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ContraCt Law
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Develop your legal skills
9781408226100 9781447905141
New
edition
9781408261538 9781447922650
Written to help you develop the essential skills needed to succeed
on your course and prepare for practice.
Available from all good bookshops or order online at:
www.pearsoned.co.uk/law
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ContraCt Law
3rd edition
Marina Hamilton
Latterly Associate Dean of the Law School
at the University of Hertfordshire
iii
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Pearson Education Limited
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Tel: +44 (0)1279 623623
Web: www.pearson.com/uk
First published 2012
Second edition published 2014 (print and electronic)
Third edition published 2016 (print and electronic)
© Pearson Education Limited 2012 (print)
© Pearson Education Limited 2014, 2016 (print and electronic)
The right of Marina Hamilton to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any trademark in this text does
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Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence (OGL) v2.0. www.nationalarchives
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NOTE THAT ANY PAGE CROSS REFERENCES REFER TO THE PRINT EDITION
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
What you need to do for every question in Contract Law viii
Guided tour x
Guided tour of the companion website xii
Table of cases and statutes xiii
Chapter 1: Formation of a contract 1
Chapter 2: Consideration 37
Chapter 3: Privity 67
Chapter 4: Express and implied terms 79
Chapter 5: Misrepresentation 117
Chapter 6: Mistake 147
Chapter 7: Duress and undue influence 167
Chapter 8: Discharge, performance and breach 187
Chapter 9: Frustration 207
Chapter 10: Remedies for breach of contract 227
Bibliography 247
Index 251
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Supporting resources
Visit the Law Express Question&Answer series companion website at
www.pearsoned.co.uk/lawexpressqa to find valuable learning material
including:
■ Additional essay and problem questions arranged by topic for each chapter
give you more opportunity to practise and hone your exam skills.
■ Diagram plans for all additional questions assist you in structuring and writing
your answers.
■ You be the marker questions allow you to see through the eyes of the examiner
by marking essay and problem questions on every topic covered in the book.
■ Download and print all Before you begin diagrams and Diagram plans from the
book.
Also: The companion website provides the following features:
■ Search tool to help locate specific items of content.
■ Online help and support to assist with website usage and troubleshooting.
For more information please contact your local Pearson sales representative or visit
www.pearsoned.co.uk/lawexpressqa
vi
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Acknowledgements
To Peter, Jessica and Christopher.
Marina Hamilton
Publisher’s acknowledgements
Our thanks go to all reviewers who contributed to the development of this text, including
students who participated in research and focus groups that helped to shape the series
format.
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What you need to do
for every question in
Contract Law
HoW To uSE THiS Book
Books in the Question and Answer series focus on the why of a good answer alongside
the what, thereby helping you to build your question answering skills and technique.
This guide should not be used as a substitute for learning the material thoroughly, your
lecture notes or your textbook. It will help you to make the most out of what you have
already learned when answering an exam or coursework question. Remember that the
answers given here are not the only correct way of answering the question but serve to
show you some good examples of how you could approach the question set.
Make sure that you regularly refer to your course syllabus, check which issues are
covered (as well as to what extent they are covered) and whether they are usually
examined with other topics. Remember that what is required in a good answer could
change significantly with only a slight change in the wording of a question. Therefore, do
not try to memorise the answers given here, instead use the answers and the other
features to understand what goes into a good answer and why.
Contract law is predominantly taught and assessed through problem scenarios. These
scenarios can be long and the facts complicated: for instance, a question on offer and
acceptance can have a series of communications between the parties involved. It is
essential that you identify the legal issues raised by the question, so ask yourself what the
status of each communication is, and what is the authority for such an assertion. Having a
plan before you write will assist with this. Ensure that you do not retell the facts of the
problem: focus on the issues raised by those facts. Once you have identified, discussed and
supported your legal argument, apply that analysis back to the facts of the question. There
will be multiple issues in contract problems: deal with them logically and ensure that the
viii
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WHAT YOU NEED TO DO FOR EVERY qUESTION IN CONTRACT LAW
answer has a natural flow. Equally with essays: answer the question set. Do not write
everything you know on that topic area. For instance, if an essay concerns silence and
misrepresentation, you will not gain marks for discussing statements of opinion.
A strong introduction can often focus your structure and attention on the question set. A
conclusion draws together all the lines of argument and analysis into a succinct answer to
the issues raised by that question.
The best way to cope with large amounts of case law is to learn your authorities as you
learn the principle concerned. One of the commonest criticisms of contract law papers is a
lack of supporting authority for the point made.
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