Law of Obligations — Overview
This theme contains three subjects, namely: Contract, Restitution and Tort
Contract
Discussion Groups
These self-sustaining groups are an essential part of the life of our graduate school. They are organised in some cases by graduate students and in others by Faculty members and meet regularly during term, typically over a sandwich lunch, when one of the group presents work in progress or introduces a discussion of a particular issue or new case. They may also encompass guest speakers from the faculty and beyond.
Publications
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Showing 5 of the most recent publications
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Show All 101 | Selected publications
Journal Articles
2013
J Cartwright, 'La preuve en droit continental et en common law - Le point sur la preuve en matière des contrats en droit anglais.' (2013) La Semaine Juridique Notariale et Immobilière 26 [...]
Abstract: There is no "hierarchy of proof" in English law as there is in French law. English law does not use authentic acts; the deed is a private document. Although there are only a few exceptions to the basic rule that no formalities of writing are required for the creation of a contract, nor for its enforceability, yet where the contract is in writing the written document has great significance, particularly in the light of the principles of (objective) interpretation of the contract.
Discussion of the significance of writing in English law of contract. Article is in French.
ISBN: 0242-5785
Simon Whittaker, 'Identifying the Legal Costs of Operation of the Common European Sales Law' (2013) 50 Common Market Law Review 85
2012
T Krebs, 'Yearworth and the Law of Contract' (2012) Journal of Medical Ethics Special Issue - Human Body Parts/Property
Simon Whittaker, 'The Proposed \'Common European Sales Law\': Legal Framework and the Agreement of the Parties' (2012) 75 Modern Law Review 578 [...]
The European Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (‘CESL’) seeks to create a European scheme of contract law available for parties to choose to govern cross-border contracts for the sale of goods, supply of ‘digital content,’ and for the supply of related services.This article explains the background to the Proposal, sketches out the purposes and scope of the CESL, and considers and criticises its legal framework (and in particular its relationship with private international law) and the key requirement of the parties’ agreement. In the author’s view, the CESL scheme remains an unconvincing basis for the achievement of its economic purposes and, as regards consumer contracts, puts too much reliance on the agreement of the consumer as a justification for the loss of their existing protection under EU private international law rules.
2011
M Chen-Wishart, 'The Purposes and Methods of English Contract Law' (2011) 12 Peking University Law Review 681
Courses
The courses we offer in this field are:
Undergraduate
FHS (Phase II)
The degree is awarded on the basis of nine final examinations at the end of the three-year course (or four years in the case of Law with Law Studies in Europe) and (for students who began the course in October 2011 or later) an essay in Jurisprudence written over the summer vacation at the end of the second year. Note: the Jurisprudence exam at the end of the third year is correspondingly shorter. This phase of the Final Honour School includes the third term of the first year, and all three terms of the second year.
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The syllabus comprises the general principles of the law governing enforceable agreements. It is not concerned with special rules governing specific types of contracts, such as sale, carriage or employment. The principal topics normally discussed are: (a) the rules relating to the formation of agreements and to certain further requirements which must be satisfied to make agreements legally enforceable; (b) the contents of a contract and the rules governing the validity of terms which exclude or restrict liability; (c) the nature and effects in a contractual context of mistake, misrepresentation, duress and undue influence; (d) the general principle that right and duties arising under a contract can only be enforced by and against the parties to it; (e) performance and breach, including the right to terminate for failure in performance and the effects of wrongful repudiation; (f) supervening events as a ground of discharge under the doctrine of frustration; (g) remedies for breach of contract by way of damages, action for the agreed sum, specific performance and injunction. (h) the basis of contractual liability.
Contract is one of the compulsory standard subjects within the Final Honour School syllabus. It also covers material in the “foundations of legal knowledge” and so must be taken by those seeking a professional qualification in England and Wales.
The subject is taught in tutorials arranged by your college tutor. Particular areas are also explored in lectures.
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Diploma in Legal Studies
A one-year sample of courses from our BA programmes, aimed only at students visiting from our partner universities.
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The syllabus comprises the general principles of the law governing enforceable agreements. It is not concerned with special rules governing specific types of contracts, such as sale, carriage or employment. The principal topics normally discussed are: (a) the rules relating to the formation of agreements and to certain further requirements which must be satisfied to make agreements legally enforceable; (b) the contents of a contract and the rules governing the validity of terms which exclude or restrict liability; (c) the nature and effects in a contractual context of mistake, misrepresentation, duress and undue influence; (d) the general principle that right and duties arising under a contract can only be enforced by and against the parties to it; (e) performance and breach, including the right to terminate for failure in performance and the effects of wrongful repudiation; (f) supervening events as a ground of discharge under the doctrine of frustration; (g) remedies for breach of contract by way of damages, action for the agreed sum, specific performance and injunction. (h) the basis of contractual liability.
