This 15 credit module, taught over one term, will build on the general contract law principles taught in Contract Law introducing students to some key legal and policy issues surrounding the regulation of contracts between parties acting in the course of a business and private consumers. The module begins with discussion of applicability of the general rules of contract law to contracts between such parties; the bifurcation in regulation between such 'business to consumer' (B2C) contracts and 'business to business' (B2B) contracts in recent times; debates as to appropriate underpinning values and principles; and the Europeanisation of B2C contracts. It then considers: the implied terms and remedies applicable to supply of defective goods, digital content and services (including issues of damages, rejection, repair, replacement, repeat performance, price reduction); and the questions raised by the current reforms to these and other rules (e.g. on information and cancellation rights and unfair commercial practices) by the new Consumer Rights Act and the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Regulations
Upon successful completion of the module the students will be able to demonstrate the following:
1. An understanding of the 'place' of B2C (Business to Consumer) contracts in relation to general contract law, commercial law, domestic law, supranational law and debates as to values and policy aims
2. An understanding of the key sources of the relevant rules
3. An understanding of the nature/meaning of the relevant rules
4. An ability to apply the relevant rules to hypothetical problem situations
5. An ability to provide clear, well-structured and critical evaluation of the relevant rules
- Module Supervisor: Onyeka Osuji
- Module Supervisor: Christopher Willett