General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6248 |
| Course name: | Comparative Contract Law |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme |
| Semester: | First |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 9 credit |
1.2 Course description
Contract law is not just theoretically foundational but essentially relevant to practice. Comparative contract law is even more so in such an interconnected world, given Hong Kong’s connectivity with international commerce. This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of salient features and popular subjects of disputes in contract law from a comparative perspective. The course will draw upon the common law, international conventions and soft law, such as CISG and UNIDROIT PICC, Chinese law, and some continental European jurisdictions. Regulation of the same contractual issues may differ in different legal systems. But the differences in blackletter rules may reach a similar practical outcome. Through the introduction of , general principles, concepts and legal tests and value-laden theories, this course aims to evaluate the similarities and differences of different contract law regimes and discuss their dynamic relationship with the commerce and investment at large.
The course covers the following issues: the boundaries of contract (contract and tort, contract and property), good faith and fairness principles, contract law theory, contract formation, pre-contractual duties, incapacity, contents of contracts; contract validity, interpretation of contracts, force Majeure and frustration, and remedies.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Chen Lei | lei.chen@durham.ac.uk | N/A | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Describe and explain the similarities and differences between contract law regimes.
CLO 2 Analyse and critically evaluate:
- selected contract law topics;
- the objectives and practical implications of contract law;
- the social and commercial contexts in relation to the contract law.
CLO 3 Apply principles of contract law to enhance a risk-averse awareness/strategy in decision-making.
CLO 4 Apply the comparative contract law knowledge to find a possible solution where there is a business dispute.
2.2 LLM Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link:
LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class participation | TBC | 40% | 1, 2, 3, 4 | |
| Take home exam | 12 Dec 2022 | 60% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/