Contract is one of the compulsory standard subjects within the Final Honour School syllabus. It also covers material in the “foundations of legal knowledge” and so must be taken by those seeking a professional qualification in England and Wales.
The subject is taught in tutorials arranged by your college tutor. Particular areas are also explored in lectures.
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Postgraduate
MJur
Our taught postgraduate programme, designed to serve outstanding law students from civil law backgrounds.
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Contract (also part of the BA course)
The syllabus comprises the general principles of the law governing enforceable agreements. It is not concerned with special rules governing specific types of contracts, such as sale, carriage or employment. The principal topics normally discussed are: (a) the rules relating to the formation of agreements and to certain further requirements which must be satisfied to make agreements legally enforceable; (b) the contents of a contract and the rules governing the validity of terms which exclude or restrict liability; (c) the nature and effects in a contractual context of mistake, misrepresentation, duress and undue influence; (d) the general principle that right and duties arising under a contract can only be enforced by and against the parties to it; (e) performance and breach, including the right to terminate for failure in performance and the effects of wrongful repudiation; (f) supervening events as a ground of discharge under the doctrine of frustration; (g) remedies for breach of contract by way of damages, action for the agreed sum, specific performance and injunction. (h) the basis of contractual liability.
Contract is one of the compulsory standard subjects within the Final Honour School syllabus. It also covers material in the “foundations of legal knowledge” and so must be taken by those seeking a professional qualification in England and Wales.
The subject is taught in tutorials arranged by your college tutor. Particular areas are also explored in lectures.
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People
Contract teaching is organized by a Subject Group convened by:
Mindy Chen-Wishart: Reader in Contract Law
in conjunction with:
Dapo Akande: University Lecturer in Public International Law
Alexandra Braun: CUF Lecturer
Adrian Briggs: Professor of Private International Law
Susan Bright: Professor of Land Law, McGregor Fellow
Andrew Burrows, QC: Professor of the Law of England
John Cartwright: Professor of the Law of Contract
Andrew Dyson: College Lecturer and Tutor in Law
Joshua Getzler: Professor of Law and Legal History
Katharine Grevling: CUF Lecturer
Louise Gullifer: Professor of Commercial Law
Jonathan Herring: Professor of Law
Andrew Higgins: Lecturer in Civil Procedure
Thomas Krebs: University Lecturer in Commercial Law
Ewan McKendrick: Registrar
Peter Mirfield: CUF Lecturer
Donal Nolan: CUF Lecturer
Edwin Peel: Professor of Law
Jeremias Prassl: Supernumerary Teaching Fellow in Law
Simon Whittaker: Professor of European Comparative Law
assisted by:
Carmine Conte: DPhil Law student
Jesse Wall: DPhil Law student
Also working in this field, but not involved in its teaching programme:
Tatiana Cutts: DPhil Law student
Jodi Gardner: MPhil Law student
Donald Harris: Retired. Formerly Director of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at Balliol
Geneviève Helleringer: Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow
Dori Kimel: Reader in Legal Philosophy
Andelka Phillips: DPhil Law student
Dan Prentice: Emeritus Professor of Corporate Law
Francis Reynolds: Emeritus Professor of Law at Worcester College
Jan Peter Schmidt: Max Planck Fellow
Guenter Treitel: Emeritus Vinerian Professor of English Law at All Souls
Rafal Zakrzewski: Career Development Fellow
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Restitution
Publications
Showing five recent publications sorted by type, then year, author, title [change this]
Showing 5 of the most recent publications
Change to sort them by year | title | name OR
Show All 25 | Selected publications
Journal Articles
2011
Roy Goode, 'Proprietary Liability for Secret Profits - A Reply' (2011) 127 Sweet & Maxwell 493 [...]
A reply to a case note by Justice Hayton on Sinclair Investments (UK) Ltd. v. Versailles Trade Finance Ltd
ISBN: 0023-933X
2008
S Gardner, 'Proprietary Restitution: A Coda to Chapter 8 of Birks? Unjust Enrichment' (2008) Restitution Law Review 107
2005
A S Burrows, 'Unravelling Proprietary Restitution: a Response to Professor Lionel Smith' (2005) Canadian Business Law Journal 424
R Williams, 'The Beginnings of a Public Law of Unjust Enrichment?' (2005) 16(1) King's College Law Journal 194
2000
M Chen-Wishart, '“Unjust Factors and the Restitutionary response” ' (2000) 20 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 557
Courses
The courses we offer in this field are:
Postgraduate
BCL
Our taught postgraduate programme, designed to serve outstanding law students from common-law backgrounds
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Restitution of Unjust Enrichment
Restitution of Unjust Enrichment is concerned with about how and when a claimant can compel a defendant to surrender an enrichment gained at the claimant’s expense. Long neglected, the subject has in recent years been one of the most exciting in the postgraduate curriculum. It draws its cases from areas of the law which have resisted rational analysis, largely because they have tenaciously preserved the language of an earlier age.
