First Year: Contract Law C (LAW122Y1Y)

This course will be taught by incoming Assistant Professor Sabine Tsuruda. Professor Tsuruda teaches and researches in work law, contract law, and legal theory. Her current research projects focus on workers’ expressive and associational rights, and the relationship between contract law and social equality. Prior to joining the Faculty of Law, Professor Tsuruda was an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at Queen’s University. She graduated from the Joint JD/PhD Program in Law and Philosophy at UCLA. 

Contracts are often described as legally enforceable promises, but not all promises are contracts. For example, while promises to buy land and company shares are typically enforceable, promises to give family members gifts are often unenforceable. What distinguishes a legally enforceable promise from other promises?  What contractual obligations does a promisor have to the promisee and when do those obligations cease? Finally, what remedies are available to the promisee if the promisor breaches a contractual obligation?  

This course will introduce students to the main legal rules and principles that bear on answering these questions about the scope and operation of contract law. By discussing and analyzing legal cases, students will learn how contract law has developed in response to particular legal controversies. Students will also learn how contracts operate in practice by applying contract law to corporate agreements, employment agreements, and other contractual settings. Through such engagement with contract law, students will develop argumentative and cooperative skills central to legal practice and scholarship.