Law Notes LAWS1075 - Contract Law Notes
These notes have been taken continuously throughout the year, encompassing with the class notes, all the readings and online modules. These notes were made during the Corona virus pandemic so I had plenty of time to perfect them and they proved very well as notes for my final exam. I have also left in my working for the mid term assignment which applies practical work to the theory.
Enjoy!...
The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our LAWS1075 - Contract Law Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:
Introduction to Express Terms - 3 -
Written Terms and Signature - 3 -
Identifying terms in an electronic contract - 4 -
Identifying Express Terms - 4 -
Incorporation by a course of dealing - 6 -
Interpretation of the Express terms - 7 -
The use of extrinsic material - 7 -
Parol Evidence Rule and Construction - 8 -
The process of interpretation - 8 -
In Law or In Fact or From Custom - 9 -
Implied by custom (impossible to prove) - 10 -
Implied by fact (Byrne v Australian Airlines; Frew v Australian Airlines) - 10 -
Australian Consumer Law - 11 -
Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) sched 2 - 11 -
Termination by subsequent agreement - 13 -
Termination inferred from subsequent agreement - 14 -
Termination by abandonment - 14 -
For Breach of a Condition - 14 -
For Breach on an Intermediate Term - 15 -
Termination for failure of a contingent condition - 17 -
Restrictions on Termination - 20 -
Consequences of Affirmation/termination - 20 -
Outline of an answer on Termination - 22 -
Law Against Unfair and Unjust Contract Terms - 23 -
Damages for Breach of Contract - 26 -
Map of the General Principles - 27 -
The Compensation Principle - 27 -
Expectation Damages – Compensation - 27 -
Limitations to Recovering Damages - 29 -
Causation and Remoteness - 29 -
Issues when assessing damages - 29 -
Agreed Remedies and Penalties - 30 -
Vitiating Factors and Rescission - 34 -
General law misrepresentation - 38 -
Misleading or Deceptive Conduct under Statute - 40 -
General Law Unconscionable Dealing - 43 -
Statutory Prohibitions on Unconscionable Conduct - 44 -
Terms of a contract determine what the parties have agreed to do by way of performance to their contract
The objective approach in assessing parties’ intentions:
“the intention which reasonable persons would have had if placed in the situations of the parties” (Reardon Smith Line v Hansen-Tangen)
What are the terms of a contract?
The provisions and obligations of the contracts – find them
The scope of the performance that is necessary
What damage was caused by the breach of contract
Express terms may be incorporated:
By signature
By adequate notice
By a course of dealing
Under the principle established in the ticket cases
Statements made orally during negotiations may also be incorporated into a contract
Written terms and the effect of signature
General rule (L’estrange v Graucob; Toll (FGCT) v Alphapharm)
A party will be bound by the terms contained in a contractual document which they have signed, irrelevant of if they’ve read the document
The agency issues
A method of overcoming the requirements of privity in a commercial context
Circumstances in which the effect of signature may be avoided
The rule in L’estrange v Graucob does not apply where the signature was induced by misrepresentations of the nature or scope of obligation, or fraud, or in some cases of mistake
Also, where the document cannot reasonably be considered a contractual document, for instance if it appears to have another function, like a receipt (Curtis v Chemical Cleaning & Dyeing)
Nonesfacto (latin: this is not my document) – it is clear that someone cannot read a document
Incorporation of terms by notice
It is not uncommon for one party to allege that the contract contains terms which have been displayed or delivered before or at the time of the transaction
Whether or not the party will be bound depends upon whether:
The terms were available to the party to be bound by those terms before the contract was made
Reasonable steps were taken to bring the terms to the notice of the party to be bound
Timing
For delivered or displayed terms to form part of a contract they must be available to the party to be bound before the contract is made (Oceanic Sun Line Special Shipping Company v Fay)
Knowledge or Notice (Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking)
If the timing requirement is satisfied, a party will be bound by delivered or displayed terms if they have either knowledge or reasonable notice of the terms
If a party knows that the relevant document contains contractual terms, they will be bound by those terms
In the absence of knowledge, a party will be bound by delivered or displayed terms if they had reasonable notice of the terms
Reasonable notice depends on the type of contract
Was notice given? Was it adequate timing before formation?
Electronic Transaction Act 2000 (NSW)
Signatures
A method is used to identify if a person and to indicate the persons intention in respect of the information communicated
The method used was either:
As reliable as appropriate for the purposes for which the electronic communication was generated or communicated
Proven to the fact to have fulfilled the functions described in paragraph A (above)
The person to whom the signature is required to be given consents to that requirement being met by the way of the use of the method mentioned in paragraph a
Identify the terms
Express terms written document, displayed terms of use
Implied terms
Written documents
Consider the method of incorporation of terms?
By signature
Is it a contractual document?
By notice (if the document is not contractual)
Is...
Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our LAWS1075 - Contract Law Notes.
These notes have been taken continuously throughout the year, encompassing with the class notes, all the readings and online modules. These notes were made during the Corona virus pandemic so I had plenty of time to perfect them and they proved very well as notes for my final exam. I have also left in my working for the mid term assignment which applies practical work to the theory.
Enjoy!...
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