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Contract (LAWS0001)

Key Information

• Faculty: Faculty of Laws
• Teaching department: Laws
• Credit value: 30
• Restrictions: This module is only available to Year 1 undergraduate students in the UCL Faculty of Laws and Laws Affiliate students.

Alternative Credit Options

There are no alternative credit options available for this module.

Description

Module Summary

This module introduces students to the key doctrines of the law of contract of England and Wales. It is a key module for any undergraduate law course and provides the intellectual building blocks for other areas of law, notably commercial law. The central feature of contract law is exchange. In addition to its central role in the legal learning process, this area of law is of great practical importance since it touches everybody's lives, directly or indirectly. Contract law regulates both simple transactions, such as consumer purchases (groceries) and services (mobile phones), as well as complex contracts, such as those created to sustain international project financing. Students will be introduced to the key doctrines of English contract law that cover the life cycle of a contract. It will focus on the rules and case law dealing with how contracts are formed; the interpretation of contracts; how unfair terms are regulated by the courts; the vitiation of contracts; the effect of frustrating events; breach of contract and the remedies for breach. In doing so, the course draws attention to some of the key doctrinal and conceptual tensions in the law.

Module Aims

The aims of this module are to:

1. Situate contract law as a branch of the law of obligations in private law.
2. Identify the purposes that contract law serves in society.
3. Show how contracts are formed and interpreted, circumstances in which they might be vitiated, and their consequences for the parties.
4. Demonstrate how the common law works and develops, through both judicial reasoning in case law and legislation.
5. Uncover the principles and values that influence and underpin contract law rules.
6. Develop participants' skills of legal reasoning and analysis.
7. Encourage students to question and critically analyse the rules of English contract law, including from critical and comparative perspectives.
8. Equip law students with the skills and techniques needed to answer problem questions and essay questions about contract law.

Module Deliveries for 2026/27 Academic Year

Intended Teaching Term

• Terms 1 and 2
• Undergraduate (FHEQ Level 4)

Teaching and Assessment

• Mode of study: In person
• Methods of assessment:
  • 50% Exam
  • 50% Coursework
• Mark scheme: Numeric Marks

Other Information

• Number of students on module in previous year: 256
• Module leader: Dr Alan Brener

Last Updated

This module description was last updated on 10th March 2026.