Students

LAWS8023 – Commercial Law

2025 – Session 2, Online-scheduled-weekday

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Convenor
Tony Antoniou
Contact via via iLearn
By Appointment
Lecturer and Tutor
Peter Joy
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to LLM or MIntTrdeComLaw or (Admission to JD and LAWS600 or LAWS8001)
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This unit explores commercial law by surveying the key frameworks and legal structures of commercial transactions that underpin commercial markets. The unit commences with fundamental concepts and taxonomy of personal property. This discussion provides the backdrop for the remainder of the unit providing a detailed examination of important specialist commercial law areas such as bailment, agency, construction law, the sale of goods, e-commerce and supporting thriving Indigenous businesses, personal property securities, guarantees, insurance, and bankruptcy. Particular emphasis is placed on the relationship between the common law, regulatory frameworks, and societal impacts in these areas of commercial law supplemented by guest interviews to embellish our understanding through a practical and engaging format.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the historical and theoretical development of commercial law and articulate a view of whether commercial law should be treated differently to other areas of law.
  • ULO2: Communicate a considered opinion about the role that commercial law plays in commercial relationships and also the importance of factors other than the law in forming and maintaining these relationships.
  • ULO3: Articulate and critique aspects of Australian contract law’s approach to the governance of commercial transactions and compare international and soft law alternatives.
  • ULO4: Solve complex problems in the area of commercial law demonstrating ability to identify key legal issues.

General Assessment Information

Late Assessment Submission Penalty  

Late Submission Policy

A maximum penalty of five (5) percentage points of the total possible marks will be applied per day to late submissions, for up to a maximum of seven calendar days. Tasks that have not been submitted within the maximum number of additional late days will receive a mark of zero. This provision does not apply to online exams or other assessment with a time limit of less than 24 hours.

Penalties for late submission will be applied consistently and equitably to all students enrolled in the unit. Where short-term, serious and unavoidable circumstances have affected their ability to submit an assessment task, a student must submit a formal application for Special Consideration as per the Special Consideration Policy. Students should not request an informal arrangement from their tutor, lecturer or Unit Convenor.

Where an application for Special Consideration is approved, and the outcome is an extension to the due date of a task, submissions that are received after the new due date will be subject to late penalties that are calculated from the new due date. This only applies where the outcome is an extension to the due date – see the Special Consideration Policy for a schedule of all possible outcomes.

Special Consideration

Students should submit applications for Special Consideration electronically via the Service Connect portal, along with the supporting documentation. Before submitting their applications, students should refer to the Special Consideration Policy (link provided under ‘Policies and Procedures’ below).

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Professional Skills 20% No Weekly and ongoing (Week1-Week 12)
Case note 30% No Released on 24/08/25 at 7am. Due on 07/09/25 by 11:55pm
Final Assessment. 50% No 19/11/25 (9am-12pm)

Professional Skills

Assessment Type 1: Practice-based task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 0 hours
Due: Weekly and ongoing (Week1-Week 12)
Weighting: 20%

 

Students will develop essential legal professional skills through structured classroom activities such as oral advocacy, critical reasoning, strategic problem-solving, collaborative work, team leadership, mooting, simulated client consultations, legal presentations or demonstrations, doctrinal analysis and problem solving, and/or collaborative legal research. These activities are designed to develop students’ professional capabilities including capacity to communicate legal concepts clearly and engage professionally with diverse audiences in diverse contexts.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the historical and theoretical development of commercial law and articulate a view of whether commercial law should be treated differently to other areas of law.
  • Communicate a considered opinion about the role that commercial law plays in commercial relationships and also the importance of factors other than the law in forming and maintaining these relationships.
  • Articulate and critique aspects of Australian contract law’s approach to the governance of commercial transactions and compare international and soft law alternatives.

Case note

Assessment Type 1: Case study/analysis
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: Released on 24/08/25 at 7am. Due on 07/09/25 by 11:55pm
Weighting: 30%

 

This assessment requires students to write a case note on a case of commercial interest.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the historical and theoretical development of commercial law and articulate a view of whether commercial law should be treated differently to other areas of law.
  • Communicate a considered opinion about the role that commercial law plays in commercial relationships and also the importance of factors other than the law in forming and maintaining these relationships.
  • Articulate and critique aspects of Australian contract law’s approach to the governance of commercial transactions and compare international and soft law alternatives.

Final Assessment.

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: 19/11/25 (9am-12pm)
Weighting: 50%

 

A final assessment requiring students to demonstrate key knowledge and skills from the unit.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Solve complex problems in the area of commercial law demonstrating ability to identify key legal issues.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

  • Lecture Recordings - All lecture recordings will be available via Echo
  • Guest Interviews  - Some of our topics will be supplemented by guest interviews to provide practical grounding and policy perspectives concerning the area of commercial law examined. These guest interviews will also be uploaded online via Echo.
  • Tutorials - Starting in Week 1 - Week 12. All tutorial registrations must be completed via the online system and the convenor, unfortunately, cannot in any circumstances add additional students or change tutorial enrollments. 
  • Online Zoom Tutorial links -  Online Zoom tutorial  links are provided below.
  • Lecture slides - Uploaded within the relevant topic each week.
  • Required tutorial readings - Accessed via Leganto.
  • Tutorial questions - Uploaded within the relevant topic each week.

Prescribed textbook - Clive Turner and John Trone, Australian Commercial Law, 2024, 35th edition, Thomson Reuters.  Students can go to the following link to purchase the text: https://store.thomsonreuters.com.au/australian-commercial-law-35th-edition/productdetail/132055

Then in the ‘Got a Promo Code?’ field, enter promo code: UNIS15. This will then apply a 20% discount to the item and free shipping.

This unit is worth 10 credit points which equates to 150 hours of work; therefore, you should expect to commit an average of 12 hours of your time per week to this unit including all scheduled and unscheduled activities as well as preparing and executing the assessment tasks.

Unit Schedule

Week 1 - The Concept and Nature of Personal Property

Week 2 - Sale of Goods: The Contract for Sale of Goods, Transfer of Title

Week 3 - Sale of Goods: Reservation of Title, Transfer by Non Owner, and Express and Implied Terms

Week 4 - Bailment

Week 5 - Security interests over personal property: PPSA

Week 6 - Agency

Week 7 - Construction Law

Week 8 - Thriving Indigenous Businesses

Week 9 - E-Commerce

Week 10 - Guarantees

Week 11 - Insurance

Week 12 - Bankruptcy

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit connect.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Academic Success

Academic Success provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via the Service Connect Portal, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2025.03 of the Handbook