Casebook on contract law

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Edition Details

Creator or Attribution (Responsibility): Jill Poole
Biografical Information: Jill Poole is Professor of Law and Deputy Director of the Centre for Legal Research at the University of the West of England, Bristol. She is also the author of Textbook on Contract Law and co-author of Contract Formation and Letters of Intent.
Language: English
Jurisdiction(s): England
Publication Information: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, ©2006
Publication Type (Medium): Trials, litigation, etc, Cases
Material: Internet resource
Type: Book, Internet Resource
Other titles: Contract law
Permalink: https://books.lawi.org.uk/casebook-on-contract-law/ (Stable identifier)

Short Description

Xl, 746 pages ; 25 cm

Purpose and Intended Audience

Useful for students learning an area of law, Casebook on contract law is also useful for lawyers seeking to apply the law to issues arising in practice.

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Bibliographic information

Responsable Person: Jill Poole.
Publication Date: 2006
Copyright Date: 2006
Location: Oxford – New York
Country/State: England
Number of Editions: 58 editions
First edition Date: 1992
Last edition Date: 2015
General Notes: Includes index.
10th ed.- cataloged as a serial in LC.
Languages: British English
Library of Congress Code: KD1554
Dewey Code: 346.4202
ISBN: 0199290296 9780199290291
OCLC: 69423281

Publisher Description:

Jill Poole’s best-selling Casebook on Contract Law provides a clear and well-structured explanation of the principles and rules of contract law through a comprehensive selection of case law, addressing all aspects encountered on undergraduate courses. The coverage in this new edition has been
revised to incorporate all recent significant decisions and judgements made by the House of Lords and the Court of Appeal.

Main Contents

Guidance on reading cases
Agreement
Agreement problems
Consideration, promissory estoppel, and form
Intention to create legal relations
Content of the contract and principles of interpretation
Exemption clauses and unfair contract terms
Discharge for breach of contract
Damages for breach of contract
Remedies providing for specific relief and restitutionary remedies
Privity of contract and third party rights
Discharge by frustration : subsequent impossibility
Common mistake : initial impossibility
Misrepresentation
Duress, undue influence, and unconscionable bargains
Illegality and capacity to contract.

