TE PIRINGA FACULTY OF LAW
International Sales and Finance Law 2014 Outline
1.
Identification of Paper
Paper: LAWS571-15B
This paper carries 30 points
2.
Staffing
Dr Leo Zhixiong Liao Phone: Extension 8094
(Convenor)
Room: Law G.38
Email: zliao@waikato.ac.nz
Staff will be available by appointment. Please email to arrange a time to meet.
3.
Description and Structure of Paper
(a) Description of the paper in University Calendar
This course discusses the most important legal issues in international sales and finance in the
modern global era. Principal topics include: international sale of goods most commonly adopted
terms such as FOB, CIF etc., international sale of goods under the terms of the United Nations
Convention on the International sale of Goods 1980, passing of property and risk, delivery, bills of
lading, letters of credit, disputes resolution, jurisdiction and governing law of contracts for
international sales and finance.
(b) Structure of the Paper
General
This is a semester paper. The teaching component comprises a weekly two-hour lecture/seminar
which students are expected to attend throughout the semester.
The weekly lecture hours are: Tuesday 13.00-15.00 (1:00 pm to 3:00 pm) in TT. 1.05.
4.
Learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this paper will be able to understand and deal with
some of the most important legal issues concerning international sales and finance, both in
theory and in practice. He or she will develop an understanding and ability to apply legal
principles and rules relating to international sales and finance to particular cases in the related
areas of research and practice.
5.
Workload
Students should expect to spend 300 hours in total on this paper. In addition to lecture
attendance, significant time will need to be spent on background and complementary reading.
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Students should allow for periods of more-focused research time in the preparation of
assignments and/or presentations.
6.
Required and Recommended Reading
All law students are required to purchase, for use in all law papers, a copy of McLay, Murray &
Orpin, New Zealand Law Style Guide, Thomson Reuters (2009). This is available from Bennetts, at
an approximate price of $37.00.
In addition to the texts identified below, the Law School requires that students purchase the
course materials book(s) for this paper. These are available from Waikato Print.
Recommended Texts:
a) Jason Chuah, Law of International Trade: Cross-border Commercial Transactions (5th ed,
Sweet & Maxwell, 2013)
b) M. Bridge, The International Sales of Goods (3rd ed, Oxford, 2013)
c) M. Bridge, The International Sales of Goods: Law and Practice (2nd ed, Oxford, 2007)
d) Schwenzer, Fountoulakis & Dimsey, International Sales Law: A Guide to the CISG (2nd
ed, Hart Publishing, 2012)
Alternatively, students might use other known textbooks in this area.
Further material may be provided on the paper site on Moodle (http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz), the
University of Waikato’s online learning system. Any such material is provided on the following
terms:
University of Waikato owns the intellectual property rights, including copyright, in and to this site,
or has acquired the necessary licenses to display the material on the site. As a student of the Te
Piringa Faculty of Law, you are granted a limited license to use (access, display or print a single
copy) the material from the papers in which you are enrolled for the purposes of participating in
the paper only, provided the information is not modified. Materials may not under any
circumstances be copied, stored, distributed or provided in any form or method whatsoever to
any third party. Any other use of the material is prohibited. None of the material may be
otherwise reproduced, reformatted, republished or re-disseminated in any manner or form
without the prior written consent of University of Waikato. To obtain such consent, please
contact the Te Piringa Faculty of Law.
7.
Online support
Online support for this paper is provided via Moodle.
8.
Assessment
a)
Requirements for assessed work
School procedures for the presentation of course work are set out in the Te Piringa Faculty of Law
Graduate and Postgraduate Handbook which is available from:
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate.
See also paragraph 12 below on referencing guidelines and plagiarism.
Assignment resources are available online at http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/student/
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b)
Coursework: Final Examination Ratio: 100/0
c)
Assessment Components
Component
Participation
Research Proposal
Coursework
Percentage of overall mark
15%
10%
75%
Due date
N/A
23 Sept 2015
6 Nov 2015
Participation will be assessed on the bases of class attendance, activeness of participation in
classes, and presentation of the research topic/questions chosen by a student.
