LAW 1510 Contract Law, 2021

Assignment

Sylvie runs the Low Key recording studio, which is struggling to find customers. Her mother, Ravonna,
is keen to do something to help her daughter’s business and thinks the business might pick up if Sylvie
has a new website for the studio. Ravonna discusses the idea with Sylvie, and offers to arrange and
pay for the new website design.
Qang, a past boyfriend of Sylvie’s, specialises in such work. Sylvie and Qang parted on amicable terms
and Sylvie suggests to Ravonna that Qang might be a good person to approach to do the design.
Ravonna liked Qang and, after looking at his website with Sylvie, Ravonna agrees. Sylvie gives Qang’s
work number to Ravonna so that Ravonna can contact him.
Ravonna rings Qang and, after a general chat, explains that she wants to surprise Sylvie with the new
design. Qang tells her that he would be delighted to help. After looking at the existing Low Key website
and agreeing that it needs a more attractive look, Qang expresses confidence that he can improve it.
Following their conversation Ravonna sends Qang the following email:
Dear Qang
Thank you so much for being willing to do this! Just confirming I’d like to go ahead. I think you
said you’d do the work at cost, which would be great. When you’ve finished work on the new
design, just send an email to me with an invoice for the fee and another one to Sylvie with a
link to the new site. Is that all okay?
Regards, Ravonna
Qang sends a text to confirm his happiness with those terms but gets Ravonna’s mobile number wrong.
She never receives the text.
A week or so after emailing Qang, Ravonna is told by her employer that because of the impacts of
COVID-19, she is to be made redundant. With her financial situation taking this dire turn, Ravonna
emails Qang to cancel the arrangement. Qang is upset because he has already finished the work and
was about to send an invoice for his fee.
Please consider the following questions:

Q1. Has a valid contract been formed which would oblige Ravonna to pay Qang for his work?

Q2. How, if at all, would your answer to Q1 change if, two days after receiving Ravonna’s first email,
Qang had sent Ravonna some concept art for the new website?

Now consider this alternative fact scenario. After Qang receives Ravonna’s first email Qang sends an
email to Ravonna accepting her offer. In his email, Qang states that he is “delighted to be able to help
you both”. Ravonna receives the email, Qang does the work on the website design and Ravonna pays
him for it. After paying the fee, Ravonna loses her job because of COVID-19. Meanwhile, Qang rings
Sylvie to check what her current email address is so that he can send her the link, and they have an
argument over their past breakup. Qang refuses to provide her with a link to the website.

Q3. Would Sylvie be able to do anything about Qang’s refusal?

Notes:
Please answer all questions. You are only expected to deal with legal issues that have been raised
during the course under the headings of Formation, Preliminary Agreements and Parties, though you
should not assume that every one of those issues will be raised by this problem. Deal only with the
ones that you can see are relevant.
You should disregard any possible claims under competition and consumer laws or other legislation not
specifically covered in this course, or in estoppel, or for breach of trust.
The questions asked should not necessarily be seen as demanding answers of equal length. You will
be marked on your answer as a whole, with no particular weighting given to any component of that
answer.

DEADLINE AND SUBMISSION PROCESS

Answers to this compulsory assignment must be submitted by 2:00pm on Friday 27 August 2021.
You must submit your assignment electronically, through the link in the Assignments folder on the
Contract Law course website on MyUni. For assistance with electronic submission, please see
https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9539-421241972. Please ensure you keep a copy of your
submission.
Any request for an extension must be made electronically, using the form available at
https://law.adelaide.edu.au/intranet/forms-downloads/assessment-task-extension. Extensions of up to
10 business days may be granted, but only for unexpected illness, hardship or on compassionate
grounds in accordance with University policy. Work commitments, travel, holidays or sporting
engagements are not unexpected circumstances. Nor are assessment deadlines in other courses. In
exceptional cases, where a longer extension might be appropriate, you may be permitted to submit an
answer to an alternative assignment at the end of the semester.
Where an answer is not properly submitted by the due date (whether the original or an extended date),
5% of the total mark possible for the assignment will be deducted for every day or part thereof that the
answer is late, including each day on a weekend. So an assignment graded 63% will have 5%
deducted if it is up to one day late, for a final mark of 58%, 10% if it is two days late, etc. Even if you are
only one minute late, a penalty will be applied. So please leave yourself plenty of time to submit your
answer, in case you run into last minute problems.