DETAILED CONTENTS
Preface XIII
Acknowledgements XV
Table of Cases XVI
Table of Statutes XVII
Table of Statutory Instruments XVIII
1 Guidance on Reading Cases 1
SECTION 1: A Guiding Principle 1
SECTION 2: Useful Notes 1
SECTION 3: The Basics of Reading a Case 2
SECTION 4: Reading a Case in Practice 4
2 Agreement 18
SECTION 1: Subjectivity versus Objectivity 18
A: Objectivity prevails 18
B: Subjectivity has some relevance 20
SECTION 2: The Criteria to Determine Agreement 20
SECTION 3: Offer Distinguished from Invitation to Treat 23
A: Advertisements 25
B: Display of goods 26
C: Tenders 29
D: Auction sales 33
SECTION 4: Acceptance 36
A: The mirror image rule 36
B: The offeror prescribes the method of acceptance 41
C: Acceptance must be made in response to the offer 42
D: Communication of the acceptance to the offeror 43
SECTION 5: Revocation of an Offer 54
A: Communication of the revocation 55
B: Revocation of a unilateral offer 58
C: Communication of revocation in unilateral contracts 62
3 Agreement Problems 63
SECTION 1: Certainty 63
A: Vagueness 63
B: Severing a meaningless clause 67
C: Incompleteness 67
D: Paying for performance under an uncertain contract 78
SECTION 2: Agreement Mistakes 81
A: Mutual mistake 81
B: Unilateral mistake 84
C: Unilateral mistake as to identity 86
SECTION 3: Document Mistakes 111
A: Rectification 111
B: The plea of non est factum 116
4 Consideration, Promissory Estoppel, and Form 120
SECTION 1: Consideration 120
A: What is consideration? 120
B: Consideration distinguished from a condition imposed on recipients of gifts 120
C: Consideration must be sufficient but need not be adequate 122
D: Part payment of a debt 141
SECTION 2: Promissory Estoppel 148
A: Origins of the doctrine 148
B: When will the doctrine operate and in what way? 151
C: How far can the doctrine be extended? 160
D: Binding variations in New Zealand 172
SECTION 3: Formalities 174
5 Intention to Create Legal Relations 179
SECTION 1: Domestic and Social Agreements 179
A: Husband and wife 179
B: Parent and child 181
C: Lifts to work 183
SECTION 2: Commercial Agreements 185
SECTION 3: A Different Approach? 197
6 Content of the Contract and Principles of Interpretation 200
SECTION 1: Pre-Contractual Statements—Terms or Mere Representations? 200
SECTION 2: Written Contracts 208
A: The parol evidence rule 208
B: The effect of signature 213
SECTION 3: Oral Contracts—Incorporation of Written Terms 215
A: Reasonable notice 215
B: Course of dealing 227
C: Common understanding of the parties 229
SECTION 4: Implied Terms 230
A: Terms implied at common law by the courts 231
B: Terms implied by statute 241
SECTION 5: Classification of Terms 244
A: Is the term a condition? 244
B: More flexibility at a price: innominate or intermediate terms 251
SECTION 6: Entire Obligations 260
SECTION 7: Interpretation 265
A: West Bromwich: contextual interpretation in accordance with principles of commercial common sense 265
B: Clarification of `the matrix of fact’
7 Exemption Clauses and Unfair Contract Terms 267
SECTION 1: The Nature of Exemption Clauses 273
SECTION 2: The General Approach to Exemption Clauses 273
SECTION 3: Requirements that Must Be Satisfied before an Exemption Clause can be Relied upon 274
SECTION 4: Construction—on its Natural and Ordinary Meaning the Clause Covered What Happened 274
A: Contra proferentem 275
B: Liability for negligence 276
C: Limitation clauses 287
D: Inconsistent terms 288
E: Fundamental breach 289
SECTION 5: The Clause is not Rendered Unenforceable by the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 or the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 296
A: Scope of UCTA 1977 296
B: Basic scheme of UCTA 1977 304
C: The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 327
SECTION 6: Reform—Law Commission Report, Unfair Terms in Contracts 335
8 Discharge for Breach of Contract 339
SECTION 1: Absolute and Qualified Contractual Obligations 339
SECTION 2: Consequences of Breach 339
SECTION 3: Anticipatory Breach 341
A: Affirmation 342
B: Termination 358
9 Damages for Breach of Contract 363
SECTION 1: Aim of Contractual Damages 363
SECTION 2: Expectation Loss 363
A: Measurement: difference in value 364
B: Measurement: cost of cure 366
SECTION 3: Reliance Loss 373
SECTION 4: Causation and contributory negligence 379
SECTION 5: Remoteness of Damage 382
SECTION 6: Mitigation 390
SECTION 7: Non-pecuniary Loss 392
A: Damages for disappointment and distress 392
B: Damages for loss of reputation 408
SECTION 8: Agreed Damages Clauses 415
10 Remedies Providing for Specific Relief and Restitutionary Remedies 429
SECTION 1: Claiming an Agreed Sum 429
SECTION 2: Specific Performance and Injunctions 429
SECTION 3: Restitutionary Remedies 437
A: Enrichment by subtraction 438
B: Restitutionary damages: the account of profits 439
11 Privity of Contract and Third Party Rights 452
SECTION 1: Origins of the Privity Doctrine and Relationship with Consideration 452
SECTION 2: Reform of the Privity Doctrine and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 454
SECTION 3: Agency 459
SECTION 4: Joint Promisees 472
SECTION 5: The Collateral Contract 475
SECTION 6: Trusts of Contractual Obligations 476
SECTION 7: Action by the Contracting Party as a Means of Avoiding Privity 477
A: Specific performance 478
B: Promisees action for damages 480
C: Staying the action 490
SECTION 8: Privity and Burdens 500
A: Exemption clause 500
B: Restrictions on the use of chattels 503
12 Discharge by Frustration: Subsequent Impossibility 509
SECTION 1: The Frustration Doctrine: Discharge for Subsequent Impossibility 509
SECTION 2: Contractual Allocation of Risk 509
SECTION 3: Theoretical Basis for the Doctrine of Frustration 513
SECTION 4: Frustrating Events 517
SECTION 5: The Effects of Frustration 524
13 Common Mistake: Initial Impossibility 534
SECTION 1: Contractual Allocation of Risk 534
SECTION 2: Theoretical Basis for the Doctrine of Common Mistake 538
SECTION 3: Categories of Fundamental Common Mistake 541
A: Res extincta 542
B: Mistakes as to quality 542
SECTION 4: The Relationship between Common Mistake and Frustration 557
14 Misrepresentation 560
SECTION 1: Actionable Misrepresentation 560
A: Unambiguous false statement of fact 560
B: Induces the other party to contract 569
SECTION 2: The Remedy of Rescission 571
A: Limits to the right to rescind 571
SECTION 3: Types of Misrepresentation and Damages 580
A: Fraudulent misrepresentation: the tort of deceit 589
B: Negligent misrepresentation 597
SECTION 4: Excluding Liability for Non-Fraudulent Misrepresentation 616
15 Duress, Undue Influence, and Unconscionable Bargains 625
SECTION 1: Duress 626
A: Duress to the person 626
B: Duress to property 629
C: Economic duress 629
SECTION 2: Undue Influence 643
A: Types of Undue Influence 643
B: Actual undue influence 650
C: Presumed (or evidential) undue influence: protected relationships 652
D: Presumed (or evidential) undue influence: other cases established on the facts 653
E: Undue influence exercised by a third party 661
F: The effect of undue influence 678
SECTION 3: Unconscionable Bargains 681
A: A general doctrine 681
B: Protection for the `poor and ignorant’ 686
16 Illegality and Capacity to Contract 693
SECTION 1: Illegal Contracts 693
A: Contracts prohibited by statute 694
B: Contracts that are ILlegal in their performance 699
C: Contracts that are unlawful, immoral, or prejudicial to the interests of the state 703
D: Money or property transferred under an ILlegal contract 704
SECTION 2: Contracts Void on Grounds of Public Policy 716
A: Contracts in restraint of trade 716
SECTION 3: Capacity to Contract—Minors&#x0027
Contracts 728
A: Contracts involving continuing obligations 728
B: Contracts for necessaries 729
C: Beneficial contracts of service 729
D: Restitution by the minor 730
E: Guarantees of minors&#x0027
contracts 730
Index 000

Casebook on contract law

Casebook on contract law