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2026/2027  KAN-CJURV1042U  Common Law and Contracts

English Title
Common Law and Contracts

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Autumn
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Max. participants 60
Study board
Study Board for Governance, Law, Accounting & Management Analytics
Programme Master of Science in Business Administration and Commercial Law
Course coordinator
  • Pedro Telles - Department of Business Humanities and Law (BHL)
Main academic disciplines
  • Business Law
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 22-01-2026

Relevant links
Learning objectives
The course will contribute for the general and specific knowledge of English common law and contracts, e.i. introduction to common law, operation of the common law, and introduction to contract law under the common law regime. The student must be able to:
  • analyse primary sources of law and other materials relevant to the common law of contracts, including developing case analysis skills
  • understand origin, development and operation of common law of contract, as well as its ambiguity
  • develop knowledge of the relationship of common and civil law, understanding how to create value from these global connections
  • collaborate constructively in-class to develop case analysis
Course prerequisites
BSC in business law and economics or bachelor in law
Examination
Common Law and Contracts:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 5 pages
Assignment type Written assignment
Release of assignment The Assignment is released in Digital Exam (DE) at exam start
Duration 48 hours to prepare
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Winter
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
In case the resit student numbers are low, making the resit an oral exam is a possibility.
Description of the exam procedure

The exam will be composed of a case comment based on the content covered throughout the semester. The structure for the case comment will be provided in advance.

 
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

The course will cover English contract law, in particular the common law element of it, that is the development of the law via a system of judicial precedent. In addition, where possible, it will take a global outlook by comparing it at stages with civil law systems, including an EU perspective while touching also more modern contract law issues such as smart contracts. 

 

This course is structured as a mixture of traditional lectures and case discussions with the latter requiring a high degree of student involvement. Every week, at least one case will be discussed which requires the students to prepare appropriately. The discussion and analysis will follow with adaptations the structure of the exam and is an invaluable learning oppportunity to prepare for the exam.

 

It is important to understand that coming prepared to class and willing to discuss materials and cases is fundamental for the delivery of the course. 
Research-based teaching
CBS’ programmes and teaching are research-based. The following types of research-based knowledge and research-like activities are included in this course:
Research-based knowledge
  • Classic and basic theory
Research-like activities
  • Analysis
  • Discussion, critical reflection, modelling
Description of the teaching methods
The course teaching methods will be composed of a weekly in person session. This session will be composed of a mixture of lecture and practical elements. The practical elements will require the students to:

i) do the required readings and questions that are set based on the content covered
ii) prepare the case or cases that will be discussed in that week

The case discussions will be done in groups and each group will report back its findings to the main class at the end of the discussions.
Feedback during the teaching period
Feedback in this course will be provided via the work students do in-class where each week they will be divided into groups to analyse a case in a similar format to that of the final exam. The work of each group will be fed into the main session and discussed as part of the feedback process.

In addition, where possible problem questions will also be released in advance and discussed in groups during class. As with the case analysis, these discussions are to be fed into the main session at the end and discussed as part of the feedback process.

Student workload
participation in classes 33 hours
preparations for classes 81 hours
home assignments during the quarter 44 hours
exam assignment 48 hours
Expected literature

The core textbook will be TT Arvind, Contract Law (3rd edition or subsequent if available) (Oxford University Press) and additional materials will be linked to on Canvas or included in the course's Reading List. 

 

For example, in 2025 these included:

 

- Koffman, Macdonald & Atkins' Law of Contract (10th edition)

- Paul Richards, Law of Contract (Foundation Studies in Law) (14th edition)

- Catherine Elliot, Contract Law (9th or 10th edition)

- OʼSullivan & Hilliard's The Law of Contract, 11th edition (2024) 

 
Last updated on 22-01-2026