LAWS11066 - Contracts

General Information

Unit Synopsis

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

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

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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2025

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Online

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).

Assessment Overview

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. Written Assessment 10%
2. Written Assessment 40%
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%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 92.31% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 35.14% 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: SUTE T1/2023
Feedback
Over and beyond. What a superstar honestly, AJ is so passionate and caring. She truly strives for accountability and responsibility and leads by example. The content for me was just too much and overwhelming for a 1st year subject. There is just not enough built up capability to do this subject however I acknowledge it is needed to continue on further subjects. Thank you for your passionate enthusiastic engagements AJ.
Recommendation
The unit is very heavy content-wise and students are advised at the beginning and regularly throughout term that they need to ensure they set aside the full 12 hours per week required to do the readings and tutorial work in order to pass. However, to address the challenges of the unit, I offer a 2-hour tutorial every week, plus drop-in sessions every week, plus formative problem answering practice on Teams every week as well. Assignment coaching sessions are also offered, as well as the Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) mentoring. Students have a significant level of pastoral care in the unit, and a strong learning community which is facilitated on Teams.
Action Taken
While it is appreciated that the unit is heavy content-wise, unfortunately there is no flexibility to include less content due to LPAB accreditation requirements. Part of the issue is also the fact that this is a first year unit with students that this is first year, they may not have experienced tertiary study at this demanding level before, and they are confronting many new and different skills. I have continued to emphasise to students the importance of planning and keeping up with their weekly work throughout 2024. Also continued high level of pastoral care.
Source: SUTE T2/2022
Feedback
AJ sets the standard for other lecturers high and I hope they live up to the challenge. She's by far the most engaging, motivating, encouraging and supportive lecturer I've had and she makes me want to keep studying. She's been in our corner backing us the entire way and she's made accommodations for us when we needed it like additional lectures and one on one chats. She's an asset to CQU.
Recommendation
Maintain the strong teacher presence in this unit with supportive pastoral care, extra student coaching sessions, drop in sessions. Emphasise the challenging nature of the unit and encourage students to maintain regularly scheduled study sessions and to take advantage of the PASS mentoring.
Action Taken
Continued throughout 2024.
Source: SUTE T1/2023
Feedback
I found that the information given especially the IRAC tips and other documents made the assessment really confusing.
Recommendation
The teaching of IRAC for all first year units is being reviewed with a view to a more consistent approach. The IRAC tips document will be revised and expanded.
Action Taken
The IRAC method was reviewed and Nichola Corbett-Jarvis' textbook chapter on IRAC was set for my students this term. I have not yet seen the student results but hopefully the new approach and my additional supports will assist students in their problem answering technique.
Source: T1/2024 SUTE data
Feedback
I couldn't be more grateful to have had AJ as my first term lecturer for my law degree. Her enthusiasm, dedication to the students and passion for law is so appreciated. Contracts has been an enjoyable subject but without AJ's thorough teaching it would have been incredibly difficult. I felt it was extremely critical to receive the personalized feedback on weekly content at the start of the unit and again on formal assessments. I really hope that CQU can encourage and strive to allocate enough resources/time for the lecturers to all be able to provide this as it has been an imperative part of my learning journey, especially so early on in the degree. I am daunted at the idea of taking on other subjects where the lecturers may not be as engaged with providing support and feedback and will really miss the environment that AJ has created this term.
Recommendation
Retain focus on pastoral care, connection and community-building via Teams, formative work and general student support.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: T1/2024 SUTE data
Feedback
some of the videos had noise in the background and was really distracting to the point where I just switched it off and worked through the slideshows and other reading material instead.
Recommendation
Review the videos to ascertain which are the affected ones.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. 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. Interpret contract law questions and dispute scenarios, implementing statute and case law to explain advice.
  3. Interpret legal texts, databases, develop research strategies, locate appropriate legal authorities to discuss contract questions and problems.
  4. 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 •
2 - Written Assessment • • • •
3 - Examination • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication •
2 - Problem Solving • •
3 - Critical Thinking • •
4 - Information Literacy •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10