Location:                      Room 328 Ligertwood Building

                                   Telephone:         8313 4447 (work)

                                   email:    david.wright@adelaide.edu.au

                                   Course Website:            www.myuni.adelaide.edu.au

In this course, each student will receive two (one hour) lectures plus one (one hour) seminar per week.

All lectures will be held in Barr Smith Lecture theatre.

The Legal Practitioners' Education and Admissions Council (LPEAC) sets rules for the academic requirements for admission to legal practice in South Australia. Students must demonstrate a satisfactory level of understanding and application of 11 core areas of legal knowledge (also known as the Priestly 11). This course teaches the following topics within these core areas: history and nature of equity, fraud in equity (including undue influence, equitable fraud, unconscionability, mistake, misrepresentation and estoppel), express trusts, resulting trusts, fiduciary relations, constructive trusts and remedies.

The Priestly 11 constitute the subjects that must be satisfactorily studied if the student wants to be admitted by the courts to work as a lawyer.  Equity is one of the Priestly 11.    The Priestly committee requires certain topics must be in the taught in the law degree.  These are:

1 (a) The nature of equity

(b) Equitable rights, titles and interests

(c) Equitable assignments

(d) Estoppel in equity

(e) Fiduciary obligations

(f) Unconscionable transactions

(g) Equitable remedies.

AND

2) Trusts with particular reference to the various types of trusts and the manner and form of their creation and variation. The duties, rights and powers of trustees should be included, as should the consequences of breach of trust and the remedies available to, and respective rights of, beneficiaries.

OR

Topics of such breadth and depth as to satisfy the following guidelines.

The topics should cover the elements of trust law, equitable doctrines apart from those relating to trusts, and equitable remedies. The following aspects of trusts law should be dealt with: various kinds of trusts; the rights, duties, powers of trustees; the consequences of breach of trust. Apart from trusts, the following equitable doctrines might be covered, for example, fiduciary obligations, equitable assignments, unconscionability and confidential information. The remedies of specific performance, injunction, declaration and damages in equity should be included.

This course has been structured to reflect these requirements.  Essentially the course is structured in line with second alternative.  So, the course will cover the elements of trust law, some equitable doctrines (in addition, to those relating to trusts, and equitable remedies).

In addition to the description of the Priestly 11 components of the course above, Equity has the following learning objectives:

1. Knowledge and understanding of the content and techniques of the Law of Equity at advanced levels that are internationally recognised.
2. The ability to locate, analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in a planned and timely manner.
3. An ability to apply effective, creative and innovative solutions, both independently and cooperatively, to current and future problems.
4. Skills of a high order in interpersonal understanding, teamwork and communication (attribute 4)
    

The required textbook for this course is “Principles of Australian Equity and Trusts” (2nd edition, 2013 by Radan and Stewart. This is published by Lexis Nexis and was published in 2013.

In this course, each student will receive two (one hour) lectures plus one (one hour) seminar. It is essential to realize that the University expects full-time students (that is, those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. As Equity is a 3 unit subject, a student should devote approximately 12 hours to it a week (obviously this is an average figure, as some weeks will be very busy with the assignment or preparing for the exam, while other weeks will be less busy). As students can see, the total contact hours per student totals 3 hours per week. Therefore, a student in this course would be expected to do approximately 9 hours work per week for this course in addition to the lectures and seminars times. It is very important that students begin working on their own (in addition to attending lectures and seminars) from the very start of this course. Without doing this, students are compromising their own learning outcomes.

TOPICS

•  History and Nature of Equity (What it is?)        (week 1)                     
• Express Trusts                                                (weeks 2 and 3)
• Resulting Trusts                                              (week 4)
• Fraud In Equity (including undue influence, equitable fraud, unconscionability, mistake, misrepresentation and estoppel)                      (weeks 5 and 6)
• Fiduciary Relations                                          (weeks 7 and 8)
• Constructive Trusts                                         (weeks 9-10)
• Remedies                                                       (week 11)
• Summary of the Course/ Revision                     (week 12)

It is NOT compulsory to attend lectures and/ or seminars. However attendance is strongly advised.The mark(s) a student receives for the assignment and/ or the case analysis is redeemable by the exam provided that the mark is a passing one. That is, the exam may count for 100% of the mark for this course, provided the mark for the assignment/ case analysis is greater than or equal to 50%. The mas4rk for the exam is NOT redeemable. The best way to understand this assessment scheme is by examples. Example 1; say the student receives 60% for the case analysis, 90% for the assignment and 80% for the exam, the mark for the case analysis will be discarded and only the marks for the assignment and the exam will be counted. Example 2; say the student receives 90% for the case analysis, 60% for the assignment and 80% for the exam, the mark for the assignment will be discarded and only the marks for the case analysis and the exam will be counted. Example 3; say the student receives 80% for the case analysis, 90% for the assignment and 90% for the exam, the mark for the case analysis, the mark for the assignment and the exam will be counted.

