Solved - 1CWK50 coursework - Principles of Contract Law

Faculty of Business and Law

Assignment Brief

Faculty of Business and Law

Assignment Brief 2025/26

Module Title:   Principles of Contract Law

Module Code:

454Z0014

Credits: 30

Level: 4

Assignment Identifier: 1CWK50 coursework

Module Leader:  Nick Longworth

Contact Details:  n.longworth@mmu.ac.uk

Submission Deadline and Feedback Return Dates

https://moodle.mmu.ac.uk/mod/coursework/view.php?id=4846713

Monday 2nd March 2026 9pm

Submission Instructions

Submit via the TurnItIn link on Moodle before the due submission deadline. Our advice is to do this at least the day before the deadline in case you encounter any technical difficulties. Do not leave it until the final few hours.

There is a strict word limit (maximum) of 1,200 words for this piece of work excluding footnotes and bibliography. You must declare your word count at the top of your work. Footnotes may be used for referencing purposes only and not to develop your argument and avoid the word limit. Please note that there is no 10% discretionary excess and any words beyond the limit will not be marked. You should provide a bibliography but it is not an annotated bibliography for this assessment.

Use arial font size 12.

Your full work should be submitted in a single file, including your bibliography at the end of your work.

In submitting your work, you are stating that you have complied with all of the University’s Assessment Regulations, including those relating to plagiarism and collusion. Breaches of these regulations are serious and could prevent you from being admitted as a lawyer in the future.

Please submit your assignment by the submission deadline. If you are having difficulty with uploading any work to a summative assessment and are not able to resolve the issue with your tutor or other teams then you can use this form. Please ensure that this is done BEFORE the due date and time passes. On-time submissions will be uploaded to Moodle reflecting the date/time the form was submitted.

Moodle has a file size limit of 100MB on any file submission. Videos submitted via Kaltura have a 2GB file size limit. Files exceeding the size limit cannot be accepted. Files sent via OneDrive or any external file sharing software cannot be accepted. You can find more information about how to create and submit your assessment here

Assessment Type: Essay

Assessment Weighting: 50% of module mark

Length: 1200 words not including references and bibliographies. Please state your word count at the beginning of your work.

There is no 10% discretion and words in excess of the limit will not be marked. A false declaration of the word count will be reported as Academic Misconduct.

Assignment Task

Canal On 1st December Atul goes on a visit to his local newspaper premises, the Telford Tribune. He sees a paperweight in the gift shop window with a label stating “Buy a piece of your local newspaper’s history, paperweights made from the original 1900 printing press only £10”. Atul enters the gift shop and sees a shelf with a label stating “Paperweights made from parts of the original 1900 printing press used for this newspaper, £10” but the shelf is empty. When Atul approaches the sales assistant, he is told that they have all sold but Atul demands to buy the one in the window. The sales assistant says she has been instructed not to sell it because that last one will be displayed in the newspaper’s museum.

On 3rd December, Atul writes to Brenda stating, “I am thinking of selling my café, I may be willing to sell you my coffee machine.” Brenda receives the letter on 4th December and immediately writes back saying “I love that coffee machine, I’ll give you £500 for it. If I don’t hear back from you by 7th December, I’ll assume that you agree.”

Atul receives the letter on 6th December but is busy and does not write back until 8th December. On 8th December Atul writes to Brenda stating, “Sorry, it is worth much more than that but I will sell it to you for £800. If you want it let me know by 14th December. I won’t sell it to anyone else before then.”

Brenda receives Atul’s letter on 9th December and telephones Atul immediately and asks, “Does it come with a manufacturer’s warranty?” Atul replies “No” and Brenda says that she will think about it.

On 10th December, Atul agrees to sell his café, including the coffee machine, to Carlo for £30,000. At 12pm on 10th December, Atul posts a letter to Brenda telling her that the coffee machine is no longer for sale. At 1pm on 10th December, not having received Atul’s letter, Brenda posts a letter to Atul saying she will buy his coffee machine for £800.

At 9.30am on 13th December, Brenda receives Atul’s letter withdrawing the coffee machine from sale and at 10.30am Atul receives Brenda’s letter agreeing to buy it.

Advise Atul whether he has a binding agreement at the gift shop and with Brenda.

NB the advice should be written in the 3rd person (do not use ‘I’ or ‘we’) and this is not a letter to Atul. You must support your analysis and advice with legal authority. You are required to write a fully reasoned answer to the problem question and not produce a simple IRAC grid. There is an example of how to write a fully reasoned answer to a problem question on Moodle from the formative assessment, but remember that the example does not relate to this question and you are bound by all of the Assessment Regulations, including rules on plagiarism and collusion.

Assignment Support

This work must be your own work. You cannot discuss the content of your answer with other people.

We have a number of resources to support you, including but not limited to the study skills webpages. You may also want to consider the following:

As this is a summative assessment you are not able to submit drafts of your work to tutors.

