LLM International Business and Commercial Law / Course details

• To provide a detailed understanding of the English law relating to the international sale of goods where the transportation of the goods involves carriage by sea;
• To provide a detailed understanding of the relevant Incoterms and the relevant provisions of the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and to develop the skills required to compare them critically with English law;
• To develop students' capacity for critical analysis and logical thinking and to encourage independent learning;
• To develop a general range of transferable and generic skills in problem-solving and reasoning, computer literacy, time management and written and oral communication.

Lectures (33 hours) and seminars (3 hours).

E-learning: Course materials (PowerPoint presentations) will be available on Blackboard and students will also have access to recorded lectures on the University's digital learning environment.

On successful completion of the course unit, students will be able to:

• Understand key issues relating to the international sale of goods where the transportation of the goods involves carriage by sea, in the context of English law, Incoterms and the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG).
• Understand the limitations of national law in the regulation of the international sale of goods;
• Demonstrate awareness of the importance of international conventions and of international organisations in regulating international sales law;
• Understand key issues relating to the international sale of goods where the transportation of the goods involves carriage by sea, in the context of English law, Incoterms and the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

On successful completion of the course unit, students will be able to:

• Apply detailed knowledge of the law relating to the international sale of goods;
• Discuss the legal issues raised critically;
• Draw upon the relevant literature for the analysis of the law relating to the international sale of goods;
• Develop their knowledge and understanding through independent reading.

On successful completion of the course unit, students will be able to:

• Research legal information from a number of paper and electronic sources, including the Internet.

On successful completion of the course unit, students will be able to:

• Present complex legal ideas in writing;
• Be able to solve practical problems;
• Utilise information technology;
• Show improved ability to present arguments orally.

One unseen written examination (3 hours)

Introductory reading:  Carol Murray (ed), Schmitthoff's Export Trade:  The Law and Practice of International Trade (12th ed, Sweet & Maxwell), Introduction and the chapters on Special Trade Terms in Export Sales and on Carriage of Goods by Sea.

Basic textbook: Indira Carr, International Trade Law (6th edition, 2017);  M.G. Bridge, The International Sale of Goods (Oxford University Press, 2017).

Formative feedback is made available in this course unit through an optional non-accessed essay.  An outline of issues is also published after the assessed examination on Blackboard.

Students wanting to undertake research papers on this subject will be provided with a list of specific titles from which to choose.  Students will be allowed to submit for approval a title that they have designed themselves, provided that it involves a comparison between English law and the CISG.