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Unit of study_
LAWS6874: Contractual Damages
2024 unit information
The principal object of the unit is to give students a comprehensive overview of the most important practical and theoretical questions concerning the law of contractual damages in both Australia and throughout the Commonwealth more broadly. Given the voluminous case law and academic literature on the subject, our focus will be on a detailed examination of the most important and controversial decisions as well as the most thought-provoking academic commentary on those decisions and the theoretical questions that underpin them. More specifically, the unit considers: the measure and availability of damages for breach of contract at common law; the meaning and implications of the compensation principle; the principles that limit the availability of damages awards; the impact of contract termination on the assessment of loss of bargain' damages; the availability and justifiability of awarding alternative measures of damages for breach of contract; the principles governing the recovery of agreed (or liquidated) damages; theoretical approaches and critiques of the law of contract damages; and the assessment of contractual damages in circumstances where a concurrent damages claim for negligence is available. Further information about this unit is available in the Sydney Law School timetable https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/4533/pages/postgraduate-lecture-timetable, unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units and academic staff profile https://www.sydney.edu.au/law/about/our-people/academic-staff.html
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Sydney Law School
| Study level | Postgraduate |
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| Academic unit | Law |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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None |
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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None |
| Assumed knowledge:
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undergraduate law degree |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. Identify, describe, and compare primary and exceptional measures of damages for common law contract breaches.
- LO2. Examine the meaning and consequences of the compensation principle in contract law to address complex legal problems
- LO3. Differentiate damages principles for contract claims from those for other legal and equitable remedies.
- LO4. Critically evaluate the implications of various principles that limit contract breach damages and describe to an advanced level how they interact.
- LO5. Identify and critically evaluate leading Australian and English case law relevant to contractual damages.
- LO6. Examine equitable damages principles in lieu of specific performance or injunctions across Commonwealth jurisdictions and identify and describe the differences in approach.
Unit availability
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
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