If you require assistance with your general written style then you should look at the resources available on MMU’s website at: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/student-life/course/study-skills/

How to do well in this assessment:

What you MUST do:

Access good level contract law textbooks on the topic of agreement. You have links to several of these in your Moodle area. Other texts are also available via the library and library website.

There is a strict word limit of 1200 words for this piece of work, not including footnotes and bibliography.

Address all of the issues that arise in the question and define all legal terminology.

Undertake a high level of independent research and use good quality academic sources. Think carefully about the sources that you select, do not simply Google this.

Ensure that you have provided authority for every legal rule that you have stated.

Use OSCOLA referencing appropriately.

Use grammatically correct English.

Proof read your work.

Attend scheduled sessions.

You must use your own words – the assignment is designed to demonstrate YOUR knowledge (please see the short section on plagiarism). Further information on this can be found in chapter 8 of Slorach, Legal Systems & Skills and here: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/legal/policies/misconduct-policy-25-26

Only use quotes that are short where the impact of the author’s viewpoint would be lost if it was expressed in your own words. As a general rule, it shows a much higher level of knowledge and understanding to express an author’s opinion in your own words, still referencing the source.

Guidance on the use of the IRAC structure can be found in Chapter 9 of Slorach, Legal Systems & Skills.

What you must NOT do:

Fail to engage.

Include a coursework front sheet

Do not use generative AI to write your answer for you. Remember that generative AI is unreliable and the work that it produces can be very low quality and lacking in academic support for its answer. It may also ‘invent’ authority and rules. This is also an academic test of your abilities and it is intended that you will learn by undertaking this exercise and develop your own skills that you will need later on your law degree. Submitting AI generated work is falsification, which is major academic misconduct https://www.mmu.ac.uk/student-life/course/assessments/academic-integrity

Leave it to the last minute. You should be aiming to submit your work early and not leave it until the final few hours of the deadline. Technical issues (including checking that you can upload your file) must be resolved in good time.

Fail to comply with any of the submission instructions.

Fail to comply with the rules on plagiarism and collusion. You can find guidance on this in the Skills Online section of Moodle.

Do not rely on poor quality sources that carry little to no academic credence that you have found using a Google search such as Wikipedia, www.bitsoflaw.com, www.lawstudent.net , https://ipsaloquitur.com/ https://www.e-lawresources.co.uk/ etc….. Instead select good quality academic resources from the University’s library or University’s electronic databases.

NB Please note that you should put into your own words ideas that you read about in texts and articles. Be cautious that you do not intentionally or unintentionally plagiarise from your source material. You should be particularly careful not to do this from internet sites (i.e. simply cutting and pasting). It is very easy to detect plagiarism in this form. Always provide and give credit to the author of a text or article. https://www.mmu.ac.uk/student-life/course/assessments/academic-integrity

Module Learning Outcomes Assessed

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of principles of contract law

Analyse and evaluate primary and secondary legal sources as are necessary to determine a given legal issue

Apply that knowledge and understanding to provide solutions to contractual problems and questions

Referencing

References are to the sources you have read and specifically referred to (or cited) in your assessment submission. Do not include a list of everything you read in preparation for writing your submission, if you have not referred to it specifically. You may summarise, in your own words, the theories or ideas from your research but you MUST then cite your sources. Use quotation marks/inverted commas to show the difference between the actual words of an author and your own words and always acknowledge your sources in references. Using references in reports and essays is one way to avoid accusations of academic misconduct, specifically plagiarism.

All Manchester Law School students are required to use OSCOLA referencing. Further guidance can be found here: OSCOLA referencing | Manchester Metropolitan University If you have any queries on using OSCOLA, please email library@mmu.ac.uk

Academic Integrity, Academic Misconduct and Plagiarism

Academic integrity is about maintaining the highest standards of honesty and ethical conduct in your academic work. It means being transparent about the sources of your ideas and giving proper credit to other researchers through accurate citations and references. When you conduct research or complete assignments, you must ensure that your work is original, truthful, and free from any form of academic misconduct. This includes avoiding plagiarism, which means never presenting someone else's ideas or words as your own without acknowledgement. Your academic work must demonstrate integrity by carefully referencing all sources, and submitting work that is genuinely your own. Additional information, video tutorials and guides to support good academic practice and maintain Academic Integrity in your assignments can be found on the Academic Integrity area of the intranet: Academic integrity and misconduct | Manchester Metropolitan University

Academic Misconduct is any action that could give you an unfair advantage in coursework, exams, or any other assessed work, which could lead to undermining the academic standards of the University. This includes but is not limited to practices such as plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, contract cheating or falsification of data. Full details of the Manchester Metropolitan University guidelines for Academic Misconduct and definitions of terms can be found on in our Academic Misconduct Policy.

