LL438E      Half Unit
Commercial Remedies

This information is for the 2022/23 session.

Teacher responsible

Prof Charles Webb NAB 6.26 and Dr Andrew Summers NAB 6.06

Availability

This course is available on the Executive Master of Laws (ELLM). This course is not available as an outside option.

Pre-requisites

Undergraduate contract and tort law

Course content

The objective of the course is to provide students with a detailed understanding of remedies in a commercial context. The reading addresses both case law and academic commentary. Here is an indicative list of the issues that will be considered on the course:

1. The aims of commercial remedies: What interests and other policies may be served by the law when remedying commercial disputes?

2. The function of contract damages: How do the courts assess damages for breaches of contract?  Should the courts do more to protect the claimant’s interest in performance?  What limits are placed on the recovery or measure of damages?

3. Punishment: Is punishment of a defaulting defendant ever a legitimate aim in commercial remedies?  Should punitive damages be given a greater role in English commercial law?

4. Agreed remedies: To what extent are commercial parties free to fix the remedies available to them in the event of breach?  Does freedom of contract extend to the parties’ secondary obligations?

5. Unjust enrichment: What is the law of unjust enrichment?  What is its relationship to the law of contract?  What can commercial parties recover under the law of unjust enrichment?

6. Comparative law: How do other jurisdictions deal with these questions?  What might the common law learn from civil law systems? 

Teaching

24 hours

Formative coursework

All students are expected to produce one 1,500 word formative essay during the course. Formative assessment opportunities will be provided (essay or problem questions)

Indicative reading

Rowan, Remedies for Breach of Contract: A Comparative Analysis of the Protection of Performance (OUP 2012)

Burrows, Remedies for Torts and Breach of Contract (4th edn OUP 2019)

Virgo and Worthington (eds), Commercial Remedies: Resolving Controversies (CUP 2017)

Webb, Reason and Restitution (OUP 2016)

 

Assessment

Assessment path 1
Essay (100%, 8000 words).

Assessment path 2
Take-home assessment (100%).

Key facts

Department: Law School

Total students 2021/22: Unavailable

Average class size 2021/22: Unavailable

Controlled access 2021/22: No

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

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