Course Learning Outcomes

1. To understand and appreciate the functioning of law and legal systems;
2. To understand legal citation conventions in the course of legal writing
3. To be able to apply those principles to problem-solving exercises;
4. To develop a knowledge and understanding of the basic principles of business law in Australia;
5. To develop the capacity to analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources and experiences;
6. To have an awareness of the incompleteness of law and the continuous state of development of legal principles; and
7. To develop development of critical thinking and problem solving skills.
8. To apply good inter-personal and communication skills in both written and oral communication and independently and as a member of a team.
9. To further enhance written and oral skills in the explanation of, analysis and synthesis of legal principle;
10. To develop an ability to critically analyse and apply legislation, rules and cases in context.
11. To develop the capacity to identify factual and legal issues.
12. To develop competence in problem-based practice in the application of the law;
13. To develop the capacity to identify factual and legal issues.

Law in Commerce by Brendan Sweeney, Jennifer O’Reilly and Andrew Coleman, 5th edition, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2013.

A useful resource for legislation and cases in all Australian jurisdictions is: http://www.austlii.edu.au/

Copies of the lecture slides, lecture recordings, tutorial questions and assignment instructions will be available on MyUni.

The approach to learning and teaching adopted in this course is that students should print out the lecture slides from the website and read them, then attend the lectures and then read the relevant parts of the text and then prepare written answers to the associated tutorial problems and then attend the relevant tutorial and hand in a copy of their prepared answers and then speak when it is their turn and then revise their prepared answer to the tutorial in the light of the ideas presented at the tutorial and then us this information to complete the assignment and exam.

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours of private study outside of your regular classes.

Students in this course are expected to attend all lectures throughout the semester plus one tutorial class each week.

Week Topics
1       Introduction/ Legal system
2       Contracts - Formation
3       Contracts - Express terms
4       Contracts - Implied terms
5       Contracts - Remedies
6       Consumer guarantees
7       Tort of negligence
8       Tort of negligence
9       Unsafe goods
10     Misleading conduct
11     Unconscionable conduct
12     Agency / Revision

The specific requirements of this course are that:
· Students do not talk in lectures while the lecturer is talking.
· Every student speaks at every tutorial.

Tutorial Participation 10%
This assessment task is both formative and summative

Quizzes 20%
This assessment task is both formative and summative

Assignment 20%
This assessment task is both formative and summative

Final Exam 50%
This assessment task is summative

The specific requirements of this course are that:
· Students do not talk in lectures while the lecturer is talking.
· Students hand in a written answer at the start of every tutorial.
· Every student speaks at every tutorial.

The assessment components are as follows:

Tutorial Participation            10%

Students will be assessed on their contribution to the discussion at each tutorial. Tutorial participation is worth 10% of the final grade.

Online Quizzes            20%

There will be four quizzes in weeks 4, 7, mid-semester break and in 12, counting for 5% each. These can be completed through MyUni and will relate to all 12 weeks. There will be 10 questions per quiz.

Assignment                          20%

The assignment will require a written answer to a legal problem of the type that will occur in the final exam. The assignment will be entered via Turnitin and is worth 20% of the final grade.

Due Date: 2.00pm on Friday 19 September.

Final Exam                            50%

There will be a two hour exam. It will be a open book exam. The exam is worth 50% of the final grade.

Assignment Submission

• Please retain a copy of all assignments submitted.
• Please attach an ‘Assignment Cover Sheet’, which is signed and dated by you before submission.

Lecturers can refuse to accept assignments, which do not have a signed acknowledgement of the University’s policy on plagiarism.

 

Late Submission

Students are expected to submit their work by the due date to maintain a fair and equitable system. Extensions will generally only be given for medical or other serious reasons. All requests for extensions must be emailed to the lecturer in charge of the course before the due date and must clearly describe the written evidence that will be attached to the assignment. Each request will be assessed on its merits. A late assignment (without prior arrangement) will be penalised by a 5% mark reduction for each day that it is late.

 

Return of Assignments

Lecturers aim to mark and return assignments to students within four (4) weeks of the due date. Students will have this assingment returned eletronically.