Civil Obligations and Dispute Resolution
Core concepts
Understand the elements of a contract: offer, acceptance, consideration, intention to create legal relations, and capacity, plus legality of object. Know terms (conditions and warranties), breach, and remedies (damages, specific performance, injunction, rescission). Understand negligence: duty of care, breach, causation, and damage, and the role of the civil liability statutes in modifying the common law. Learn tort categories (negligence, trespass, defamation) and the difference between tort and contract.
Understand civil procedure: pleadings, discovery, trial, and the balance of probabilities. Know dispute resolution options: negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, and litigation, with comparative advantages. Understand remedies and the purpose of compensation (to restore the plaintiff, not punish).
Traps
Do not confuse tort with crime; the same conduct may give rise to both, but the parties and purposes differ. Do not say damages are punitive in contract or negligence (exemplary damages are exceptional). Avoid stating that consideration must be adequate; it must be sufficient but need not be adequate. Do not treat an invitation to treat as an offer.
Worked example
A shop displays goods with a price tag. The display is an invitation to treat; the customer makes the offer; the shop accepts. If a term is breached, damages aim to place the plaintiff in the position as if the contract had been performed. Rule of thumb: identify the parties, the obligation, the breach, the loss, and the remedy.
ADR
Consider enforceability, cost, confidentiality and the preservation of relationships when choosing a forum.