In Patel v Mirza [2016] UKSC 42, nine justices of the Supreme Court of England and Wales decided in favour of a restitutionary award in response to an unjust enrichment, despite the illegal transaction on which that enrichment was based. Whilst the result was reached unanimously, the reasoning could be said to have divided the Court. Lord Toulson, Lady Hale, Lord Kerr, Lord Wilson, Lord Hodge and Lord Neuberger favoured a discretionary approach, but their mode of reasoning was described as 'revolutionary' by Lord Sumption (at [261]), who outlined in contrast a more rule-based means of dealing with the issue; a method with which Lord Mance and Lord Clarke broadly agreed. The decision is detailed and complex, and its implications for several areas of the law are considerable. Significantly, the reliance principle from Tinsley v Milligan [1994] 1 AC 340 has been discarded, as has the rule in Parkinson v College of Ambulance Ltd [1925] KB 1. Patel v Mirza, therefore, can fairly be described as one of the most important judgments in general private law for a generation, and it can be expected to have ramifications for the application of the illegality doctrine across a wide range of disciplinary areas. Unless there is legislative intervention, which does not seem likely at the present time, Patel v Mirza is set to be of enduring significance. This collection will provide a crucial set of theoretical and practical perspectives on the illegality defence in English private law. All of the authors are well established in their respective fields. The timing of the book means that it will be unusually well placed as the 'go to' work on this subject, for legal practitioners and for scholars.

The second edition of this highly recommended work addresses the interaction between conflict of laws, dispute resolution, electronic commerce and consumer contracts. In addition it identifies specific difficulties that conflicts lawyers and consumer lawyers encounter in electronic commerce and proposes original approaches to balance the conflict of interest between consumers' access to justice and business efficiency. The European Union has played a leading role in this area of law and its initiatives are fully explored. It pays particular attention to the most recent development in collective redress and alternative/online dispute resolution. By adopting multiple research methods, including a comparative study of the EU and US approach; historical analysis of protective conflict of laws; doctrinal analysis of legal provisions and economic analysis of law, it provides the most comprehensive examination of frameworks in cross-border consumer contracts.

Promises of indemnity are found in many kinds of commercial contracts, not just contracts of insurance. This book examines the nature and effect of contractual indemnities outside the insurance context. It is the first work to provide a detailed account of the subject in English law. The book presents a coherent theory of the promise of indemnity while also addressing important practical issues, such as the construction of contractual indemnities. The subject is approached from two perspectives. The foundations are laid by examining general principles applicable to indemnities in various forms. This covers the nature of indemnity promises; general principles of construction; the determination of scope; and the enforcement of indemnities. The approach then moves from the general to the specific, by examining separately particular forms of indemnity. Included among these are indemnities against liability to third parties, and indemnities against default or non-performance by third parties. The book states English law but it draws upon a considerable amount of material from other common law jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore. It will appeal to readers from those countries.

Maximise your marks for every answer you write with Law Express Question and Answer. This series is designed to help you understand what examiners are looking for, focus on the question being asked and make your answers stand out. See how an expert crafts answers to up to 50 questions on Contract Law. Discover how and why different elements of the answer relate to the question in accompanying Guidance. Plan answers quickly and effectively using Answer plans and Diagram plans. Gain higher marks with tips for advanced thinking in Make your answer stand out. Avoid common pitfalls with Don't be tempted to. Compare your responses using the Try it yourself answer guidance on the companion website. Practice answering questions and discover additional resources to support you in preparing for exams on the Companion website.

Vessels very frequently serve under a long chain of charterparties and sub-charterparties. When this is the case, the legal issues are more convoluted than they might at first seem. Incorporation clauses are commonplace in bills of lading used in the tramp trade due to the desire to make this web of contracts back-to-back. The extent to which the terms of the charterparty referred to can be carried across to the bill of lading has, over the centuries, been hotly disputed in many jurisdictions. Entirely dedicated to the topic of the incorporation of charterparty terms into bills of lading, this book discusses and analyses the legal and practical issues surrounding this topic under English and US law. Through discussions on the incorporation of a wide range of different charterparty terms, the book combines the peculiar and sophisticated rules of incorporation with the legal and practical issues concerning shipping, international trade, arbitration and conflict of laws and jurisdiction.

