Overview
This unit is designed to provide you with knowledge of the fundamental principles of the law of Contract in Australia. Along with the law of Torts, this unit will provide you with a solid foundation in many of the civil law issues faced in legal practice. The unit first canvasses the theoretical underpinnings of contract law, before examining the principles of a valid and enforceable contract, including intention to create legal relations, capacity and consideration, including promissory estoppel. You will then investigate and reflect on the contents, construction and interpretation of a contract and the doctrine of privity. The unit then moves on to consider contracts with a vitiating element such as mistake, misrepresentation, duress, undue influence, unconscionable contracts, and illegal and void contracts. Finally the unit examines the ways in which a contract may be assigned, discharged, terminated, and the remedies available for non-performance of a contract. This unit meets the Legal Practitioners Admissions Board requirements for Contracts.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Co-requisite: LAWS11057 Introduction to Law
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2025
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student evaluations
The unit is very content heavy, understandably so. Perhaps a 'nudge' to students to 'start content early' as it is easy to fall behind. The study guides are very wordy; some of these could be slimmed down to give the main idea of the concepts. The individual feedback (given on TEAMS) for the IRACs each week is highly valuable and constructive. This supports students with their structure/ formatting of their IRACs, use of AGLC4, and the ability to apply the feedback in student's written mid-term assessment. The answer guides for each week's IRACs are really useful in aiding the construction of notes for the final exam. They are very clearly set out, the content which is revised, and discussions which are added from the workshop. The weekly workshop is engaging.
Students find the unit quite challenging given the volume and breadth of content. The content is largely unavoidable given the Legal Profession Admission Board requirements for the unit. However, more emphasis was provided this term in alerting students to the need to start early and devote sufficient study time each week to this unit. The study guides and videos are being redeveloped for 2026. The Teams feedback exercise and answer guides will be retained.
Feedback from Student evaluations
I really enjoyed my tutor's teaching style. She was engaging and warm in her delivery of the weekly sessions and also helpful, as she provided the weekly tutorial answer guides which assist to cement the weekly sessions. Her knowledge of the subject was exceptional in my opinion.
Emphasis on student connection and pastoral care retained as it is particularly important in content-heavy first year units; answer guides retained.
- Identify and discuss prerequisites and formal requirements for contracting, interpretation, performance and discharge of contracts, remedies for breach, and differentiate the various basic contract law theories.
- Interpret contract law questions and dispute scenarios, implementing statute and case law to explain advice.
- Interpret legal texts, databases, develop research strategies, locate appropriate legal authorities to discuss contract questions and problems.
- Develop structured arguments to discuss and explain responses to contract problems, communicate effectively in writing.
This unit satisfies the Priestley 11 requirements for Contracts as approved by the Legal Practitioners Admissions Board.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 10% | ||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||
| 3 - Examination - 50% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Textbooks
An Introduction to the Law of Contract
- Edition: 11th edn (2023)
- Authors: Stephen Graw
- Lawbook Co (Thomson Reuters)
- Pyrmont Pyrmont , NSW , Australia
- ISBN: 978-0455248219
- Binding: Paperback
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Camera and microphone for attending Zoom tutorials
- CQU Student ID for invigilated take-home examination
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Australian Guide to Legal Citation, 4th ed
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
a.m.george@cqu.edu.au
Week 1 - Overview, Principles and Theories
Begin Date: 14 Jul 2025Module/Topic
- Theories of Contract Law
- Legal Research and the Doctrine of Precedent
- Skills Building
Chapter
- Theories of Contract Law – set resource: Jeannie Paterson, Andrew Roberts and Arlen Duke, Principles of Contract Law (Lawbook Co, 4th edition 2012), Chapters 1 and 2 (pdf on Moodle, under ‘Week 1’ tile).
- Basic Legal knowledge – prescribed text: Stephen Graw, An Introduction to the Law of Contract (Lawbook Co, Thomson Reuters, 10th edition 2020) ('Text'), Chapters 1 and 2.
- Skills building– resources under the ‘Skills Building’ tile on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the skills building tasks for week 1 (under Skills Building Tile on Moodle)
- Complete the tutorial work for week 1 (under Week 1 Tile)
Week 2 - Intention to Create Legal Relations
Begin Date: 21 Jul 2025Module/Topic
- Intention to Create Legal Relations
- Skills Building
Chapter
- Legal Knowledge – Text, Chapter 5 ‘Intention to be bound’.
