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LAWS20058 – AUSTRALIAN COMMERCIAL LAW
TERM 1, 2018 – ASSESSMENT 1 – INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
Marks: 40% of the overall assessment for the course
Submission: Online via Moodle
Format: One file in .doc or .docx (MS Word) format.
Submissions in any other file format (e.g. .zip) will be
treated as a non-submission.
Your file should contain:
Cover sheet – Contains your name, student number and
word counts for Questions 1, 2 and 3.
Part A – Answer to either Question 1(a) OR Question 1(b)
Part B – Answers to Questions 2 and 3
Part C – Link to YouTube video.
References should be footnoted, using the Australian
Guide to Legal Citation. There should be no need for a
concluding Reference List or Bibliography.
Due date: 11.45pm, Thursday 3 May 2018 (Week 8)
Word limit: Word limits are set out below for each question.
Extensions policy:
The university policy on extensions of time will be strictly enforced. Extensions will only be
considered if made via the online system and must be based on medical or compassionate
grounds. Any extension application should be made before the due date for submission.
Medical conditions should be supported by a medical certificate, and, since students are
expected to start the assignment early, temporary or last-minute conditions are usually not
grounds for an extension. Professionals are expected to manage their time to meet their
obligations, so work or personal commitments are insufficient grounds for an extension.
Plagiarism:
The university’s plagiarism policy will also be strictly enforced. If plagiarism is found, a
minimum penalty is likely to be zero marks for the assessment. It could be worse.
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PART A (10 marks – XXXXXXXXXXwords)
You must choose ONE of the following questions:
EITHER:
Question 1(a)
Provide a summary of the constitution that your tribe developed in Workshop 1, Tasks 1 and
2, explaining how it addresses the requirements for Hart’s 3-part legal system. Then compare
it to how the Australian legal system addresses the same requirements.
OR:
Question 1(b)
Research a legal system of a foreign country and explain how it addresses the requirements of
Hart’s 3-part legal system. Then compare it to how the Australian legal system addresses the
same requirements.
NOTE: In either of these questions, you can assume that the marker knows what Hart’s 3-part
legal system is, so you do not have to explain it – you just need to apply it co
ectly.
PART B (20 marks)
Ba
y was sick of his day job, and wanted to buy a business so he could become his own
oss. He saw that a fruit and vegetable store was up for sale at his local shopping village.
The owner had posted an advertisement on the notice board at the shopping village as
follows:
Highly profitable venture in bustling subu
an shopping centre with turnover of $20,000 per
month. No competitors. $250,000 plus stock-in-trade. Ring Angelo on XXXXXXXXXX.
Ba
y telephoned Angelo and asked about the store. He asked what the expenses of the
usiness were, and Angelo told him that they were $8,000 per month. Ba
y liked what he
had heard, so he decided to check out how busy the shopping centre was. On the weekend,
when he wasn’t working, he went to the shopping centre a few times and noticed that it was
open all day Saturday and Sunday and was busy most of that time. He negotiated with
Angelo and eventually agreed to buy the business for $200,000. To save money, he did not
hire a lawyer, and signed a contract which included the following term:
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The sale includes the following plant and equipment:
Item Value
Delivery van $15,000
Loader $2,000
Ba
y paid for the business and took over running it on 1 January XXXXXXXXXXWhen he took over
the store, he discovered the following problems:
(a) Although the shopping village was busy on the weekends, it was very quiet during the
week. In the first two months the turnover was only $13,000 per month.
(b) There was a grocery store in the shopping village that sold a wide range of fruit and
vegetables.
(c) After six weeks, a man from a finance company a
ived at the shop and repossessed
the delivery van. It turned out that the van was only leased by the previous owner,
and since Ba
y had not made the lease payments, the lease was in default. Ba
y’s
expenses at the shop had been below $8,000 per month, but if he had paid the van
lease, the expenses would have been on average about $8,500 per month.
(d) The loader, which was a small motorised machine for putting pallets on and off the
ack of the van, was
oken down and could not be fixed for less than the cost of
eplacing it.
You are providing a written report to your supervising partner. To impress him, you want to
show that you worked hard at university by demonstrating your knowledge of law and your
ability to use it. You need to provide a written report providing the following advices.
