Comparative Contract Law
Full course description
*** This course is only offered as 'Exam Only' course. There will be no educational activities offered such as tutorials or lectures. Registration for this course is possible within the normal registration window for education. Please consult the Academic Calendar 2023-24 for further information about deadlines and exam periods ***
This course offers an introduction to contract law from a comparative perspective. Students gain insight into the nature of a contract, the role it plays in society and the principles by which it is governed. The course is comparative throughout, using examples from diverse jurisdictions including German, English, French and Dutch law to illustrate the main rules and principles of the law of contract. The course also addresses contract law at an EU level. Topics addressed include formation of contract, defects of consent, illegality, interpretation, unfair terms, and remedies for breach.
Method of instruction
- Problem based learning in weekly tutorials and interactive plenary sessions
Examination
- Written exam and assignment
Course objectives
The main objective of this course is to gain insight into the fundamentals of contract law as such. The problems that contract law addresses are not peculiar to one specific jurisdiction, they are universal. A primary objective of the course is to become familiar with these core problems. In addition, the course allows students to obtain basic knowledge of how different jurisdictions solve these problems and to become aware of fundamental similarities and differences in the approaches of national legal systems. At the end of the course, students should be able to reason about the choices that different jurisdictions make in designing their contract laws. In addition to this, they should also be able to apply contract law rules to hypothetical cases and to discuss this application both in class, in an assignment and at the final exam.
Prerequisites
None, other than that students were admitted to the bachelor European Law School.
Recommended reading
Mandatory reading:
- Jan Smits, Contract Law: A Comparative Introduction, Edward Elgar Publishing, 3rd edition, 2021
- Sascha Hardt and Nicole Kornet (eds), The Maastricht Collection. Volume III International and European Private Law, Europa Law Publishing, 7th edition, 2021
- Sascha Hardt and Nicole Kornet (eds), The Maastricht Collection. Volume IV Comparative Private Law, Europa Law Publishing, 7th edition, 2021