- Skills Building – resources under the ‘Skills Building’ tile on Moodle for week 2.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the skills building tasks for week 2 (under Skills Building Tile on Moodle)
- Complete the tutorial work for week 2 (under Week 2 Tile)
Week 3 - Capacity to Contract
Begin Date: 28 Jul 2025Module/Topic
- Capacity to Contract
Chapter
- Text, Chapter 7, ‘Capacity to Contract’.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the tutorial work for week 3 (under Week 3 Tile)
- Revise for your first quiz due next week
Week 4 - Offer and Acceptance
Begin Date: 04 Aug 2025Module/Topic
- Offer and Acceptance
Chapter
- Text:
- Chapter 3, ‘The Offer’,
- Chapter 4, ‘Acceptance’,
- Chapter 17, ‘Contracting Electronically’, but only paragraphs 17.1-17.5.
- Lindy Willmott, Sharon Christensen, Des Butler and Bill Dixon, Contract Law (Oxford Publishing, 5th ed, 2018) pages 76-81. This text is available as an eBook in the CQU library, click HERE or HERE.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the tutorial work for week 4 (under Week 4 Tile)
- SUBMIT ANSWERS FOR THE FIRST QUIZ, DUE THIS WEEK (Friday)
Week 5 - Consideration and Estoppel
Begin Date: 11 Aug 2025Module/Topic
- Consideration and Estoppel
Chapter
- Text, Chapter 6, ‘Consideration’.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the tutorial work for week 5 (under Week 5 Tile)
- Start working on your mid-term paper
Mid-Term Break Week
Begin Date: 18 Aug 2025Module/Topic
Revision
Chapter
Revision
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Continue working on your mid-term paper
Week 6 - Doctrine of Privity
Begin Date: 25 Aug 2025Module/Topic
- Doctrine of Privity, and
- (Make a Start on) Content & Construction of Contracts
Chapter
- Text, Chapter 8, ‘Privity of Contract’.
- Text, first half of Chapter 9, 'Contents of a Contract'.
*Note: the readings for week 6 are light and the "Content and Construction" topic in week 7 is very resource-intensive, so students should split the week 7 readings and resources (incl videos) across weeks 6 and 7. See the weeks 6 and 7 tiles in Moodle for further information.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the tutorial work for week 6 (under Week 6 Tile)
- Continue working on your mid-term paper
Week 7 - Content and Construction of Contracts
Begin Date: 01 Sep 2025Module/Topic
- Content & Construction of Contracts
Chapter
- Text:
- Complete reading Chapter 9, 'Contents of a Contract'; and
- Chapter 10, 'Exempting, Excluding and Limiting Terms'.* *10.530-580 are optional only.
- Case law: Associated Newspapers Ltd v Bancks (1951) 83 CLR 322.
- Strongly recommended: Study guide 7A, the Australian Consumer Law (on Moodle).
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the tutorial work for week 7 (under Week 7 Tile)
- Continue working on assignment.
Week 8 - Illegal and Void Contracts and the Doctrine of Mistake
Begin Date: 08 Sep 2025Module/Topic
- Illegal and Void Contracts; and
- The Doctrine of Mistake.
Chapter
- Text:
- Chapter 14, ‘Illegal and void contracts’; and
- Chapter 11, ‘Mistake’.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the tutorial work for week 8 (under Week 8 Tile)
- Finalise mid-term paper written assessment, DUE NEXT MONDAY
Week 9 - Misrepresentation and Misleading and Deceptive Conduct
Begin Date: 15 Sep 2025Module/Topic
- Misrepresentation; and
- Misleading or Deceptive Conduct.
Chapter
- Text, Chapter 12, ‘Misrepresentation’.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the tutorial work for week 9 (under Week 9 Tile)
Problem-based questions Due: Week 9 Monday (15 Sept 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 10 - Duress, undue Influence and Unconscionable Conduct
Begin Date: 22 Sep 2025Module/Topic
The doctrines of:
- Duress,
- Undue Influence,
- Unconscionable Conduct.
Chapter
- Text, Chapter 13, ‘Duress, Undue Influence and Unconscionability’.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the tutorial work for week 10 (under Week 10 Tile)
- Revise for your second quiz, due next week
Week 11 - Discharging a Contract
Begin Date: 29 Sep 2025Module/Topic
- Discharging a contract
Chapter
- Text, Chapter 15, ‘Discharging a Contract’.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the tutorial work for week 11 (under Week 11 Tile).
