Contract Law

Part 1 Introduction: the notion of contract - place and sources of contract law, categories of contract, specific peculiarities; the scope of contract - contract and tort, contract and restitution (quasi- contract); binding nature of contractual obligations -intention to create legal relations, foundations of the binding force of contract, cause (other than unlawful cause) and consideration, formal requirements. Part 2 Formation: offer and acceptance - introductory note, offer, acceptance; pre-contractual good faith - a general duty of pre-contractual good faith, defining pre-contractual good faith. Part 3 Validity: immoral and illegal contracts - conflicts with principles of sexual morality and family life, contracts in restraint of trade, contracts forbidden by statute, restitution of benefits conferred under an immoral or illegal contract; fraud, mistake and misrepresentation - general introduction, fraud, mistake, non-disclosure, adaptation of contracts, comparative summary - mistake and the international restatements; threats and abuse of circumstances - threats, abuse of circumstances and excessive benefit - qualified "laesio enormis"; unfair clauses - controls under the general law, legislative controls, the effect of the EC directive on unfair terms in consumer contracts, key issues in unfair contract terms legislation, public law controls, concluding remarks. Part 4 Interpretation and contents: interpreting contractual words - general rules, the "contra preferentem" interpretation rule; supplying omitted terms. Part 5 Supervening events in the life of contract: impossibility of performance - the French system, the German system, the English system, impossibility of performance in international instruments; hardship - laws which decline to revise the contract, recognition of the revising power - German law; clauses dealing with supervening events - indexation clauses; "force majeure" clauses; hardship clauses. Part 6 Remedies for non-performance: fault and the nature of the debtor's obligation - the German approach, the French approach, the English spproach, comparative overview; enforcement "in natura" - non-monetary obligations, monetary obligations; withholding performance - an introduction to withholding performance and termination, withholding performance; termination -the meaning of termination, basic rules and means of termination, termination because goods delivered are defective, the seriousness of the default, time stipulations, termination before performance is due, agreed rights of termination, right to perform before due date, effects of termination; damages - the basic measure of damages for breach of contract, the requirement of notice, restrictions on damages recoverable, some typical cases, agreed damages and forfeiture clauses. Part 7 Third party consequences: third party beneficiaries - party beneficiaries - the position in general, the basis of third party claims, exemption clauses for the benefit of third parties, mo