The provisions of the French Civil Code governing the law of obligations have remained largely unchanged since 1804 and have served as the model for civil codes across the world. In 2016, the French Government effected major reforms of the provisions on the law of contract, the general regime of obligations and proof of obligations. This work explores in detail the most interesting new provisions on French contract law in a series of essays by French lawyers and comparative lawyers working on French law and other civil law systems. It will make these fundamental reforms accessible to an English-speaking audience.

After an extended period in which the European Community has merely nibbled at the edges of national contract law, the bite of a 'European contract law' has lately become more pronounced. Many areas of law, from competition and consumer law to gender equality law, are now the subject of determined efforts at harmonisation, though they are perhaps often seen as peripheral to mainstream commercial contract law. Despite continuing doubts about the constitutional competence of the Commission to embark on further harmonisation in this area, European contract law is now taking shape with the Commission prompting a debate about what it might attempt. A central aspect of this book is the report of a remarkable survey carried out by the Oxford Institute of European and Comparative Law in collaboration with Clifford Chance, which sought the views of European businesses about the advantages and disadvantages of further harmonisation. The final report of this survey brings much needed empirical data to a debate that has thus far lacked clear evidence of this sort. The survey is embedded in a range of original and up-to-date essays by leading European contract scholars reviewing recent developments, questioning progress so far and suggesting areas where further analysis and research will be required

Business networks consist of several independent businesses that enter into interrelated contracts, conferring on the parties many of the benefits of co-ordination achieved through vertical integration in a single firm, without creating a single integrated business such as a corporation or partnership. Retail franchises are one such example of a network, but the most common instance is a credit card transaction between a customer, retailer, and the issuer of the card. How should the law analyse this hybrid economic phenomenon? It is neither exactly a market relationship - because that overlooks the co-ordination, relational qualities and interdependence of the contracts - nor is it a type of business association or company, since it lacks a centralised co-ordinating authority that receives the residual profits. This book is a translation of Gunther Teubner's classic work on networks, setting out his novel legal concept of 'connected contracts'. In it he explains how this concept addresses the problems posed by networks, such as the question whether the network as a whole can be held legally responsible for damage that it causes to third parties such as customers. A substantial introduction by Hugh Collins explains the analysis of networks in the context of German law and the systems theory from which Teubner approaches the topic. The introduction also explores how far the concept of connected contracts might assist in the common law world, including the UK and the USA, to address the same problems that arise in cases involving networks. As well as making a contribution to comparative law and legal theory, the book will be of interest to scholars interested in contract law, commercial law and the law of business associations.

Since this book was first published over ten years ago, collateral warranties have been used increasingly by funding institutions, building purchasers and tenants to create a contractual relationship between themselves and other parties involved in the project, whether architect, engineer, contractor or subcontractor. Indeed, collateral warranties are now being used to create primary contractual obligations.

There have been some immensely important developments in the law relating to collateral warranties since the first edition. The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 has introduced radical new developments into English contract law. The book now includes a completely new chapter on the legislation, which also looks at the potential practical uses of the Act on development projects.

The House of Lords has handed down a number of key decisions recently on third party remedies and on the principles relating to damages on assignment (such as Linden Gardens, Panatown, Henderson v. Merrett Syndicates and White v. Jones). These and some 65 other new cases are considered in the new edition.

Finally, a number of standard forms of warranty have been issued and these are now discussed, in particular the new JCT standard form of warranty for main contractors and subcontractors.

This immensely important book was widely welcomed when it was first published. The new edition has been thoroughly updated and will continue to be the authoritative reference on the subject.

"David Cornes and Richard Winward's book is a veritable mine of such information and is eminently readable" Construction News 16/05/02

"For those of you working in construction, managing building or indeed other contracts, you must have at least one authoritative source of advice and information. If this is your area of work, then this is your book" Building Engineer, July 2002

This book seeks to fill a gap in the existing literature by describing the formulation, interpretation and enforcement of the rules on consumer contracts in China and the EU, and by mapping key similarities and differences. The study addresses selected issues regarding consumer contracts: sources of law in the two jurisdictions are first discussed to set the scene. Afterwards, one preliminary issue - how to define the concept of a consumer contract - and two substantive topics - unfair terms and withdrawal rights - are dealt with. Apart from the descriptive analysis, the book also provides possible explanations for these comparative findings, and argues that the differences in consumer contract rules can be primarily attributed to a disparity of markets. The book offers a valuable resource, particularly for researchers and practitioners in the fields of private law and comparative law.