- Start revision for the final take-home exam
- SUBMIT ANSWERS TO THE SECOND QUIZ, DUE THIS WEEK (Friday)
Week 12 - Remedies
Begin Date: 06 Oct 2025Module/Topic
- Remedies
Chapter
- Text, Chapter 16, ‘Remedies’.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete the tutorial work for week 12 (under Week 12 Tile)
- Revision for the final exam
Review Period
Begin Date: 13 Oct 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Revision for the final exam
Exam Weeks
Begin Date: 16 Oct 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Revision for final take-home exam
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
The first quiz is designed to give students an early opportunity to assess their progress in this subject. The quiz will consist of ten questions worth half a mark each (TOTAL 5 marks/5% of grade).
The second quiz is designed to give students an additional opportunity to assess their progress later in this subject. The quiz will consist of ten questions worth half a mark each (TOTAL 5 marks/5% of grade).
The FIRST quiz is due week 4, FRIDAY (8 August 2025), 11.45 PM. The SECOND quiz is due week 11, FRIDAY (3 October 2025), 11.45 PM. All times are in Queensland time.
After closure of the quiz(zes).
The criteria for these quizzes are primarily knowledge-based, emphasising the student's ability to understand key concepts and identify the appropriate information to answer key questions.
- Identify and discuss prerequisites and formal requirements for contracting, interpretation, performance and discharge of contracts, remedies for breach, and differentiate the various basic contract law theories.
2 Written Assessment
This assessment involves answering a problem-based question or questions. Your answer, which must cite and apply appropriate legal principles and case law, will consist of an MS Word file with a maximum of 1,750 words (exclusive of the word count in footnotes). All submissions must include appropriate legal footnotes that are compliant with Australian Guide to Legal Referencing 4th edition. The file must be submitted online via Moodle. Professional presentation including spelling and grammar checks, and pagination, are required.
Full details of the assessment and the submission process will be provided on the Moodle site.
Extensions of more than 14 days are not available for this assessment. Due to the need to provide prompt feedback to students and the content of feedback provided, submissions received after the assessment has been returned to students cannot be accepted for academic integrity reasons. Students seeking extensions beyond this timeframe will be required to undertake a different version of the assessment task.
PLEASE NOTE: GENERATIVE AI (SUCH AS CHATGPT, COPILOT) MUST NOT BE USED IN THE COMPLETION OF ANY ASSESSMENTS IN THIS UNIT. STUDENTS FOUND TO HAVE BEEN USING AI WILL RECEIVE A GRADE OF ZERO FOR THEIR WORK.
This assessment requires students to adhere to the guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence tools as specified in the Artificial Intelligence Assessment Scale (AIAS). Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding the use of AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity.
PLEASE SEE THE AI ASSESSMENT SCALE BELOW. THIS UNIT SITS AT LEVEL 1: NO AI USE FOR ANY ASSESSMENTS IN THIS UNIT.
Week 9 Monday (15 Sept 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Complete and submit via link on Moodle.
Two weeks from due date.
***PLEASE NOTE: GENERATIVE AI (SUCH AS CHATGPT, COPILOT) MUST NOT BE USED IN THE COMPLETION OF ANY ASSESSMENTS IN THIS UNIT. STUDENTS FOUND TO HAVE BEEN USING AI WILL RECEIVE A GRADE OF ZERO FOR THEIR WORK.***
The lecturer runs all assessment through generative AI and knows how it will respond, including hallucinations and fake case names. In addition, Turnitin now has a sophisticated AI detection tool which will discover AI usage. (Yes, I'm serious about no AI usage in this unit).
This assessment will be graded according to the following marking criteria, which are a general guide:
Knowledge of law, especially core concepts
Effectiveness of research in acquiring such knowledge
Correctness of referencing
Analysis and critical thinking, including application of law to facts
Logical and coherent presentation of arguments/analysis with appropriate structure
Attention to the requirements of the question, including addressing the questions as specified and avoiding irrelevant diversions or regurgitation of law without any connection with the question or the analysis.
See the rubric:
- Identify and discuss prerequisites and formal requirements for contracting, interpretation, performance and discharge of contracts, remedies for breach, and differentiate the various basic contract law theories.
- Interpret contract law questions and dispute scenarios, implementing statute and case law to explain advice.
- Interpret legal texts, databases, develop research strategies, locate appropriate legal authorities to discuss contract questions and problems.
- Develop structured arguments to discuss and explain responses to contract problems, communicate effectively in writing.
Examination
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