The coursework will be a 9,000-11,000 words (inclusive of footnotes but exclusive of bibliography)
research essay. The coursework must be typed or word processed and presented following the
New Zealand Law Style Guide (2nd edition) and a bibliography must be furnished with each essay
submitted. Students are expected to choose/formulate their own research topics/questions
related to any of the topics covered in the course. A list of possible research topics/issues may
also be available for students’ convenience in selecting/formulating their research
topics/questions.
The coursework is due to be submitted via MOODLE by 5:00pm on Thursday 6 November 2015.
d)
Handing in, marking time and collection
All assignments must be submitted electronically through Moodle (http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz).
See Te Piringa Faculty of Law Graduate and Postgraduate Handbook, available at
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate. Where practical, it is the policy of Te Piringa Faculty of
Law to return marked work to students within five weeks of submission.
If you require assistance with Moodle, or encounter any problems, please contact the Help Desk.
You can send a message to Help Desk by using the instant message service in your paper’s
Moodle site (from the participants list within the People block). Alternatively, you can email them
directly at help@waikato.ac.nz or call 838 4008.
e)
Measurement of Achievement
Achievement in assignments and participation/presentations will be measured in terms of levels
of understanding and knowledge gained, in terms of the originality and the sophistication of
analysis provided, in terms of coherent and logical structure, and in terms of the fluency and
accuracy of expression and referencing.
f)
Management of assessment deadlines, process for requesting extensions and special
consideration, and for appeals
i)
Extensions
Students are required to complete and submit all internal assessment by specified dates. The
meeting of deadlines is a mark of professionalism and its enforcement is essential for fairness to
all students taking the paper. Handing in course work on or before the due in date also facilitates
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the timely return of marked work by academic staff. Students should meet requirements as to
time deadlines for course work, or make a request for an extension or special consideration in
appropriate circumstances (see Graduate Programmes Manual available from the Faculty of Law
Graduate website http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate/.) Failure to comply with
requirements as to the time deadlines for internal assessment without having successfully applied
either for an extension or special consideration with supporting evidence before the due date will
result in deduction of 2.5 marks for each day the work is late. Lateness of more than a week may
result in the work not being marked. No deadlines may be extended beyond two weeks after the
last teaching day of the semester(s) in which the paper is taught as final grades must go to the
Board of Examiners at this time. Unless an extension in writing has been granted, a lecturer may
refuse to accept a piece of work which is submitted after the specified date, and automatically
award it no mark, or may lower the mark as a penalty for lateness.
Applications for extension, on the form obtainable from the Resource Room, must be submitted
to the Chief Examiner or nominee. Students should not submit the extension form to the
lecturer, nor should students seek extensions from the lecturer via other forms of
communication. Extensions will be granted only on evidence of illness, family bereavement, or
serious personal accidents or circumstances. Please note that too many assignments due at the
same time is NOT an acceptable reason, neither are claims that computers and/or printers have
crashed. Account will be taken of the time in which the student has had to complete the internal
assessment before the supervening event occurred. It will be important to consider if the grant of
the extension will give the student in question an unfair advantage over other students. A
maximum period of 21 days will be given as an extension unless there are exceptional
circumstances. In determining applications the Chief Examiner or nominee may consult with the
Convenor or lecturer of the relevant paper.
When the Chief Examiner or nominee has made a decision on the application for extension, the
Resource Room Administrative Assistant will advise the student of the decision by email.
Following this, the extension form will be given to the relevant lecturer who will retain it until
after the assignment is marked and returned to students. The form will then be placed on the
student’s file. It should be noted that if an extension of longer than 14 days is granted, the
assignment will not be automatically printed out and delivered to the lecturer, therefore the
lecturer is responsible for ensuring the assignment is printed. In appropriate cases, when a
student’s application for extension is declined the Chief Examiner or nominee will inform the
student of the process for applying for special consideration.
ii)
Special Consideration
The Assessment Regulations 2005 as set out in the University Calendar 2014 list in detail the
university-wide policies and procedures, which apply concerning missed examinations, impaired
performance or impaired preparation time for an examination, and missed or impaired course
work. Students are responsible for ensuring that they comply with these regulations. Application
forms for special consideration for internal assessment are available from the Resource Room.
iii)
Appeals (University Calendar 2014, Assessment Regulations 2005, Reg. 24)
A student may appeal against any decision taken under these regulations.