Case Analysis 10%

This case analysis will take the form of an online quiz. It will focus primarily on one case, the identity of which students will be told in advance. This quiz is to enhance the student’s case reading ability. This ability is an extremely important skill for a good lawyer. In a court like the High Court frequently there are many judgments. Even within the majority judgment there may be multiple judgments, demonstrating subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) differences in judicial reasoning. It is imperative that students have the skill to emphasis both the similarities and divergences in the judgments in the one case. The content of the law (that is, what the laws is) is NOT the focus of this case analysis. So although this is an Equity case, the case analysis won’t be a test of your Equity knowledge. Rather, it will examine the ability to grapple with multiple judgments in one case. This on line case analysis will constitute 10% of the student’s final mark. It is redeemable provided the mark achieved is a passing one.

Assignment 30%

The assignment is compulsory.  The mark a student receives for the assignment is redeemable by the exam provided that the assignment mark is a passing one.

The assignment is an essay style question relating to Express Trusts (topic two).

The due date for the assignment is Monday at 2pm, 7^th April.  Late submission of the assignment will incur a penalty.  The penalty will be 10% for each day late (or part thereof) without the permission of the course co-ordinator.  Such extensions will not be lightly granted, for example, work commitments will not generally be grounds for an extension.  Maintaining this example, if there is a chance that work commitments may interfere with the submission of the assignment, it is strongly advised that the student prepares his/ her answer well in advance of the due date.  Actually, this is good advice for all students.

The word limit for the assignment (including all footnotes) is 1200 words.  Assignments in excess of this limit will incur a penalty.  The penalty is 5% per 100 (or part thereof) words over the word limit.

The substance of the assignment question (the relevant part of topic 2) will NOT form the focus of any examination question.  Of course, it may arise in the examination in an indirect and minor way. 

Final Exam 60% or 100%

The final exam will consist of two questions, both of which must be attempted.  The final exam will consist of two parts.  The first part will be a take home exam, while the second part will be a regular exam held in the regular exam period of June/ July.  The two parts will have equal weighting and the marks allocated to each part of the final exam will be the same. 

Both parts of the final exam are compulsory. 

Regarding the take home exam, there will be one question.  All students are to attempt this question.  The word limit for the take home exam is 800 words.  Answers to the take home exam in excess of this limit will incur a penalty.  The penalty is 5% per 100 (or part) words over the word limit.  It is due on the 17^th of June at 2pm.  Late submission of the answer will incur a penalty.  The penalty will be 10% for each day late (or part thereof) without the permission of the course co-ordinator.  The question will be distributed at noon (or just before) on Friday 13th June

Regarding the regular exam, the usual exam criteria apply.  There will be one question.  All students are to attempt this question.  This exam will go for one hour (plus reading time).  It is an open book examination, so any material (except library books) can be taken into the exam.     

Reminder The University requires students to be available for exams as scheduled.  This applies to both the Primary and Supplementary exams.

Exam period: Semester 1

Courses for which a result of conceded pass has been obtained may not be presented towards the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Laws or the Honours Degree of Bachelor of Laws programs, or any postgraduate law program, nor to satisfy prerequisite requirements within any law course.

The University Writing Centre provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the University of Adelaide.

Practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.

For more information please check out the Writing Centre website at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/

Further information regarding the Law School Policies and Procedures in relation to Supplementary Assessment, Extensions, and Remarks etc can be found at:

https://unified.adelaide.edu.au/group/law-school/policies-and-procedures

Plagiarism and other forms of cheating

Plagiarism is a serious act of academic misconduct. All students must be familiar with the Adelaide Law School Enrolment Guide 2014, and should note in particular the sections relating to plagiarism, grievance procedures and academic conduct within the Law School and the University.

Plagiarism is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Please be aware that “academic dishonesty” (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to refuse to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia.

Academic honesty is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.