Common lawyers found themselves unable to escape from money had and received, money paid, and quantum meruit, while those on the chancery side became defensively fond of the unsolved mysteries of tracing and trusts arising by operation of law. In the result, down to earth questions about getting back money and value in other forms have been made to seem much more difficult than they need be. The aim of any course on restitution must be to try to understand what has really been going on and to play back that understanding to the courts in accessible modern language. These aims are helped by keeping an eye on the main lines of civilian solutions to the problems with which the common law has to wrestle.
Note that this course is concerned only with restitution of unjust enrichment. Restitution for wrongs is not part of the course and is dealt with in the Commercial remedies course.
Teaching is through twelve seminars. The seminars are supported by two introductory lectures and by the provision of four tutorials. A detailed account of the course is produced every year in and posted on this site. The subject of every seminar is set out, with a list of cases and other materials to be read, together with questions and problems intended to stimulate thought.
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MJur
Our taught postgraduate programme, designed to serve outstanding law students from civil law backgrounds.
[less]
Restitution of Unjust Enrichment
Restitution of Unjust Enrichment is concerned with about how and when a claimant can compel a defendant to surrender an enrichment gained at the claimant’s expense. Long neglected, the subject has in recent years been one of the most exciting in the postgraduate curriculum. It draws its cases from areas of the law which have resisted rational analysis, largely because they have tenaciously preserved the language of an earlier age.
Common lawyers found themselves unable to escape from money had and received, money paid, and quantum meruit, while those on the chancery side became defensively fond of the unsolved mysteries of tracing and trusts arising by operation of law. In the result, down to earth questions about getting back money and value in other forms have been made to seem much more difficult than they need be. The aim of any course on restitution must be to try to understand what has really been going on and to play back that understanding to the courts in accessible modern language. These aims are helped by keeping an eye on the main lines of civilian solutions to the problems with which the common law has to wrestle.
Note that this course is concerned only with restitution of unjust enrichment. Restitution for wrongs is not part of the course and is dealt with in the Commercial remedies course.
Teaching is through twelve seminars. The seminars are supported by two introductory lectures and by the provision of four tutorials. A detailed account of the course is produced every year in and posted on this site. The subject of every seminar is set out, with a list of cases and other materials to be read, together with questions and problems intended to stimulate thought.
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People
Restitution teaching is organized by a Subject Group convened by:
William Swadling: Reader in Property Law
in conjunction with:
Andrew Burrows, QC: Professor of the Law of England
Mindy Chen-Wishart: Reader in Contract Law
Ewan McKendrick: Registrar
Edwin Peel: Professor of Law
Robert Stevens: Herbert Smith Freehills Professor of English Private Law
Simon Whittaker: Professor of European Comparative Law
Also working in this field, but not involved in its teaching programme:
Tatiana Cutts: DPhil Law student
Derek Davies: Retired. Formerly Fellow and Tutor in Law at St Catherine's
Jodi Gardner: MPhil Law student
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Tort
News
Professor Jane Stapleton wins the William L. Prosser Award
Professor Jane Stapleton has been awarded the prestigious William L. Prosser Award by the Association of American Law Schools [more…]
Publications
Showing five recent publications sorted by type, then year, author, title [change this]
Showing 5 of the most recent publications
Change to sort them by year | title | name OR
Show All 78 | Selected publications
Journal Articles
2013
D P Nolan, 'Negligence and Human Rights: The Case for Separate Development' (2013) 76 Modern Law Review 286
A J B Sirks, 'The parallel universes of Baker, Joblin and Julian: causation and law' (2013) 17 Edinburgh Law Review 22–36
2011
E Descheemaeker, ''Veritas non est defamatio'? Truth as a Defence in the Law of Defamation' (2011) Legal Studies 1 [...]
DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-121X.2010.00191.x
Despite the limited exception introduced by statute in 1974, the principle that truth is and ought to be a complete defence to all actions in defamation is typically regarded as self-evident in modern English law. The fact that England stands here against not only the whole of the civilian tradition but also a number of common-law jurisdictions suggests, however, that it is not. This article, after surveying the history of the principle in English law and the debates that it has spurred in the past, argues that English law is right on this question, but needs to understand more cogently why. This, in turn, requires an examination of the interests protected by the cause of action. It is only if we accept that it is, and is solely, reputation founded in character that the defence of veritas will be secured.
ISBN: 1748121X
E Descheemaeker, ''A man of bad character has not so much to lose’: Truth as a Defence in the South African Law of Defamation' (2011) 128 South African Law Journal 452 [...]