An appeal, comprising a written statement of the circumstances of the appeal, together with
supporting evidence if available, must be submitted by the student in writing to the Director of
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Student & Academic Services not more than seven days after the date on which notification of the
relevant decision is received.
Appeals under this section are considered and decided by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor by
delegated authority of the Academic Programmes Committee.
A decision by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor is notified in writing, and is final.
9.
University Calendar Regulations and Policies
Your attention is drawn to the following regulations and policies, which are published in the
University Calendar 2015.
Assessment Regulations 2005
Student Discipline Regulations 2014
Computer Systems Regulations 2005
Policy on the Use of Māori for Assessment
Student Research Regulations 2008
Ethical Conduct in Human Research and Related Activities Regulations 2008.
10.
Links to other papers
This course is primarily linked with (private) international business law. It also has some linkages
with contract law and private international law (jurisdiction and choices of law). The
undergraduate course of Laws426 Commercial Transactions is not a pre-requisite but helpful to
some extent.
11.
Fees
Refer to http://calendar.waikato.ac.nz/admission/tableoffeesandcharges.html.
12.
(a)
(b)
Referencing guidelines and caution against plagiarism
Referencing must be in accordance with the New Zealand Law Style Guide.
All written work submitted for the purposes of assessment must be your own work.
Copying or paraphrasing all or part of another person’s work, be it published or
unpublished, without clear attribution, is plagiarism. Plagiarism is misconduct and is dealt
with under the disciplinary procedures of the University as outlined in the Student
Discipline Regulations 2014 in the University Calendar.
“Plagiarism means presenting as one’s own work the work of another, and includes the copying
or paraphrasing of another person’s work in an assessment item without acknowledging it as the
other person’s work through full and accurate referencing; it applies to assessment presented
through a written, spoken, electronic, broadcasting, visual, performance or other medium.” See
section 3, Assessment Regulations (2015 Calendar)
Unless approved otherwise by the examiners of the papers concerned, a student must not submit
as assessment material that is substantially the same as material submitted as assessment for a
different paper.
(c)
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The Te Piringa Faculty of Law’s policy regarding plagiarism is contained in the Te Piringa
Faculty of Law Graduate and Post-Graduate Handbook and the Te Piringa Faculty of Law
Graduate Programmes Manual, available from http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate/.
13.
Health and safety
The Law School’s Health and Safety representative is Mylene Rakena who is in Room Law G.69 at
ext 6727.
14.
Class representation
At the commencement of the semester, a class representative will be elected by the students in
this course. This representative is encouraged to communicate regularly with the Convenor.
Students in this paper are encouraged to liaise with their representative to discuss issues of
concern. Contact details for the Student Representation Coordinator, Academic Services Division,
are as follows: Samantha Whittle, Student Services, ext. 6264, CHSSG.25 email:
student.reps@waikato.ac.nz
15.
Complaints procedures
The brochure Student Concerns and Complaints Policy provides details of the University’s process
for handling concerns and complaints and is available from Faculty and School Offices, The
Gateway and Student Services Division and is contained in the Calendar 2014. See also the
document Student Support Structure at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, available from the Resource
Room.
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Lecture Schedule B semester
2015
Week Commencing
Programme of lecture topics
7 July
Teaching Recess/Enrolment
13 July (B Semester begins)
Introduction
20 July
UN Convention on Contracts for the
International Sale of Goods (CISG)
27 July
UN CISG
3 August
Incoterms
10 August
Passing of Property and Risk
17 August
Licences and Impossibility
24 August
Teaching Recess
31 August
Teaching Recess
7 September (17 Sept Kingitanga Day)
Bills of Lading and Documents of Title
14 September
International Finance and Payments
21 September
Letters of Credit
28 September
Termination and Damages
Presentation
5 October
Jurisdiction and Choices of
International Sales and Finance
Presentation
12 October
Presentation
19 October
Study Week
26 October (26 Oct Labour Day)
Examinations
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Law in