Using a research trail: student exercises and guidelines
Hazel Dawe, London Metropolitan University
Research exercise A: UCTA and common law liabilities
Discuss how to research this question in the tutorial.
Discuss with your tutor in the tutorial how you would research the answer to this problem question. Keep a record of your research and write a short report stating what sources you used, how you accessed them e.g. what key terms did you use, and how useful you found the sources that you used and why they were useful – or not useful. Hand in your written report to your tutor to mark next week.
McAlpine, a local builder, was rebuilding a croft on the island of Skye. He had hired a crane from Douglas Corporation. In order to ferry the crane back to the mainland he booked passage on McLeod’s boat. He had used McLeod before and, in the past had signed a contract containing terms and condition on the back in small print with very faint ink. This time, when he loaded the crane onto the boat, he was given a receipt which he did not sign with the same conditions on the back in small print with very faint ink. The ferry sank, through McLeod’s negligence, and the crane was lost.
One of the conditions said:
- McLeod accepts no liability for loss or damage howsoever caused.
Advise McAlpine as to his legal rights vis a vis McLeod.
Would it make any difference if he had not signed the contract in the past?
What would the position be if he had signed the contract this time?
Research exercise B
Facts
A company was contracted to fly over towns pulling a banner reading 'Eat Batchelors Peas'. Term of contract that pilot should check with Batchelors every morning which time slot he would fly within specified times. One morning the pilot didn’t check and flew over Salford town square on Armistice day during two minutes silence.
Could the company rescind despite the fact that performance had commenced? – yes.
Task
Find the full name and citation of the case.
Seminar discussion
- What facts do you know which might help you find the case?
- Where are you going to look for it?
Next week
- Bring the full name and citation of the case to the seminar and write a report for your tutor on where you found it and how.
- Describe in writing how you found the case.
What did the court decide about reasonableness? Explain this decision in writing.
How to write a research report
Your introduction should clearly set out the task you have been given and the legal areas you expect to research e.g.
I have been asked to research the answer to a problem question dealing with exemption clauses. The areas I will explore are incorporation, construction and the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1979. Within those categories I expect to be looking at incorporation by signature and reasonable notice; construction of terms attempting to exclude negligence liability and ss 2, 6 of UCTA; also UCTA reasonableness s11 and Schedule 2.
The main body of your research report should tell the story of what you did, how you did it and why you did it e.g.
I considered that the legal issues would be easier to track down using text books. Therefore, using Jill Poole, Textbook on Contract Law, Oxford University Press, 7th edition, 2004, I checked the table of statutes for s3UCTA. However, there were multiple page references which would have taken a long time to check. I therefore cross referenced these pages with consequential loss in the index. There were no pages in common. However, consequential loss was a discrete passage of only two pages in the book so I looked it up and read it. Unfortunately there was no reference to the case I was looking for.
Conclusion - do NOT write an answer to the question you are researching - you will be writing that in the exam. Evaluate the different sources you have used and tell the marker why you found them useful – or not useful. For example: ”I found case books more useful than text books because… “, or “legal journals were particularly important for this project because…” or “electronic searching works better for me because…”