This paper examines, from a historical and comparative perspective, the role of truth in the South African law of defamation. In order to understand to what extent the law of South Africa might represent a mixture of civilian and common-law thinking, it first sets out the viewpoint of, on the one hand, Roman and Roman-Dutch law and, on the other hand, English law. Against this background, the dominant position of South African law appears avowedly civilian, a stand explained by the fact that the South African law of defamation really is a law of verbal insults, as in Rome, rather than a law of injuries to deserved reputation, as in England. However, an interesting dissident strand in favour of the sufficiency of truth can be seen to exist in the background, which is explored. This dissenting strand is certainly English in substance, but this does not entail that it has English roots.
D P Nolan, 'The Liability of Public Authorities for Failing to Confer Benefits' (2011) 127 Law Quarterly Review 260
Courses
The courses we offer in this field are:
Undergraduate
FHS (Phase II)
The degree is awarded on the basis of nine final examinations at the end of the three-year course (or four years in the case of Law with Law Studies in Europe) and (for students who began the course in October 2011 or later) an essay in Jurisprudence written over the summer vacation at the end of the second year. Note: the Jurisprudence exam at the end of the third year is correspondingly shorter. This phase of the Final Honour School includes the third term of the first year, and all three terms of the second year.
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Tort is one of the compulsory standard subjects within the Final Honour School syllabus. It also covers material in the “foundations of legal knowledge” and so must be taken by those seeking a professional qualification in England and Wales. The law of tort is mainly concerned with providing compensation for personal injury and damage to property, but also protects other interests, such as reputation, personal freedom, title to property, enjoyment of property, and commercial interests.The subject is taught in tutorials arranged by your college tutor. Lectures in Michaelmas and Trinity terms cover most, but not all, of the topics on the agreed reading list. Revision lectures on contract and tort take place in Hilary term.
[less]
Diploma in Legal Studies
A one-year sample of courses from our BA programmes, aimed only at students visiting from our partner universities.
[less]
Tort is one of the compulsory standard subjects within the Final Honour School syllabus. It also covers material in the “foundations of legal knowledge” and so must be taken by those seeking a professional qualification in England and Wales. The law of tort is mainly concerned with providing compensation for personal injury and damage to property, but also protects other interests, such as reputation, personal freedom, title to property, enjoyment of property, and commercial interests.The subject is taught in tutorials arranged by your college tutor. Lectures in Michaelmas and Trinity terms cover most, but not all, of the topics on the agreed reading list. Revision lectures on contract and tort take place in Hilary term.
[less]
Postgraduate
MJur
Our taught postgraduate programme, designed to serve outstanding law students from civil law backgrounds.
[less]
Tort (also part of the BA course)
Tort is one of the compulsory standard subjects within the Final Honour School syllabus. It also covers material in the “foundations of legal knowledge” and so must be taken by those seeking a professional qualification in England and Wales. The law of tort is mainly concerned with providing compensation for personal injury and damage to property, but also protects other interests, such as reputation, personal freedom, title to property, enjoyment of property, and commercial interests.The subject is taught in tutorials arranged by your college tutor. Lectures in Michaelmas and Trinity terms cover most, but not all, of the topics on the agreed reading list. Revision lectures on contract and tort take place in Hilary term.
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People
Tort teaching is organized by a Subject Group convened by:
James Goudkamp: University Lecturer (CUF)
in conjunction with:
Roderick Bagshaw: CUF Lecturer
Andrew Burrows, QC: Professor of the Law of England
John Cartwright: Professor of the Law of Contract
Andrew Dyson: College Lecturer and Tutor in Law
Lucinda Ferguson: University Lecturer in Family Law
Rob George: British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
Imogen Goold: CUF Lecturer
Noam Gur: Shaw Foundation Fellow in Law, Lincoln College
Andrew Higgins: Lecturer in Civil Procedure
Laura Hoyano: Hackney Fellow & Tutor in Law and CUF Lecturer
Thomas Krebs: University Lecturer in Commercial Law
Dorota Leczykiewicz: Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow
Mike Macnair: CUF Lecturer
Donal Nolan: CUF Lecturer
Edwin Peel: Professor of Law
Denise Réaume: Visiting Professor
Roger Smith: CUF Lecturer
Rachel Taylor: Lecturer
Simon Whittaker: Professor of European Comparative Law
Also working in this field, but not involved in its teaching programme:
Paul Craig: Professor of English Law
John Davies: Retired. Formerly Fellow and Tutor in Law at Brasenose
Eric Descheemaeker: Research Fellow, Institute of European and Comparative Law
Simon Douglas: CUF Lecturer
Jodi Gardner: MPhil Law student
Sarah Green: CUF Lecturer
Donald Harris: Retired. Formerly Director of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at Balliol
Angus Johnston: CUF Lecturer
Martin Matthews: Retired. Formerly CUF Lecturer
Peter North: Retired. Formerly Principal of Jesus
Gosia Pearson: Policy Officer, DG Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection of the European Commission
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