ELLM: Upcoming modules

The module will look at the regulation of the bid process and at takeover defence regulation in the UK and the US. The module will look at: transaction structures; the function and effects of the market for corporate control; takeover process regulation; takeover defence regulation; deal protections; and regulating conflicts of interest in going private transactions.

Lecturer: Professor David Kershaw

Module Code: LL431E

This module examines the role of constitutions and the nature of constitutional discourse. It considers the ways in which theorists have advanced understanding of constitutions and devised solutions to a range of constitutional questions. The module deals with the following topics: the scope of constitutional theory; the constitution of government; constitutional politics; representation; sovereignty; constituent power; constitutional rights; the rule of law; liberalism and republicanism; constitutional adjudication; autocratic legalism; democratic backsliding; constitutional failure.

Lecturer: Professor Tom Poole

Module Code: LL427E

This course explores some of the live issues in today’s law of commercial contracting, which have significant implications not just for legal practice but for our economy and society more broadly. We will situate each issue by providing a refresher on the relevant legal framework, consider opposing views in the case law and legal commentary, and reflect on the likely path of the law’s development and its broader implications. Examples of the types of issues we may consider include:

• Contractual modification, including current controversies about the requirement of consideration and the enforceability of no-oral-modification clauses.
• Duties of good faith in contractual performance, including controls on termination rights and the exercise of contractual discretion. • Risk allocation in contracts, including developments in the law of frustration, force majeure and exception clauses.
• Interpretation of contracts—the current state of play in this constantly evolving field.
• Exclusion clauses, including basis or no-reliance clauses and the emerging doctrine of contractual estoppel.
• Assignment of contractual rights, the permissibility of bars on assignment and their implications for receivables financing.
• Agency law, especially issues arising for those seeking to contract with or on behalf of companies.

Lecturers: Dr Nick Sage and Dr Paul MacMahon