Australian Commercial Law, 31st Edition

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Australian Commercial Law, 31st Edition

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Each chapter in this 31^st edition of Australian Commercial Law has been updated to incorporate the legislative amendments and case law developments since the last edition. The more significant changes made in the new edition include the following:
- The Contract chapters incorporate the High Court decisions in Crown Melbourne Ltd v Cosmopolitan Hotel (Vic) Pty Ltd (2016) on estoppel (Ch 5) and collateral contracts (Ch 9); Gnych v Polish Club Ltd (2015) concerning illegal contracts (Ch 8); and Paciocco v Australian and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (2016) where late payment fees on credit cards were held not to constitute penalties (Ch 12).
- Consumer Protection (Ch 17) includes the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Payment Surcharges) Act 2016 (Cth) which prohibits excessive credit card surcharges and the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Act 2015 (Cth), which extends the unfair contracts provisions of the Australian Consumer Law to standard form small business contracts. Case law includes the decisions of the Federal Court in Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Chrisco Hampers Australia Pty Ltd (2015) on unfair contract terms and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Reebok Australia Pty Ltd(2015) concerning false or misleading representations about the performance characteristics, benefits or uses of goods.
- Restrictive Trade Practices (Ch 18) incorporates the discussion of the concept of “market” by the Federal Court in Flight Centre Ltd v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (2015) and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (2015).
- Negotiable Instruments II – Cheques (Ch 24) includes the recent Court of Appeal of Victoria decision in National Australia Bank Ltd v Rose (2016) on the effect of non-compliance with the Code of Banking Practice on bank guarantees.
- Torts (Ch 28) contains the significant High Court decisions in Attwells v Jackson Lalic Lawyers Pty Ltd (2016) concerning the scope of advocate’s immunity; Badenach v Calvert (2016) on the duty of care of a solicitor to a beneficiary under a will; Brookfield Multiplex Ltd v Owners Corpn Strata Plan 61288 (2014) regarding the liability of a builder for latent defects in a commercial apartment complex; and King v Philcox (2015) on damages for mental harm.
- Intellectual Property (Ch 30) outlines the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2015 (Cth). The chapter also considers the High Court decisions in D’Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc (2015) that claims for the isolated “breast cancer gene” BRCA1 were not patentable and Cantarella Bros Pty Ltd v Modena Trading Pty Ltd(2014) on the meaning of “inherently adapted” in trade marks law. This chapter also incorporates the recent Full Federal Court decision in Scandinavian Tobacco Group Eersel BV v Trojan Trading Company Pty Ltd (2016) regarding parallel importing. The principal features of the new Franchising Code of Conduct are summarised.
PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1. The Australian Legal System

PART 2: LAW OF CONTRACT

2. Introduction to the Law of Contract

3. Offer and Acceptance

4. Intention to Create Legal Relations

5. Consideration, Promissory Estoppel and Formalities

6. Contractual Capacity

7. Consent of Parties: Mistake, Misrepresentation and Unconscionable Contracts

8. Legality of Object

9. Contents and Interpretation of the Contract

10. Operation of the Contract

11. Termination of a Contract

12. Remedies

PART 3: COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS

13. Agency

14. Sale of Goods

15. International Sales Contracts

16. The Law of Electronic Commerce

17. Consumer Protection

18. Restrictive Trade Practices

19. Credit Law

20. Guarantees

21. Bailments

22. Property

23. Negotiable Instruments I: Bills of Exchange

24. Negotiable Instruments II: Cheques

25. Insurance

PART 4: BUSINESS ORGANISATION

26. Partnership

27. Company Law

PART 5: ALLIED AREAS OF LAW

28. Law of Torts

29. Law of Trusts

30. Intellectual Property

31. Bankruptcy

32. Criminal Law

33. Business Ethics

34. Employment Law
From: Autumn 2011, The Australian TAFE Teacher 29
Reviewed by: James Worner

Few legal works worth their salt survive to see a 20 ’ edition, much less a 28’h, without having asserted their credentials for accuracy, currency and credibility. Practitioners of commercial law in this country can rest easy: ACL under the guiding hand of UQ’s Sometime Professor of Law, Clive Turner (and team), remains solid, accessible and up-to-date. As a seminal point of reference in the area, it takes its job seriously.

Significantly, this edition has been updated to accommodate the arrival of the new legislative regime, chiefly the Competition and ConsumerAct2010 (Cth), as well as the National Credit Code. Such seismic impacts on consumer law and credit regulation necessitate the additional commentary and included case-law, such as in relation to cartel operations, unfair contracts and bankruptcy provisions.

The language and structure of the work are definitely geared to practitioner, reference and Higher Education markets. Unfortunately, this distances it from the more practical resource needs of many VET students. VET cohorts are most likely to include those completing law components of Accounting or Business courses at AQF Levels 4-6. While the strength of ACL is unquestionably the quality of the commentary at its core, our students are increasingly demanding the superior access, breadth, portability and currency of primary sources, accessed via digital media. The end-of-chapter extensions to further reading and websites, though current, are cursory.

Teachers are promised access to the teaching and assessment support material now available on Thomsons’ Mentor site (eg. question banks and quiz generators but note: student results upload to Thomsons’ learning management system (LMS), not yours - though a report is available by which the more tech savvy can transfer student data between systems).

Australian Commercial Law, continues to be a solid and very useful shelf resource for teachers and practitioners.