciate the role of law in facilitating and regulating market activity in an evolving commercial environment.
  • Learn how to give sound, practical legal advice to clients, a skill seldom developed in the core curriculum.
These specific learning objectives contribute to the development of the following general graduate attributes of a UNSW graduate:
  • Core disciplinary knowledge: students will acquire a contextual knowledge of commercial law and practice;
  • Transferable intellectual skills: students will gain intellectual skills in analysis of primary and secondary legal sources, and critical reflection on current policy.
  • Research skills: students will engage in research on topics of relevance to commercial law and policy.
  • Communication skills: students will refine skills of oral and written communication by engaging in class discussion, presentation and written assessment tasks (see “Assessment” below);
  • Personal and professional skills: students will develop an informed understanding of and sensitivity to potential legal issues arising in commercial practice, and begin to develop competency in advising on the structuring of commercial transaction s, and on the resolution of commercial disputes.

Main Topics

  • Understanding the contract of sale and the multiple legal concepts of goods
  • Contractual and statutory terms of contracts of sale
  • The importance of accurate and precise description of the goods; correspondence with sample
  • Fitness for purpose
  • Merchantability
  • Concepts of ownership: property, possession and transfer of risk
  • When is possession legally recognised?
  • Bailment of Goods
  • Challenges to ownership: nemo dat quod habet and its exceptions
  • Performance and breach in the sale of goods –the seller’s perspective
  • Performance and breach in the sale of goods –the buyer’s perspective
  • Contractual bases of agency law
  • Ratification of agency; rights and obligations arising from conduct after formation of the contract of agency
  • Agents and third parties; the doctrine of the undisclosed principal
  • Mercantile Agents and problems of apparent authority
  • Statutory Remedies

Assessment

Class participation (25%)

Mid-session examination (25%)

Final exam (50%)

Course Texts

Prescribed

  • Commercial Law Commentary and Materials (Gail Pearson, Simon Fisher, Elisabeth Peden, GJ Tolhurst) 3rd Ed. ISBN: 9780455226286
  • Students should also purchase a copy of JURD7318 Supplementary Reading Materials from the UNSW Bookshop

Recommended

  • Commercial Law (Samantha Traves) 2nd Ed ISBN: 9780409325362 2
  • Goode on Commercial Law, Edited and Fully Revised by Ewan McKendrick 4th Ed. (Penguin Books)
  • Australian Commercial Law (Clive Turner) 28th Ed. 2010, ISBN:9780455225753
Law Books

Study Levels

UNSW Quick Links