Ewan McGaughey

This course is available on the BSc in Accounting and Finance, BSc in Business Mathematics and Statistics, BSc in Economics, BSc in Management, BSc in Management Sciences and BSc in Statistics with Finance. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

Commercial law is an introduction to the basic institutions of the market economy and corporate governance in a post-financial crisis world: the law of contract, companies and insolvency.

In contract, we cover how agreements become legally binding, basic consumer protection laws and the regulation of unfair terms, cancelling a contract for misrepresentation or coercion, and claiming damages when a contract is breached.

In company and insolvency law, we examine how company directors are held accountable to shareholders and stakeholders through corporate governance mechanisms, and litigation in court. We also look at the place of companies within private law, how banks create security interests through lending, the consequences of corporate insolvency, the processes of administration and liquidation, and holding wrongdoing directors accountable.

20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the MT. 20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT. 2 hours of classes in the ST.

Students will be expected to produce 2 essays in the MT and LT.

Core texts: 

E McKendrick, Contract Law (10th edn 2013)

A Dignam and J Lowry, Company Law (7th edn 2012)

A Burrows, A Casebook on Contract (4th edn 2013)

L Sealy and S Worthington, Cases and Material in Company Law (10th edn 2013)

Exam (100%, duration: 3 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the main exam period.