Use the following materials in completing this assignment:
Contracts in the Real World intro and chapter 1.pdf Download Contracts in the Real World intro and chapter 1.pdf
2023 SKKB 116 (CanLII) _ South West Terminal Ltd. v Achter Land _ CanLII (1).pdfDownload 2023 SKKB 116 (CanLII) _ South West Terminal Ltd. v Achter Land _ CanLII (1).pdf
Canadian Court Rules a Thumbs-Up Emoji Counts as a Contract Agreement – The New York Times.pdfDownload Canadian Court Rules a Thumbs-Up Emoji Counts as a Contract Agreement – The New York Times.pdf
Thumbs-up emoji constituted acceptance of texted contract, Canadian judge rules.pdf
Assignment Summary
Expected Work: This assignment requires you to do three things:
read a case from a common law jurisdiction dealing with contract formation from Summer, 2023;
review the introduction and first chapter of a popular supplemental textbook on contract law, Contracts in the Real World by Lawrence Cunningham, making special note of the legal and ethical context in which contract law arises;
write a paper demonstrating your legal and ethical analysis that is at least 1200 words.
Grade: A grade will be given between 0 and 100 (with 100 being considered perfect—and therefore a rare score), which will count as 10% of your total grade for the semester.
Instructions
This project analyzes contract law and ethics through the lens of a recent case from a common law jurisdiction in Canada. It will take you a while to complete, so start early. The paper assesses the following learning objectives for the Bachelor of Business Administration degree:
Learning Outcome
BBA 1.1 Students will apply the elements of an ethical decision-making framework from a Christian perspective.
BBA 1.2 Students will identify and evaluate personal and corporate values and behaviors in comparison to biblical principles and ethical frameworks.
MGMT 2.1 Students will evaluate the broad legal and ethical implications of a specific business law problem addressed in an assigned research project.
BBA 3.2 Students will demonstrate an ability to communicate in writing and in oral presentations.
As you work your way through the materials that this project requires you to digest, I want you to be thinking about how law, ethics, business practice, and Christian faith fit together.
Start out by reading the assigned chapters from a supplemental contract law textbook. Begin the project by reading the assigned pages from a supplemental text for the course, Contracts in the Real World by Lawrence Cunningham. Cunningham provides an overview of the law related to contract formation in the United States by analyzing the breach of contract lawsuits of celebrities, politicians, and other famous people. The cases are interesting and illustrate how famous people get involved in the legal system. Cunningham is primarily attempting to teach the reader contract law in his book; his primary goal isn’t to address ethical issues explicitly, and he is not writing from any overt faith perspective. Nevertheless, he provides a great summary of the law in a way that raises all sorts of ethical issues. While the assigned case you are to analyze is from Canada, that country utilizes a common law approach to contracts and I think you will quickly notice some similarities between how Cunningham describes American law and how the Canadian court analyzes the issues in its 2023 case.
Next, read the assigned case and the two quick summaries from media outlets provided in the project file. The case is from June, 2023 and is entitled South West Terminal Ltd. v. Achter Land & Cattle Ltd. It deals with a deceptively simple question: if I text you a PDF or screen shots of a written contract, and you respond with a thumbs-up emoji, , does that mean we have formed a contract or not? What does the thumbs-up symbol signify? Does it mean you agree to all the terms of the texted contract, or only that you received the contract and will review it and respond at some future point? You might think this would be a simple question, but it isn’t, as the judge’s reasoning in the South West Terminal case illustrates. It’s hard enough to analyze and interpret contracts and written documents containing words; communication involving symbols is even more challenging.
Start writing. Having completed your review of the written materials, the next part of your paper should describe the legal and ethical issues associated with the behavior of the parties in the lawsuit. In particular, answer the following questions about the case:
Begin your paper by describing how contracts are formed. At what point in a business transaction do parties have a binding contract? Cite examples from the Cunningham text as well as any relevant cases discussed in class.
Summarize the South West Terminal case, including the important facts the court relied on in reaching its decision. Utilize the IRAC method (or FIRAC if you prefer).
[Facts – what are the facts of the case?]
Issue – what is the legal issue involved?
Rule – what is the rule of law applied by the Court?
Application – how did the Court apply the rule of law to the facts?
Conclusion – who won and who lost?
What legal and ethical issues do the parties face in the case? Cite specific examples. Based on what you know of contract law from the Cunningham book and from class, did the Court make the right decision? If you were sitting on the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan and the parties appealed the case to you, would you affirm or overrule the lower court?
Consider the court’s unstated ethical framework in reaching its decision. Judges almost never announce their own framework, yet we know that as human beings judges routinely have default frameworks from which they operate. Does the judge in this case appear to be operating from a consequentialist (meaning utilitarian) framework, or a deontological (duty-based) framework? Or some other approach? What do you base your ethical evaluation on?
Your paper should include introductory and concluding paragraphs, and use proper citations to all authority. You may work with up to two other students in completing this assignment. If two or more students complete the assignment together only one student needs to turn it in, but the first page of the assignment must include all names of group members. There is no requirement that you work with anyone else in completing the paper, and you are free to complete the assignment by yourself. The review is due April 24, 2024, at 11:59pm and must be at least 1200 words.
Grading Guidelines and Rubric
Your paper must address the prompts contained in the Instructions section, above, and will be graded based on the following rubric:
Criteria
Possible Points
Summary of major principles of contract formation, including a discussion of when the business negotiations of two parties become a legally binding contract. You must cite legal precedent to receive all 20 points.
20
Summary of the South West Terminal case (using IRAC or FIRAC method).
30
Discussion of the unstated ethics of the parties and the judge in reaching the decision (e.g. Kantian, utilitarian, egoist, etc.).
30
Grammar, spelling, style, professional font, and formatting conventions. Introductory and concluding paragraphs. At least 1200 words. Please include a works cited page and word count on your paper.
20
TOTAL
100
