This course introduces you to the Australian legal system and the law regulating business activities. Particular focus is given to the law of contract. The course also covers the laws relating to particular types of business contracts such as sales of goods and insurance contracts. Aspects of property law and negligence are also covered.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Identify the sources of law that are applicable to Australia;
2. Identify the legal areas of particular relevance in a business context;
3. Understand, and be able to articulate: (i) how binding agreements are formed under Australian law, and (ii) the rights and remedies that arise in relation to legally binding agreements;
4. Understand the circumstances in which persons, particularly in business, could have a legal liability in relation to careless conduct;
5. Recognize the major pieces of Australian legislation of relevance to business, and be able to articulate the legal obligations and duties that such legislation imposes;
6. Know how they would approach a legal problem, including knowing when it would be appropriate to seek professional legal advice.

Research-Led Teaching

This is an introductory course which gives an introduction to the Australian legal system and to important areas of law relevant to business. The text and the course draw on relevant current examples and research. Most chapters will refer to recent journal articles in the area.

Required Resources

Prescribed textbook: Graw S, Parker D, Whitford K, Sangkuhl E and Do C, Understanding Business Law, 9^th edition, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2019. A list of readings (i.e. chapter references) will be given in Week 1. Students are expected to have access to a copy of the prescribed book for the duration of the semester. The book can be purchased from the on campus bookshop or direct from the publisher LexisNexis (either as a hard copy or e-copy). A small number of copies of the text also available for 2 hour loan in the reserve loan section of the Chifley Library. Please check the course Wattle page for updates on the availability of e-book access in the ANU Library.

Copies of earlier editions will differ from the current edition.

Recommended Resources

Recommended reading (available from the library)

James N, Business Law, Wiley, 5th edition, 2019.

Cook C, Creyke R, Geddes R and Hamer D, Laying Down the Law, LexisNexis Butterworths, 10^th edition 2017.

Gibson and Fraser, Business Law, Pearson Australia, 10^th edition, 2017.

Turner C, and J Trove, Australian Commercial Law, Sydney, Thomson Lawbook, 32nd edition 2019.

Web sites:

http://www.austlii.edu.au/ - the austlii site gives you free access to Australian cases, statutes and some other legal material. It also has links to equivalent overseas sites.

http://anulib.anu.edu.au/online/eresources/ - you can gain access to various other commercial databases to which the ANU subscribes via the library. Go to on-line resources, select e-resources and search under subject Law. Some of the most useful are:

• CaseBase
• CCH Online
• Laws of Australia – a Legal Encyclopaedia (through Legal Online)
• Lexis
• Westlaw AU
• Westlaw International

(See also http://anulib.anu.edu.au/subjects/law/ for guidance on law e-resources).

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in various ways in this course, including written feedback on their Take Home Exam (via Turnitin), and verbal feedback during tutorial discussion or during consultation with lecturers and tutors. Students will also have the opportunity to test their knowledge and understanding through practice questions (and solutions) that will be made available by way of revision before the Final Exam.

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). The feedback given in these surveys is anonymous and provides the Colleges, University Education Committee and Academic Board with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement. The Surveys and Evaluation website provides more information on student surveys at ANU and reports on the feedback provided on ANU courses.

Other Information

ASSESSMENT REQUIREMENTS

As a further academic integrity control, students may be selected for a 15 minute individual oral examination of their written assessment submissions.

Any student identified, either during the current semester or in retrospect, as having used ghost writing services will be investigated under the University’s Academic Misconduct Rule.

COMMUNICATION

Email and the Wattle Course Website

Email and the Wattle course website are the preferred ways of communication.

If necessary, the lecturer and tutors for this course will contact students on their official ANU student email address. Students should use this email address when contacting staff as spam filters used by ANU may not allow other email addresses to be received. Information about your enrolment and fees from the Registrar and Student Services' office will also be sent to this email address.

Announcements

Students are expected to check the Wattle site for announcements about this course, e.g. changes to timetables or notifications of cancellations.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Introduction to the Australian Legal System
2	Introduction to the Australian Legal System
3	Tort of Negligence	Tutorial Preparation
4	Contract Law	Tutorial Preparation
5	Contract Law	Tutorial Preparation; Take Home Exam released
6	Contract Law	Take Home Exam due.
7	Consumer Law	Tutorial Preparation
8	Consumer Law	Tutorial Preparation
9	Insurance
10	Property
11	Intellectual Property
12	Entity-specific considerations - a focus on the most important ways in which the law applies differentially to individuals, partnerships, trusts and companies.

Tutorial Registration

This course includes on-line live tutorials. Please see Wattle for tutorial registration.

Tutorial signup for this course will be done via the Wattle website. Detailed information about signup times will be provided on Wattle. When tutorials are available for enrolment, follow these steps:

1. Log on to Wattle, and go to the course site.

2. Click on the link “Tutorial enrolment”

3. On the right of the screen, click on the tab “Become Member of ……” for the tutorial class you wish to enter.

4. Confirm your choice

If you need to change your enrolment, you will be able to do so by clicking on the tab “Leave group…” and then re-enrol in another group. You will not be able to enrol in groups that have reached their maximum number. Please note that enrolment in ISIS must be finalised for you to have access to Wattle.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Return of assessment	Learning Outcomes
Tutorial Preparation	10 %	10/08/2020	04/09/2020	1,2,3,4,6
Take Home Exam	30 %	04/09/2020	07/10/2020	1,2,3,4,5,6
Final Exam	60 %	05/11/2020	03/12/2020	1,2,3,4,5,6

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Misconduct Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Policy and General Information 
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the Academic Integrity . In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Wattle’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Participation

Students are expected to attend and participate in (online) tutorials.

