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Contract Termination (LAWS70444)
Graduate coursework level 7Points: 12.5Not available in 2020
For information about the University’s phased return to campus and in-person activity in Winter and Semester 2, please refer to the on-campus subjects page.
Please refer to the LMS for up-to-date subject information, including assessment and participation requirements, for subjects being offered in 2020.
Overview
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Contract is central to the legal regulation of most commercial and economic activity, and underlies many specialist areas of legal practice. As market costs and values move, many contracts become increasingly valuable to one party and burdensome to the other. One party’s ability to terminate, or to successfully resist the termination of, a commercial contract is frequently a matter of considerable financial importance. The complex interaction between common law termination rights and rights to terminate expressly conferred by clauses in the contract in question is seldom properly understood, as illustrated by many of the cases from which this subject is taught.
This subject is taught from selected cases rather than textbooks. Principal topics include:
- Breach of conditions, including what makes a promissory term a strict condition
- Non-fulfilment of conditions precedent, and associated promissory obligations
- Breaches of intermediate terms, and what makes them sufficiently serious to justify termination
- Repudiation in its different forms
- Breach of time obligations, and the use and consequences of Notices to Perform/Complete
- Express termination clauses—the different principles concerning their operation, and ‘compare and contrast’ the principles concerning termination at common law
- Possible limits on an aggrieved party’s right to terminate through:
- Election/affirmation
- Estoppel
- Breach or an absence of readiness, willingness and ability to perform on his/her own part
- Relief against forfeiture
- Remedies accompanying effective or attempted terminations, including:
- Principles of quantifying expectation damages at common law
- Limited rights to damages on termination pursuant to an express clause
- Contractual rights to remuneration accrued due prior to the termination
- Exceptional limitations on the recoverability of contractual remuneration.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will:
- Have an advanced and integrated understanding of the legal principles concerning the termination of contracts both at common law and pursuant to express termination clauses, and the complex interaction between them, including recent developments in this field
- Be able critically to examine, analyse, interpret and assess the operation and effectiveness of these principles
- Be an engaged participant in debate regarding the operation and effectiveness of these principles, both in terms of the legal structures of which they form part and commercially
- Have a sophisticated appreciation of the legal and commercial factors which have driven the development of the law of contract in this field
- Have an advanced understanding of the sort of situations in which the differing bases for and consequences of contract termination may make an important commercial difference to the parties affected
- Have a detailed understanding of respects in which Australian law in this field differs from that in other leading Commonwealth and common law jurisdictions
- Have the cognitive and technical skills independently to examine, research and analyse more complicated appellate decisions in the field of contract termination, and the existing and emerging legal issues in that field
- Have the cognitive and technical skills to generate critical and creative ideas relating to contract termination both at common law and pursuant to express termination clauses, and critically to evaluate existing legal principles and concepts with creativity and autonomy
- Have the communication skills clearly to articulate and convey complex information regarding contract termination to relevant specialist and non-specialist audiences
- Be able to demonstrate autonomy, expert judgment and responsibility as a practitioner and learner in the field of contract termination
- Have developed a heightened understanding of the role of the law of contract in facilitating the effective functioning and regulation of commercial activity in a market economy and, more generally, contemporary Australian society.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
An undergraduate or JD degree in law.
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Recommended background knowledge
Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are offered in the discipline of law at an advanced graduate level. While every effort will be made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, concessions will not be made in the general level of instruction or assessment. Most subjects assume the knowledge usually acquired in a degree in law (LLB, JD or equivalent). Applicants should note that admission to some subjects in the Melbourne Law Masters will be dependent upon the individual applicant’s educational background and professional experience.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Assessment
Due to the impact of COVID-19, assessment may differ from that published in the Handbook. Students are reminded to check the subject assessment requirements published in the subject outline on the LMS
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Class participation, including case presentations
| Throughout the teaching period | 20% |
Take-home examination
| 18-21 December | 80% |
Hurdle requirement: A minimum of 75% attendance | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
Not available in 2020
Additional delivery details
This subject has a quota of 30 students.
Enrolment is on a first come, first served basis. Waitlists are maintained for subjects that are fully subscribed.
Students should note priority of places in subjects will be given as follows:
- To currently enrolled Graduate Diploma and Masters students with a satisfactory record in their degree
- To other students enrolling on a single subject basis, eg Community Access Program (CAP) students, cross-institutional study and cross-faculty study.
Please refer to the Melbourne Law Masters website for further information about the management of subject quotas and waitlists.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Specialist materials will be made available from Melbourne Law School prior to the pre-teaching period.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Master of Private Law Course Graduate Diploma in Construction Law Course Master of Construction Law Course Master of Commercial Law Course Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies Course Master of Laws - Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
If required, please contact law-admissions@unimelb.edu.au for subject coordinator approval.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 3 November 2022