Recommended Resources

Butterworths Concise Australian Legal Dictionary (3rd ed, Butterworths, 2004)***

Australian Guide to Legal Citation (3rd ed, Melbourne University Law Review Association Inc, 2002)*** (Soft copy available at http://mulr.law.unimelb.edu.au/go/aglc)

JW Carter, Carter’s Guide to Australian Contract Law, LexisNexis Butterworths (2010) ***

*** Strongly Recommended

Recommended Reference Texts

Catriona Cook, Robin Creyke, Robert Geddes, David Hamer, Laying Down the Law (7th ed, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2009) (Please note, the older edition of Laying Down the Law is also helpful for the course)

Prue Vines Law and Justice in Australia (2nd ed, Oxford, 2009)

Patrick Parkinson Tradition and Change in Australian Law (4th ed, Thomson Lawbook Co, 2009)

Elizabeth Ellis Principles and Practice of Law (2nd ed, Thomson Lawbook Co, 2009)

Michelle Sanson, David Worswick and Thalia Anthony Connecting with Law (2nd ed, Oxford, 20092010)

Sue Milne and Kay Tucker, A Practical Guide to Legal Research (2nd ed, Thomson Lawbook Co, 2010)

Bruce Bott, Jill Cowley, Lynette Falconer, Nemes and Coss’ Effective Legal Research (4th ed, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2009)

J Gooley and P Radan, Principles of Australian Contract Law (LexisNexis Butterworths, 2006)

J Paterson, A Robertson and P Heffey, Contract; cases and materials (Thompson, 2005)

NC Sneddon and MP Ellinghaus, Cheshire and Fifoots Law of Contracts (Australia) (8th ed, LexisNexis Butterworths)

In addition to the use of MyUni as outlined in the “Learning and Teaching Modes” below, MyUni will be used to post announcements, post additional lecture materials (including slides, and where available, audio recordings of lectures) and announce assignment tasks. It will also contain electronic copies of the Course Profile, Lecture and Seminar Guides, and Course Materials. Students will be expected to access copies of the Australian and South Australian Constitutions and the Acts Interpretation Acts as linked on MyUni.

Students are expected to check MyUni regularly to keep up to date with these materials and additional learning resources throughout the course.

This course will be taught through a combination of online and face-to-face teaching components.

(A) INTRODUCTORY ONLINE COMPONENT

The Study Guide and Introductory Readings, which will be contained in the Course Materials (available online on MyUni and in hardcopy from the Front Office) will provide students with a guide through the introductory principles of Australian law. These include: Law & Society, Foundations of the Australian Constitutional System, the Court Hierarchy and the Doctrine of Precedent and the Legislative Process.

Students will be required to complete online tutorials and exercises, and contribute to online discussion of a number of issues to assist them in the development of their knowledge and critical thinking. This component should be completed prior to the first face-to-face intensive teaching component, listed at (B) below.

Students will be required to complete an online quiz that reviews these introductory principles, shortly after the first face-to-face intensive teaching component. This aspect of the assessment is designed to provide students with early feedback regarding their understanding of key issues, terminology and process.

(B) FIRST TEACHING COMPONENT

The first face-to-face teaching component of this course will occur in the first week of semester, on Monday 3, Tuesday 4 and Wednesday 5 March 2014 in Room 1.10 of the Ligertwood Building. Each face-to-face teaching day will run from 9am to 4pm, with breaks for morning tea and lunch.

This component will allow students to discuss and review the introductory principles from the online component with the Course Coordinator and their peers. It will then focus on a number of legal skills that are necessary for study of law. These are:

• Case Law: Interpretation of cases, the identification of ratio decidendi and obiter dicta, the application of the doctrine of precedent through factual analysis and applying and distinguishing previous cases.
• Statutory Interpretation: The rules of statutory interpretation and how to read and apply statutes to new factual situations.
• Legal Research and Writing: Students will be provided with an introductory tour of the library and the electronic research databases, and a brief presentation on what is expected when writing a legal essay.

Students will be required to complete:

• An online tutorial which will review the application of the doctrine of precedent and case analysis skills.
• An online tutorial which will review the rules of statutory interpretation.
• An online quiz reviewing the Australian Guide to Legal Citation referencing technique.
• An online tutorial, Writing and Speaking at Uni (Law Writing).

(C) SECOND ONLINE COMPONENT

The Study Guide and Introductory Readings, which will be contained in the Course Materials (available online on MyUni and in hardcopy from the Front Office) will provide students with a guide through the introductory principles of the law of contract. These include: Formation of Contract, Rescission and Discharge, and Remedies.

Students will be required to complete online tutorials and exercises, and contribute to online discussion of a number of issues to assist them in the development of their knowledge and critical thinking. This component should be completed prior to the second face-to-face intensive teaching component, listed at (D) below.

