Principles of Australian Commercial Law

In Principles of Australian Commercial Law there is a recognition that business students (and others who may be taking business or commercial law as an elective) are not going to be lawyers and they do not need to be trained to “think like lawyers”.  A different knowledge and skill set is required of them: these students should be “law-literate” in the sense that they should be able to identify potential legal problems as they arise, provide advice regarding risk and compliance but also know when to “call in the lawyers”. With these objectives in mind, it has been the intention to write a book that covers the usual topics – introduction to law and the legal system, contract law, consumer protection, torts, business relationships and legal risk – but in an uncluttered “principles-based” way that is accessible, engaging and challenging.  Although essentially a principles-based text, there are summaries of key cases and other aides to learning such as diagrams and flow charts.

To ensure the text is a more complete teaching and learning package, there are tutorial activities at the end of each chapter that have been written with the non-law student in mind so that they can be genuinely used to determine whether the learning outcomes have been met. There is also a guide on how to approach the study of business or commercial law, including advice on tackling the most common assessment tasks, with particular reference to problem questions (where there are several “worked examples”), research topics and multiple-choice questions. Additional resources – slides, multiple choice and problem-based questions – are available to lecturers.