This is an important book which explores the classification of obligations. This is a very topical subject and it is fitting that it is examined here by contributors who are among the best-known writers in this field. The contributions include A New 'Seascape' for Obligations: Reclassification on the Basis of Measure of Damages by Jane Stapleton; Basic Obligations by James Penner; and an essay by Peter Birks himself entitled, Definition and Division: A Meditation on Institutes. These essays combine practical and academic perspectives which usefully highlight contemporary trends in the law of obligations. The book will be a valuable addition to the libraries of all teachers involved in this area of law.

The law of restitution has developed apace, taking its doctrinal starting point for the most part from the principle of unjust enrichment. This principle, however, has proved itself to be theoretically unstable, particularly in respect of the proper relationship of restitution with other bodies of law. This book is an account of the law of restitution which provides coherence in its relationships with other areas of private law, reflects a consistent theoretical underpinning, and offers an organisation of the law which is not solely dependent on theory but which also reflects a contextual coherence. One important consequence of this reformulation is that the subject matter which falls properly within the ambit of the law of restitution is considerably less than is currently supposed. Although directed to the substantive law of New Zealand, the book is an important contribution to the developing theoretical organisation of the law and extends far beyond that jurisdiction.

This book aims to explain the principles of contract law for the businessman, and to put those principles into their commercial context. Anyone involved in commercial transactions needs at least a basic understanding of the principles of contract law – the legal framework for all commercial activity. A lack of such a basic understanding at best results in a business which is less competitive and ultimately less profitable than it should be, and at worst can have expensive and sometimes disastrous commercial consequences.

If a broker-dealer liquidates in federal bankruptcy court, why does an insurance company liquidate in state court, and a bank outside of court altogether? Why do some businesses re-organize under state law 'assignments', rather than the more well-known Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code? Why do some laws use the language of bankruptcy but without advancing policy goals of the Bankruptcy Code? In this illuminating work, Stephen J. Lubben tackles these questions and many others related to the collective law of business insolvency in the United States. In the first book of its kind, Lubben notes the broad similarities between the many insolvency systems in the United States while describing the fundamental differences lurking therein. By considering the whole sweep of these laws - running the gamut from Chapter 11 to obscure receivership provisions of the National Bank Act - readers will acquire a fundamental understanding of the 'law of failure'.

In the past few decades, scholars have offered positive, normative, and most recently, interpretive theories of contract law. These theories have proceeded primarily (indeed, necessarily) from deontological and consequentialist premises. In A Theory of Contract Law: Empirical Understandings and Moral Psychology, Professor Peter A. Alces confronts the leading interpretive theories of contract and demonstrates their interpretive doctrinal failures. Professor Alces presents the leading canonical cases that inform the extant theories of Contract law in both their historical and transactional contexts and, argues that moral psychology provides a better explanation for the contract doctrine than do alternative comprehensive interpretive approaches.

This book challenges certain differences between contract, tort and equity in relation to the measure (in a broad sense) of damages. Damages are defined as the monetary award made by a court in consequence of a breach of contract, a tort or an equitable wrong. In all these causes of action, damages usually aim to put the claimant into the position the claimant would be in without the wrong. Even though the main objective of damages is thus the same for each cause of action, their measure is not. While some aspects of the measure of damages are more or less harmonised between contract, tort and equity (e.g. causation in fact and mitigation), significant differences exist in relation to (1) remoteness of damage, which is the question of whether, when and to which degree damage needs to be foreseeable to be recoverable; (2) the compensability of non-pecuniary loss such as pain and suffering, distress and loss of reputation; (3) the effect of contributory negligence, which is the victim's contribution to the occurrence of the wrong or the ensuing loss through unreasonable conduct prior to the wrong; (4) the circumstances under which victims of wrongs can claim the gain the wrongdoer has made from the wrong; and (5) the availability and scope of exemplary (or punitive) damages. For each of the five topics, this book examines the present position in contract, tort and equity and establishes the differences between the three areas. It goes on to scrutinise the arguments in defence of existing differences. The conclusion on each topic is that the present differences between contract, tort and equity cannot be justified on merits and should be removed through a harmonisation of the relevant principles.

