Unit Synopsis
LAWS11063 Torts B builds upon the knowledge and skills acquired by you in Torts A (LAWS11063) and covers the remainder of the topics, concepts and principles in Australian tort law. You will gain an understanding of civil wrongs as developed by the common law yet increasingly supplemented by legislation. The unit has a three-part structure. The first part examines the tort of negligence at common law and as amended by legislation Australia-wide in 2002-2003. The second part of the unit examines the tort of defamation including modifications by the Defamation Act 2005 (Qld), defences and remedies. Finally, the unit considers the protection available in tort from unfair business practices and defective goods and services, with a brief consideration of the Australian Consumer Law as a form of additional or alternative statutory protection in regards to these practices. This unit together with LAWS11063 Torts A meets the LPAB requirements for torts.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisite: LAWS11063 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). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
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.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Presentation | 30% |
| 2. Portfolio | 20% |
| 3. Examination | 50% |
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2020 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 56.25% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 35.56% response rate.
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.
Source: Unit evaluations, student reflections and informal feedback.
Generally positive feedback on the quality, content and structure of unit materials.
Continue with current unit materials, with any legal updates as required.
Continued with the unit materials from the previous term.
Source: Unit evaluations, informal feedback and student reflections.
Generally positive feedback on the assessment tasks. Some resistance to the requirement of group activity in the online learning space.
Continue with assessment tasks as approved by the Law Discipline Committee. Continue with providing detailed task sheets and dedicated assessment zoom session setting out expectations for this particular unit. Continue providing students with information and relevance of group work to professional endeavours and accreditation requirements.
Group work was continued. Detailed task sheets for assessments were uploaded to Moodle well in advance of the due dates. Zoom sessions included discussion of assessments, as well as a dedicated "Assessment Forum" on Moodle.
Source: Unit evaluations, informal feedback and student reflections.
Generally positive feedback on Unit Coordinator's teaching methods, knowledge and manner.
Continue with current approach by unit coordinator which focuses on engagement and support.
Students encouraged and supported in their studies by the unit coordinators. Students could expect prompt email responses from coordinators and support, if sought.
Source: Unit evaluations, informal feedback
Generally positive feedback on the quality and value of Zoom sessions in this unit. Some feedback requesting any cancelled zoom sessions to be re-scheduled.
Continue with weekly Zoom sessions during teaching weeks. Ensure that any unexpectedly cancelled zooms are rescheduled.
Twelve zoom sessions were conducted including an introduction and revision seminar. The first and last seminar was conducted collaboratively. ten in-between were distributed evenly between the two unit coordinators. No zoom sessions were cancelled.
Source: n/a
n/a
This is the last iteration of Tort B, therefore there are no recommendations for future iterations.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Understand concepts, principles and doctrines relevant to negligence, defamation, unfair business practices and defective goods and services in the leading cases and statute
- Evaluate the effectiveness and fairness of the applicable rules, as adhered to in practice, by critical application of the tort theory surveyed in LAWS11063 Torts A
- Research, interpret and apply legal principles to the analysis of tort disputes to identify obligations, rights and remedies
- Demonstrate skills in teamwork, communication, critical legal thinking, reflection and reasoning.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Presentation | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Portfolio | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Examination | • | • | • | • |
| 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 | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Presentation | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
| 2 - Portfolio | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||
| 3 - Examination | • | • | • | • | |||||||