WORD LIMIT

The maximum word length for the answer is 2000 words, which will be strictly enforced. Assignments
which exceed the allocated word length will be subject to a penalty of 5% of total marks available per
100 words or part thereof. So with a word limit of 2000, an assignment graded 63% will have 5%
deducted if it is 2001 words long, for a final grade of 58%, 10% if it is 2101 words long, etc. Words are

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calculated including all headings, footnotes, quotations and references (including citations in footnotes) ,
but excluding cover page information.
Please note that word processing programs may come up with different word counts, and that some
automatically displayed counts do not include footnotes. We will be using MS Word to calculate word
lengths.

SOME GUIDANCE

Please write your answer in prose style (using complete sentences), adhere to grammatical rules, and
use correct spelling. Please be sure also to comply with The Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC),
which is available at http://law.unimelb.edu.au/mulr/aglc/about. That means, among other things, that
you should give full and proper citations for any cases to which you refer. Citations can be given either
as part of the text or in footnotes. There is no need, however, to add a bibliography.
More specifically, a good answer to this problem should:
 identify the issues and arguments each party might be expected to raise;
 deal with those issues and arguments in a logical sequence, with most space being devoted to
what appear to be the major points of contention;
 state the relevant legal principles clearly and accurately, citing appropriate authority (preferably
in footnotes, though it is acceptable to include citations in the main text);
 reach at least a tentative conclusion on each of the relevant issues.

You should not waste words repeating the facts, and you should confine your answer to issues that are
actually raised by the facts. If you believe there is some ambiguity in the facts, or that more facts are
needed in order to resolve a particular issue, you should say that in your answer.
You may find further assistance in the Contract Law FAQs, available on the course website under
Course Information.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Answers will be assessed according to the following general criteria:

 structure — is the answer organised in a clear and logical way?
 clarity of expression — is the answer well written and easy to understand?
 coverage of relevant issues — are the legal issues raised by the question identified and
discussed, and the major issues prioritised?
 citation of authority — are statements of legal principle backed up with reference to appropriate
authority?
 effectiveness of argument — are the arguments made clear and effective, and do they reveal a
sound understanding of the issues raised?

Marks and grades will be generally be awarded as follows:

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 Clear fail: 0–45
Inadequate understanding of the relevant legal principles, and a failure to identify most of the
important issues raised by the question. May or may not also be characterised by an inability to
construct legal arguments, and/or by inadequate structure, expression or citation practices.
Narrow fail: 45–49
Adequate understanding of the relevant legal principles, but let down by a failure to identify
most of the important issues raised by the question. May or may not also be characterised by
an inability to construct legal arguments, and/or by inadequate structure, expression or citation
practices.
Pass: 50–64
Adequate understanding of the relevant legal principles, most (but not all) of the important
issues raised by the question identified, and at least a basic capacity to construct legal
arguments. At least adequate structure, expression and citation practices.
Credit: 65–74
Adequate to good understanding of the relevant legal principles, all or nearly all of the
important issues raised by the question identified, and at least a reasonable capacity to
construct legal arguments. Adequate to good structure, expression and citation practices.
Distinction: 75–84
Good to very good understanding of the relevant legal principles, all or nearly all of the
important issues raised by the question identified, and well constructed legal arguments. Good
to very good structure, expression and citation practices.
High Distinction: 85 +
Excellent understanding of the relevant legal principles, all of the important issues raised by the
question identified, and well constructed legal arguments. Excellent structure, expression and
citation practices.
These are guidelines only, and there can be exceptions. For example, an answer might miss an
important issue, yet the remainder of the analysis might be so strong that it nevertheless warrants a
distinction or even a high distinction.

RETURN OF ANSWERS AND FEEDBACK

Answers will be returned with detailed feedback as soon as feasible, depending on the availability of
markers.