The eighth edition of this book aims to build on the strengths that have led to the success and popularity of the previous editions, which have been extremely well received by both teachers and students alike. It incorporates all the important legal developments that have taken place since the publication of the last edition. As with our previous editions, our aim has been to provide a clear explanation of the law of contract. As well as setting out the law itself, we look at the principles behind it, and discuss some of the issues and debates arising from contract law. We hope that the material will allow you to enter into some of that debate and develop your own views as to how the law should develop.
One of our priorities in writing this book has been to explain the material clearly, so that it is easy to understand, without lowering the quality of the content. Too often, law is avoided as a difficult subject, when the real difficulty is the vocabulary and style of legal textbooks. For that reason, we have aimed to use ‘plain English’ as far as possible, and explain the more complex legal terminology where it arises. There is also a glossary explaining common terms at the back of the book. In addition, chapters are structured so that material is in a systematic order for the purposes of both learning and revision, and clear subheadings make specific points easy to locate.
Although we hope that many readers will use this book to satisfy a general interest in the law, we recognise that the majority will be those who have to sit an examination in the subject. Therefore, each chapter features typical examination questions, with detailed guidance on answering them, using the material in the book. This is obviously useful at revision time, but we recommend that, when first reading the book, you take the opportunity offered by the questions sections to think through the material that you have just read and look at it from different angles. This will help you both to understand and to remember it. You will also find that the Appendix at the end of the book gives useful general advice on answering examination questions on contract law.
This book is part of a series that has been produced by the authors. The other books in the series are English Legal System, AS Law for AQA, AS Law for OCR, Criminal Law and Tort Law.
We have endeavoured to state the law as at 1 January 2011.
Catherine Elliott and Frances Quinn
London 2011