Unit 200432 Commercial Law Assignment and Ethics
Overview
The essay must
be completed by each student individually. There will be two problem questions,
which will be made available on vUWS. An announcement will be posted on vUWS in
Week 5 when the essay questions have been uploaded into the Assessment folder.
Students must answer both questions. This assessment task
has a maximum of 1500 words. More specific information will be available on
vUWS.
Essay due date
The essay is
due in Week 7, Friday, 10 August before 11.00 pm. Your essay must be submitted
to Turnitin, which is available on the vUWS site for this unit.
All students
are required to learn how to use Turnitin well in advance of the due date for
the essay. Difficulty using Turnitin at the last minute will not be accepted as
an excuse for missing the deadline (except in the event of a verifiable problem
with our systems at the relevant time). You may resubmit your papers to
Turnitin as many times as you wish before final delivery. However, bear in mind
that it can take up to 24 hours for a fresh Turnitin report to be generated –
so plan ahead to allow yourself time to work on your paper again after the
first Turnitin report and still have time to resubmit for another report (or to
do this as many times as you wish).
- Make sure you submit a final version of your essay, as there will be no resubmissions after the due date without a penalty applying.
- Do not submit the essay by e-mail under any circumstances.
- Students MUST KEEP A HARD COPY of the essay identical to the one submitted to Turnitin.
Return of assessment material
No hard copies of the Essay will be returned
in class. Essays can be viewed on vUWS as soon as they are marked.
Criteria and general assessment requirements
Essay questions are fact-based legal problems. The following Learning
Outcomes will be assessed in the Essay:
2.
|
Apply common law and statute law to
tortious, contractual, consumer and agency relationships to resolve legal
issues.
|
3.
|
Examine the various business entities and
their ongoing legal responsibilities to solve practical legal problems.
|
Presentation & style:
·
organizes
a clear and coherent essay;
·
writes
clearly, accurately and is grammatically correct;
·
punctuates
appropriately;
·
Reference
all sources according to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (see
‘referencing’ below) or in accordance with the referencing style adopted by the
school that provides the course.
Content and knowledge:
·
identifies and explains the relevant area of common law and statutory
legal systems;
·
integrates relevant cases and legislation to support their answer to
the legal problem;
·
applies the legal principles and legislation to the facts of the legal
problem; and
·
Provides a conclusion to the legal problems (questions raised),
including any defenses, remedies or penalties.
Submission requirements
Word length
A word limit of 1500
words has been set, which excludes footnotes, titles, and headings. The word
limit will be strictly enforced. There will be a 1-mark penalty for every 100
words in excess of the word limit – or part thereof. For example, an essay that
is 1,851 words long will be deducted 4 marks. Please remember that this essay
has been structured so that a well-considered and scholarly written essay may
be achieved within the prescribed word limit.
Format
There are strict formatting requirements
with which students are required to comply. The unit coordinator reserves the
right to refuse to mark essays that are not submitted in accordance with
formatting requirements:
·
Do not manipulate the margins of the page.
·
Use Arial 12-point font.
·
Essays must be one and a half spaced or double spaced.
·
Ensure your full name and student number appears in the footer of each
page.
·
Number all pages consecutively.
Provide a reference list or a bibliography.
Referencing
Essays may be referenced in accordance
with the Melbourne University Law Review
Association, Australian Guide
to Legal Citation (Melbourne University Law Review
Association Inc, 3rd ed, 2010). This guide is
available electronically at http://mulr.com.au/AGLC3.pdf. The Western Sydney
University Law School AGLC App is also available via the App Store on Google
Play. Google Play
link(for Android devices)
Australian Guide to Legal Citation ('AGLC’) V2 and iTunes (for iOS
devices): Australian Guide to Legal Citation ('AGLC’) V2
Alternatively, students may comply with the
referencing requirements of their course. A business citation system only (it
could be Harvard or some modified Harvard system). Full details of referencing
systems can be found at http://library.westernsydney.edu.au/uws_library/guides/referencing-
citation. A full range of resources for searching and citing references is available
at http://library.westernsydney.edu.au/uws_library/services/training
Only
Electronic submission / Turnitin
Students are required to
keep a hard copy and electronic copy of all written work, which is submitted.
The essay must be submitted electronically via the Commercial Law (PG) Essay
Turnitin link on the vUWS site for this unit. Please read the Turnitin
Instruction Manual prior to submission. Students may not hand in hard copies.
No other method of essay submission will be accepted. Further information in
regard to the submission of the essay will be posted in the assessment folder
of the vUWS page.
Note: Check whether you are permitted to submit your assignment multiple
times or only once.
NO Essay cover sheet
Please do NOT affix an Essay Cover Sheet to your essay. By uploading a
submission into Turnitin students certify that: (1) they hold a copy of the
essay, if the original is lost or damaged; (2) no part of this essay or product
has been copied from any other student’s work or from any other source, except
where due acknowledgement is made in the essay; (3) no part of the
essay/product has been written/produced for the student by any other person,
except where collaboration has been authorised by the unit lecturer concerned;
and (4) they are aware that this work may be reproduced and submitted to
plagiarism detection software programs for the purpose of detecting possible
plagiarism, which may retain a copy on its database for future
plagiarism checking.