The purpose of this book is to honour the influential and wide-ranging work of Professor Hugh Beale. It contains essays by twenty-five very distinguished authors, each of whom has worked with Professor Beale as a co-author, as a teaching colleague, during his time as Law Commissioner of England and Wales, or as part of the study groups working in Europe on contract and commercial law. The essays reflect different aspects of Professor Beale's interests. Some concentrate on English contract law, either from a historical or a current perspective, while others are focused on aspects of European contract law. There are four essays looking at current issues relating to security and financing, and, as befits a former Law Commissioner, three essays on law reform. The essays in the final section discuss trends in transnational and European commercial law. This book brings together the reflections of eminent writers from all over Europe on important issues facing contract and commercial law and will be of interest to all scholars and practitioners working in these areas.

This book deals with major contributions by the English Courts in the Twentieth Century to three areas of Contract Law: the variation of contracts by subsequent agreement, the extent to which contracts can benefit or bind third parties, and the distinction between four types of contractual terms: conditions, warranties, intermediate (or innominate) terms and fundamental terms.

Recent leading cases have demonstrated the urgent need to modernize the learning on breach of trust,which has lagged behind the flourishing scholarship on the creation of trusts. Since breach of trust or fiduciary duty occupies the centre of the legal stage, it comes as a surprise that, although one or two novelists have chosen 'Breach of Trust' as the title to their book, no lawyer has so far thought it necessary to produce a specialized work on the subject. To fill the gap, this book, written by a team of leading trust lawyers from a number of common law jurisdictions, investigates all the principal aspects of the subject. The nature of the trustee's duties and of the liability for breach is closely examined, and all available defences and excuses are reviewed. Two substantial chapters consider the consequences of assisting a breach or receiving trust property from a trustee acting in breach. The book closes with a critical overview of the entire topic. CONTENTS: 1 Robert Chambers 'Liability for Breach'; 2 Joshua Getzler 'The Duty of Care'; 3 Edwin Simpson 'The Conflict of Interest'; 4 David Fox 'Overreaching'; 5 Lionel Smith 'Property Transferred in Breach'; 6 Charles Mitchell 'Assistance'; 7 Peter Birks 'Receipt'; 8 James Penner 'Exemption clauses'; 9 John Lowry and Rod Edmunds 'Honest and Reasonable Breach'; 10 Jennifer Payne 'Consent'; 11 William Swadling 'Limitation'; 12 Gary Watt 'Laches, Estoppel and Election'; 13 David Hayton 'An Overview'.

This book advocates a new way of thinking about mortgage contracts. This claim is based on the assumption that we currently live in a political economy in which consumer debt fulfils a social function. In the field of housing this is evidenced by the expansion of mortgage credit through which consumers are to purchase residential property as a means of social inclusion and personal welfare. It is suggested that contract law needs to adjust to this new social function in order to avoid welfare losses in terms of default, over-indebtedness, and possibly eviction. To this end, this book analyses theoretical contract law frameworks and makes concrete proposals for contract law in the EU legal order.

As usage of the NEC (formerly the New Engineering Contract) family of contracts continues to grow worldwide, so does the importance of understanding its clauses and nuances to everyone working in the built environment. This set of contracts, currently in the third edition, is different to others in concept as well as format, so users may well find themselves needing a helping hand along the way. Understanding the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Short Contract uses plain English to lead the reader through the contract's key features, including: the use of early warnings programme provisions payment compensation events preparing and assessing tenders Common problems are signalled to the reader throughout, and the correct way of reading each clause explained. In addition, the things to consider when deciding between the ECSC and the longer Engineering and Construction Contract are discussed in detail. Written for professionals without legal backgrounds, by a practicing construction contract consultant, this handbook is the most straightforward, balanced and practical guide to the NEC3 ECSC available. An ideal companion for Employers, Contractors, Project Managers, Supervisors, Engineers, Architects, Quantity Surveyors, Subcontractors, and anyone else interested in working successfully with the NEC3 ECSC.