Question 2 (10 marks, about 800 words)
Advise how Ba
y might challenge the validity of the contract on the basis of the statements
made by Angelo before the contract was entered into. You should consider both common
law and statute law.
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Question 3 (10 marks, about 800 words)
Assuming Ba
y does not get out of the contract, advise on the possibility of an action for
each of contract.
NOTE: These are questions where the focus is on your reasoning processes, so you should
use the IRAC method. You do not need to repeat the facts unnecessarily, so only refer to the
facts of the case to support your argument. Also, only refer to cases to illustrate or support the
legal points you are making or the argument you are putting. If you do refer to cases, you
need to demonstrate how they are relevant to the facts or argment. Your supervising partner
will not be impressed by you simply reciting law without purpose.
PART C (10 marks – YouTube video no more than about 6 minutes in length)
In this part, your task is to take the advices you gave to your supervising partner in Questions
2 and 3 and present them to your client, Ba
y, in a way that he can understand. You DO need
to explain to him what the law is and how it leads to your recommendations, but it must be
presented in a way that a client without legal training can understand. The report must be
done as a YouTube video and the link for the video must be included in your assignment. The
video must be set so that the marker can view it. If the link does not work for the marker,
you get no marks for this part.
Your face must appear in the video. You should not be reading from a script, but you can use
notes to prompt your talking.
MARKING
All parts of the assignment will be marked in accordance with the university’s Grades
procedure (which can be accessed via the Unit Profile). The following marking ru
ic
incorporates that procedure.
THE MARKING RUBRIC IS ON THE FOLLOWING PAGE
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GRADE MARK GRADING APPROACH for assessing
problem-solving skills, critical thinking and information literacy
HD 85%+ Demonstrates imagination, originality or flair, based on proficiency in all the
learning outcomes of the unit; work is interesting or surprisingly exciting,
challenging, well read or scholarly.
COMMENT: Here, the student will have done everything well, provided some
original insights, and formulated their answer in a tight, efficient, thoroughly
professional manner. Their explanations and arguments will have a strong
logical flow and be convincing. Their research, particularly in Part B, will
e thorough.
D 75-84% Demonstrates awareness and understanding of deeper and less obvious aspects
of the unit, such as ability to identify and debate critical issues or problems,
ability to solve non‐routine problems, ability to adapt and apply ideas to new
situations, and ability to invent and evaluate new ideas.
COMMENT: The student will demonstrate this by achieving all the outcomes
for a Credit, but also some of the imagination, originality or flair required for
a High Distinction. In Part A, the student will show some insight in comparing
the two legal systems. In Part B, the student will demonstrate strong
adherence to the IRAC method and some insight in the analysis of the
problems. In Part C, the student will demonstrate a high level of skill in
translating their legal advice into user-friendly terms for the client.
C 65-74% Demonstrates ability to use and apply fundamental concepts and skills of the
unit, going beyond mere replication of content knowledge or skill to show
understanding of key ideas, awareness of their relevance, some use of
analytical skills, and some originality or insight.
COMMENT: Learning involves not only knowing principles or concepts but
also the ability to apply them to a real-life situation. In Part A, the quality of
the comparison and contrast of the legal systems will show this. In Part B, the
ability to IRAC in a consistent and competent manner is required. In Part C, a
clear and concise oral advice will be necessary to achieve this grade.
P 50-64% Demonstrates the learning outcomes of the unit, such as knowledge of
fundamental concepts and performance of basic skills; demonstrates sufficient
quality of performance to be considered satisfactory or adequate or competent
or capable in relation to the learning outcomes of the unit.
COMMENT: Students who get a mark in this range usually demonstrate some
knowledge of principles and concepts, but do not explain or apply them
accurately. Answers often look like general descriptions provided with little
thought or insight. In Part C, the advice to the client would be unclear and/o
confusing in parts, but satisfactory.
F 40-49% Fails to demonstrate the learning outcomes of the unit.
COMMENT: Students in this range usually make some effort to perform the
assignment task but fail to achieve what is prescribed for a Pass.
Low F < 40% COMMENT: Students in this range usually fail to properly ca
y out the
instructions or fully perform the tasks specified in the assessment.
LAWS20058 – AUSTRALIAN COMMERCIAL LAW
MODULE 1 – THE NATURE OF LAW AND THE AUSTRALIAN LEGAL SYSTEM
WORKSHOP
Exercise –