Durham University
Programme and Module Handbook

Undergraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2009-2010 (archived)

Module LAW2241: COMMERCIAL LAW

Department: Law

LAW2241: COMMERCIAL LAW

Type Open Level 2 Credits 20 Availability Available in 2009/10 Module Cap None. Location Durham

Prerequisites

  • Legal Skills (LAW 1041) and Contract Law (LAW 1071).

Corequisites

  • None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

  • None.

Aims

  • To build on foundations laid in Contract Law, with specific reference to sale & supply of goods.
  • It is intended that students shall acquire sound and accurate knowledge of these areas, providing them with a useful resource both for future practice and their everyday lives.
  • It seeks to develop students' facility in handling of 'black letter law' areas and, in particular, ability to comprehend and apply relevant statutes, analyse and reason from decided cases.
  • It also seeks to identify areas of law appropriate for reform.

Content

  • The Scope of the Sale of Goods Act 1979
  • Delivery & Payment
  • Meaning and Significance of Property & Risk
  • Non-Existent Goods at the Date of the Contract
  • Post-Contractual Loss of Goods and Other Forms of Subsequent Impossibility
  • The Passing of Property
  • The Principle of Nemo Dat and the Exceptions to that Principle
  • The Content of Sales Contracts
  • Exclusion and Limitation Clauses
  • Remedies

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:
  • Students should be able to:
  • Demonstrate a sound and accurate (but not necessarily comprehensive) knowledge of commercial law.
Subject-specific Skills:
  • Students should be able to:
  • apply the existing law to given factual scenarios and advise accordingly
  • Analyse and evaluate the existing law in terms of its legal and commercial context.
Key Skills:
  • Students should be able to:
  • Demonstrate the skill of communicating complex ideas and arguments in clear written form

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • The core principles of the subject will be conveyed by lectures. Additional reading will be set to ensure that more complex aspects of the principles are investigated. Tutorials will be used to reinforce the lectures, to ensure that the reading has been understood, and to develop subject-knowledge and subject-skills as outlined above. Formative essays will be used to develop both subject-skills and communication skills.
  • Summative assessment comprises one unseen examination of two hours fifteen minutes (including fifteen minutes reading time). Students are given a choice of questions to answer, but the paper is structured in such a way as to assess students on all the specific outcomes. The examination tests the ability to focus on relevant legal issues and organise knowledge and argument appropriate to questions raised. The examination questions will provide the means for students to demonstrate the acquisition of subject knowledge and the development of their problem-solving skills.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity Number Frequency Duration Total/Hours
Lectures 20 Weekly 1 hour 20
Tutorials 4 Normally two in each of Michaelmas and Epiphany 1 hour 4
Preparation and reading 176
Total 200

Summative Assessment

Component: Examination Component Weighting: 100%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
written examination - including 15 minutes reading but not writing-in-the-answer-book time 2hrs 15mins 100%

Formative Assessment:

2 written essays, of about 1500 words each.


Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University