Commercial Remedies

This course aims to provide an in-depth understanding of remedies in a commercial context, interpreting that phrase in a wide sense. It will cover remedies for civil wrongs (i.e., breach of contract, tort, and equitable wrongs) but will exclude any direct consideration of damages for personal injury and death. The course will build on knowledge which all law undergraduates ought to have and enable students to look in greater depth at matters dealt with at an undergraduate level as well as explore topics that are not dealt with on an undergraduate syllabus. The approach will be avowedly traditional in that the focus will be on case analysis and doctrine. It is also worth noting that this course focuses on English domestic law. Foreign authorities are only referred to by way of comparison or to the extent that they may provide persuasive accounts of the law as it is, or should be, in England and Wales.

In addition to the doctrinal questions raised by each topic, this course also engages with a number of theoretical questions. In particular, as we progress through each week we will consider what, exactly, is a remedy. Is it just any response intended to solve a legal problem? Secondary obligations arising upon breach of primary obligations? Or a certain kind of court order? Another common theme throughout this course is whether the range of considerations that are relevant at the remedial stage (the ‘public interest’, ‘legitimate interests’, ‘hardship’, ‘mistake’, and so on) differ from those that apply at the substantive law stage. Are remedies in some way distinctive compared to the rights generated by the substantive law? As part of this debate, we will also consider whether certain kinds of remedies are ‘discretionary’ and if so, in what sense of the word, and whether this can be justified.

Assessment will be by examination at the end of the course.