Use of Generative AI in Assessments

The use of generative AI is permitted in this assessment, so long as it is used in accordance with the instructions provided in the ‘Are you allowed to use AI in assessments?’ section of the AI Literacy Rise Study Pack. All submitted work must be your own original content and you cannot use AI to write your coursework answer. https://www.mmu.ac.uk/student-life/course/assessments/academic-integrity

Please note that whilst you can use AI to help you to research your work, you should be very aware that AI does not produce accurate results and can rely on very poor quality sources. Your teaching programme has put you into a strong position to research and answer this question on your own.

That means you can:

Use generative AI to help you understand the assessment and the associated content, but you must check this against other sources.

Use generative AI as part of the planning process (e.g. to get ideas, to break down tasks, to explore different structures).

Use generative AI to find information, but you should not consider it a reliable source.

Use generative AI to provide feedback on your work, but you must maintain authorship by making a decision about each suggested change.

Late Submissions & Assessment Extension Procedure

To find information for assessment extension procedure, please refer to Manchester Met’s assessment mitigation and extension procedureshttps://www.mmu.ac.uk/student-life/course/assessments#ai-69991-0. Please also refer to relevant guidance on your Module Moodle submission area (where applicable).

Please note:  If you think you are unable to submit on time due to health issues or some other unforeseen issue you must request this via the relevant submission area on the module Moodle page, referring to the guidance in the links provided above.

Marking criteria: This assessment will be marked using the L4 LLB marking criteria and subject to step marking.

LEVEL 4 - LLB STEP MARKING DESCRIPTORS FOR EXAMINATIONS AND EXTENDED WRITING

GRADE

DESCRIPTORS

The following are general guidelines of the level of work that would be expected in order to achieve the relevant grade.

FIRST CLASS

70%-100%

The work is communicated fluently and creatively in the appropriate form with precise use of English.

The structure is clear and logical and the arguments flow from one to the next, but there may be some irrelevant material or repetition.

The law has been clearly and accurately explained and there may be some limited understanding of the wider context.

There is a reasonable application of the law to the facts in the question. Justifiable conclusions are reached.

Competing arguments are identified and there may be evidence of some basic critical analysis.

Appropriate primary and secondary sources have been identified and properly used, but there may be no assessment of the value those sources.

UPPER SECOND CLASS

60%-69%

The work is communicated clearly and confidently in the appropriate form and the writing style is very good

The structure will be reasonably well thought out and logical. There may be some irrelevant material that does not address the question.

The answer will have a largely accurate description of the relevant law, however, it might not be complete in some respects. No reference to the wider context in which the law operates.

There is a reasonable attempt to deal with the main issues in the question with mostly accurate application of the law to the facts. The conclusions drawn are generally justifiable.

There is a fair description of the key arguments, but there is no evidence of critical analysis.

A limited number of primary and secondary sources will have been used, but there may be the occasional omission of a key case or other key text.

LOWER SECOND CLASS

50%-59%

The work is communicated effectively in the appropriate form and generally free of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

The structure will be adequate, but at times may be unclear / illogical with paragraphs not flowing smoothly into each other. There may be a lot of irrelevant material and repetition.

There is basic knowledge of the law and the main legal points are described and explained, but they may be some errors or omissions. No reference to the wider context in which the law operates is expected.

Only the key issues will have been discussed and the application of the law to the facts might be weak in places. Some very basic conclusions are drawn.

There is basic comment on the key legal arguments, but no critical evaluation.

There will be reference to a very small number of key sources, and some of those sources may be misused / incorrect.

THIRD CLASS

40%-49%

The work is clearly communicated in the appropriate form, but at times may contain some elements of weak expression.

The structure will be poor and confused at times. There may be a lot of irrelevant material and repetition.

The level of knowledge shown will be superficial and there will be inaccuracies in the description of the law.

Only a few key issues will have been addressed and the application of the law to the facts will be poor and contain several errors and omissions. The conclusions may be inappropriate, or in some cases not drawn at all.

There will be no critical analysis at all.

There will be barely any reference to sources. The sources may be incorrect.

MARGINAL

FAIL

35%-39%

The communication of the work is inadequate and will be clumsy and contain a number of grammatical and spelling errors.

No logical structure with the work jumping between points / topics haphazardly.

There is a poor attempt to describe the law which will contain serious omissions and inaccuracies.

Very few of the issues will have been identified, and the application of the law will generally be weak and demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding. The conclusions will be inappropriate. The work may also be incomplete.

There will be no critical analysis at all.

There will be very few or no references to the relevant sources. The sources may be incorrect.

CLEAR FAIL

0% - 34%

The communication of the work will be very weak and may not be in the appropriate form.

Structurally incoherent.

There is very little legal content and what there is will be inaccurately described.

Fails to address the key issues in any meaningful way.

There will be no critical analysis.

There will be no references to the relevant/appropriate sources.