Examination(s)

Details regarding materials and equipment that is permitted in an examination can be found on the ANU website:

http://www.anu.edu.au/students/program-administration/assessments-exams/examination-conduct

Information regarding permitted examination materials for the course will be available on the examination timetable website when the examination timetable is released:

http://timetable.anu.edu.au/

Assessment Task 1

Tutorial Preparation

Students are required to submit Tutorial Preparation on Turnitin by Monday 10am in Weeks 3-5 and Weeks 7-8 (i.e., on five occasions). A maximum of 2 marks per tutorial submission can be obtained for satisfactory preparation: 2 marks will be awarded where the student's submission shows a genuine attempt to answer all questions set for the tutorial, and it is essential that the answer contains relevant commercial law concepts and reference to legal authorities. 1 mark will be awarded if the student's submission shows some relevant material but the student has not attempted all aspects of the set questions or has not made an attempt to adequately reference legal authorities. A mark of 0 will be awarded if the student has failed to prepare or the submission substantially fails to attempt the set questions. 

Even where the student's submission appears to be complete with relevant material, a mark of 1 or 0 will be awarded where the student has copied excessively from

teaching or other materials and overall it appears the student has not made a genuine attempt to answer the set questions.

Due Date:

The due date listed in the assessment summary is the earliest possible date.

The return date in the assessment summary refers to the tutorial preparation marks for Weeks 3-5, will be made available by the end of Week 6 (4 September 2020). The final tutorial preparation mark for all applicable weeks will be made available by 4 November 2020.

Value: 10%

Assessment Task 2

Take Home Exam

Take Home Exam: You will be asked to analyse the application of commercial law principles to a hypothetical fact scenario in a business setting.

The expected time required to write a very good answer to the Take Home Exam is about 1 day (10-12 hours working time). You will be given one week, and this is

so that you can fit the Take Home Exam around your other commitments.

You need to treat the Take Home Exam like an exam – this means that you cannot discuss the question with your classmates, and you need to prepare the answer entirely

by yourself. You cannot seek help from your lecturer or tutor – this would obviously be unfair to other students. If you think some aspect of the question is unclear, you may seek clarification from your lecturer.

Length: 1,500 words (up to 1800 words accepted without penalty)

Presentation requirements: the Take Home Exam needs to be typed using size 12 font and either 1.5 or double spacing.

Due date: 4 September 2020 (end of Week 6)

Estimated return date: Week 8-Week 9

Take Home Exam Submission: via Turnitin.

Referencing requirements: You will need to acknowledge sources to the extent that you rely on the analysis or arguments of others. You may use any accepted referencing system (e.g. Harvard, Australian Guide to Legal Citation).

Value: 30%

Assessment Task 3

Final Exam

Centrally administered examinations through Examinations, Graduations & Prizes will be timetabled prior to the examination period. The due date listed in the assessment summary is the earliest possible date. Please check ANU Timetabling for further information. Exam scripts will not be returned. Information regarding exam script viewing will be provided on the Research School of Accounting webpage in due course.

In the Final Exam, students will be asked to discuss the application of commercial law principles to several hypothetical fact scenarios. There will be no MCQs. All material is examinable including areas examined in the Take Home Exam.

Exam information (including as to duration) will be provided by the end of Week 11.

Value: 60%

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of the ANU culture as a community of scholars. At its heart, academic integrity is about behaving ethically, committing to honest and responsible scholarly practice and upholding these values with respect and fairness.

The ANU commits to assisting all members of our community to understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. The ANU expects staff and students to be familiar with the academic integrity principle and Academic Misconduct Rule, uphold high standards of academic integrity and act ethically and honestly, to ensure the quality and value of the qualification that you will graduate with.

The Academic Misconduct Rule is in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. Very minor breaches of the academic integrity principle may result in a reduction of marks of up to 10% of the total marks available for the assessment. The ANU offers a number of online and in person services to assist students with their assignments, examinations, and other learning activities. Visit the Academic Skills website for more information about academic integrity, your responsibilities and for assistance with your assignments, writing skills and study.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

Individual assessment tasks may or may not allow for late submission. Policy regarding late submission is detailed below:

Late submission is not permitted. A mark of 0 will be awarded if assessment tasks are submitted after the due date and an extension has not been requested.

Referencing Requirements

Accepted academic practice for referencing sources that you use in presentations can be found via the links on the Wattle site, under the file named “ANU and College Policies, Program Information, Student Support Services and Assessment”. Alternatively, you can seek help through the Students Learning Development website.

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. Extensions may be granted for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Resubmission of Assignments

There is no option to resubmit.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Diversity and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
• PARSA supports and represents postgraduate and research students