Late submission
Late essays must be
submitted to the Late Commercial Law (PG) Essay Turnitin link on the vUWS site
for this unit. No other method of late essay submission will be accepted. A
student, who submits a late assessment without approval for an extension, will
be penalized by 10% per day up to 10 days, i.e., marks equal to 10% of the
essay’s weight will be deducted as a ‘flat rate’ from the mark awarded. For
example, as the essay has a possible highest mark of 25, the student’s awarded
mark will have 2.5 marks deducted for each late day. Saturday and Sunday are
counted as two days.
Assessments will not be accepted after the
marked assessment task has been returned to students, who submitted the task on
time.
Extension of due date for submission
The essay is to be submitted via Turnitin by the due date and appointed time. Extensions will only be granted in the event of serious illness or serious misadventure (proved to the satisfaction of the unit coordinator) that prevents you from completing the assessment by the due date.
If students need to apply
for a short extension of time to complete an assessment item, they should email
the unit co-ordinator requesting an extension and attach to their request all
appropriate supporting documentation, including all work done on the essay up
to the date of the submission of the application. In accordance with university
policy, extensions will only be granted for unforeseen or grave illness,
misadventure, accident or other extenuating circumstances. An application for
an extension does not automatically mean that an extension will be approved.
Students should submit their
essays as soon as they are completed and not wait for the outcome of their
special consideration application. Remember, not all special considerations
applications are approved or extensions may be for a shorter period than that
which the student requested.
Marking criteria and
standards
Fail (0-49%)
The student’s
performance fails to satisfy the learning requirements specified. For example,
poor knowledge or application of the law, irrelevant discussion, poor standard
of presentation and inaccurate referencing.
Pass (50-64%)
The student’s
performance satisfies all of the basic learning requirements specified and
provides a sound basis for proceeding to higher-level studies in the subject
area. The student’s performance could be described as satisfactory.
Credit (65-74%)
The student’s
performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic learning requirements
specified, demonstrates insight and ability in analysing and applying relevant
skills and concepts. The student’s performance could be described as better
than competent.
Distinction (75-84%)
The student’s performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic
learning requirements, demonstrates distinctive insight and ability in
analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts and shows a well-developed
ability to synthesise, integrate and evaluate knowledge. The student’s
performance could be described as
distinguished.
High distinction (85%+)
The student’s
performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic learning requirements,
demonstrates distinctive insight and ability in analysing and applying relevant
skills and concepts and shows exceptional ability to synthesise, integrate and
evaluate the law. The student’s performance could be described as outstanding.
THE ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
Question 1 (15
Marks)
Daniel was a first-grade league player of Western Tigers Rugby League
Football Club. During a friendly game against the Parramatta Storms Rugby
League Club (the “Parramatta Storms”), Daniel was tackled by Jack and Bronco,
two Parramatta Storm players while carrying the ball forward. He was picked up
off the ground and slammed bead first back into the ground by the two players
in what is known as a “spear tackle.” As a result of the tackle, Daniel was
seriously injured and was forced to retire from the game at the peak of his
career.
Arising from the incident in which Daniel was injured, the National Rugby
League charged the two Parramatta Storm players with having made a dangerous
throw in that in “effecting a tackle on Western Tigers’ player Daniel, they
lifted him to a dangerous position causing him to fall head first to the
ground.” A dangerous throw is described under Section 10 of the National Rugby
League’s Laws of the Game as “If in any tackle or contact with an opponent,
that player is so lifted that he is placed in a position where it is likely
that the first part of a player’s body to make contact with the ground will be
his head or neck (the dangerous position) then that tackle or contact will be
deemed to be a dangerous throw unless with the exercise of reasonable care that
the dangerous position could not have been avoided.” Both Jack and Bronco have
pleaded guilty to the charges against them.
Discuss if Daniel can bring a negligence action against anyone; and if
there are any legal defenses available to them? You must cite and discuss
relevant case law principles to support your arguments in your answer.
Question 2 (10 Marks)
Harry is an engineer working in project management in a merchant bank.
His girlfriend, Zara is a town planner. They have been living together in a
rented flat for five years. In late 2010, they decided to think about investing
together as well as buying a house. Harry discussed this with his workmates and
friends Steve and George who were in various investment divisions in the bank.
Steve is a commercial lawyer, and he told Harry that getting in the Sydney real
estate market is the best investment around. George is a financial adviser, and
he agreed with Steve that real estate was generally best although he said that
there had been rumours about Federal Capital Gains taxes being increased to a
higher rate. Harry passed all this information to Zara who also told her
mother, Hilary.
Harry and Zara borrowed $650,000 from the bank and used this and their
savings to buy property at Parramatta.
They rented the property to some.
Students from UWS and moved in with Hilary in her home to save some extra
money. Hilary sold most of her bank shares and bought another property close to
Parramatta which she rented to students from UWS as well. Harry, Zara, and
Hilary did not try to get any other financial advice before investing in the
real estate market.
In April 2012, the government of New South Wales announced a mini-budget
and imposed a new land tax on all investment properties. The property market in
Sydney collapses, and Harry, Zara, and Hilary discover that their properties
are now worth less than 80% of what they paid for it earlier in 2010. Hilary is
particularly upset as her shares would have maintained their value if she had
not sold it to buy the investment property. As a result of the investment
disaster, Hilary suffers severe stress leading to clinical depression. She is unable
to work in her usual occupation again.
