The Law of Contract

  1. Formation of Contract, including:
    1. Offer and acceptance
    2. Unilateral mistake in the formation of contract
    3. Consideration and promissory estoppel
    4. Intention to create legal relations
    5. Capacity to enter into a contract
    6. Uncertain and incomplete contracts
    7. Formal requirements (and the role of the doctrine of part performance)
  2. The content of the Contract
    1. Interpretation of contracts
    2. The difference between terms and mere representations
    3. Contract terms, express and implied (including the terms implied by the Sale of Goods Acts 1893 – 1980 and whether there is a duty of good faith)
    4. Exemption, limitation and exclusion clauses (including how these clauses are incorporated into contracts, how they are interpreted, and how they are regulated by statute and by the courts)
    5. Consumer protection – including the Consumer Rights Act 2022, Parts 2- 6
  3. Vitiating and Voiding Factors, including:
    1. Mistake
    2. Misrepresentation (including duty of disclosure)
    3. Duress
    4. Undue Influence (and the related plea of non est factum)
    5. Unconscionable bargains
    6. Illegality
  4. Termination of Contract through:
    1. Performance
    2. Agreement
    3. Breach (including the differences between warranties, conditions and innominate terms; fundamental breach; repudiatory breach; and anticipatory breach)
    4. Frustration
  5. Remedies for breach of Contract:
    1. Damages (including the basis on which damages are awarded, rules on remoteness, mitigation of loss, and penalty clauses)
    2. Termination (as in 4(c) above)
    3. Specific performance
    4. Consumer remedies (as set out in the Consumer Rights Act 2022)
  6. Privity of Contract and Third Party Rights

Candidates will be expected to be familiar with the underlying statutory foundation to each ingredient of the prescribed syllabus in cases where such statutory foundations exist. Candidates must also demonstrate familiarity with appropriate case law. Candidates must be able to demonstrate an ability to apply the law to a given factual situation.

LEGISLATIVE SOURCES
Candidates may bring the following unmarked statutes into the examination:
Sale of Goods Act 1893 and the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980 (in full or part
thereof, either separately or a consolidated version)
The Consumer Rights Act 2022 (in full or part thereof)
Candidates are expected to have knowledge of other relevant statutes (see above).

RECOMMENDED READING
Clark, Contract Law in Ireland, 9th Edition, (2022) Round Hall
Kelly, Contract Law in Ireland, (2021) Wolters Kluwer
McDermott & McDermott, Contract Law, 2nd Edition, (2017), Butterworths