Students will be required to complete an online quiz that reviews these contractual principles, shortly after the second face-to-face intensive teaching component. This aspect of the assessment is designed to provide students with early feedback regarding their understanding of key issues and terminology.

(D) SECOND TEACHING COMPONENT

The course will reconvene and conclude with two further days of face-to-face teaching on Monday 24, Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 March 2014. This component will allow students to discuss and review the introduction to principles of Contract Law gained from the online component on this topic, and apply these principles within problem based exercises. This will develop their ability to analyse legal problems and prepare them for the research tasks within the assessment.

This session will also allow students to review and discuss any concerns they have with the skills learnt in the course prior to the final assessment.

The University’s policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following five principles:

1) assessment must encourage and reinforce learning;

2) assessment must measure achievement of the stated learning objectives;

3) assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance;

4) assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned; and

5) assessment must maintain academic standards (see: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/700/)

1. Online Quiz – Introduction (10%)

Date: Must be completed by 5pm Friday, 7 March 2014.

The quiz will be available electronically, and will comprise 10 short answer and multiple choice questions relating to the material covered in Topics 1-4 of the Course. Further instructions regarding the Quiz will be provided on MyUni.

2. Online Quiz – Contractual Principles (10%)

Date: Must be completed by 5pm Friday, 28 March 2014.

The quiz will be available electronically, and will comprise 10 short answer and multiple choice questions relating to the material covered in the Topics 8-12. Further instructions regarding the Quiz will be provided on MyUni.

3. Legal Research Assignment (25%)

Due Date: 2:00 pm, Monday, 14 April 2014.
Word Count: 2000 words (see below for penalties applicable to word count).

The research skill exercise will require students to answer questions that will demonstrate the skills learned in the ‘Introduction to Legal Research’ Topic as well as their skills in case analysis and statutory interpretation and knowledge of the principles of the Australian legal system. It will highlight a particular facet of the material covered in Topics 7-11 and require students to demonstrate their understanding of the skills covered in Topic 12.

All written work in the Law school is required to comply with The Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

3. Take Home Examination (55%)

Release Date: 9:00 am, Friday 2 May 2014 on MyUni

Due Date: 2:00 pm, Monday 5 May 2014

Maximum Length: 4,500 words

The exam provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to analyse cases and legislation and solve problems associated with their application to factual scenarios.

The examination will consist of three (3) questions, each of which must be attempted. The exam will be in the following form:

• one statutory interpretation problem
• one case analysis problem
• one contract law problem question

All written work in the Law school is required to comply with The Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

1. Students must retain a copy of all assignments submitted.
2. To gain a pass, students must submit each part of the assessment.
3. All assignments must be submitted via 'Turn-It-In' on MyUni. Details for electronic submission through Turnitin will be provided with the assignment instructions. By submitting your assignment you are agreeing to the following:
   • I declare that all material in this assessment is my own work except where there is clear acknowledgement and reference to the work of others. I have read the Policy on Cheating in Examinations and Related Forms of Assessment. I have also read the University's Plagiarism Policy.
   • I give permission for my assessment work to be reproduced and submitted to other academic staff for the purposes of assessment and to be copied, submitted and retained in a form suitable for electronic checking of plagiarism.
4. Late Submission: Where an assignment is submitted after the due date and without an extension, penalties of 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that it is late, including each day on a weekend. For example, an essay graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is one hour late, for a final grade of 58%, 10% if it is 25 hours late, etc. This penalty may be increased where the assignment is to be completed in a period of less than a week.
5. Word Length: Assignments which exceed the allocated length (word length or page limit) will be subject to a penalty of 5% of total marks possible per 100 words or part thereof (ie with a word limit of 3,000, an essay graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is 3001 words long, for a final grade of 58%, 10% if it is 3101 words long, etc). Words are calculated including all footnotes and headings within the text but excluding cover page information, separate bibliography or list of sources. Quotations and all referencing information are included in the word count. If the word limit is seriously misstated, this may be regarded as academic dishonesty.
6. Extensions: Requests for extensions must be made via email to the course coordinator. Extensions will be granted only for unexpected illness, hardship or on compassionate grounds in accordance with University Policy. Work commitments, travel, holidays or sporting engagements are not unexpected circumstances.
7. When undertaking an assessment task, students are to be assessed according to whether they are law or non-law graduates respectively. Where the nature of the task involves the exercise of skills that law graduates can be expected to have practised or refined over a longer period or to a greater degree than their non-law counterparts, an assessor may legitimately expect a higher standard of performance from the law graduates in the course.
8. All written work in the Law school is required to comply with the approved Law School style guide, The Australian Guide to Legal Citation.
9. Turnaround time: The interim assignment for this course will be returned to students within 3 weeks of the submission date. Group feedback, together with written, individual feedback will be provided, from which students can learn from in the final assignment. The final assignment will be returned to students within 4 weeks of the submission date with written individual feedback. Students will be notified by email when assignments are ready for collection from the Law School Front Office.