Introduction to Business Law (IBL) - 200184

Autumn Session 2010

Assignment: Review of Current Newspaper Article

Value: 20% of the total marks for the unit

Submission Date: At the

START of your tutorial
in Week 10 (commencing
May 3). All students,
regardless of whether
they are registered in an
A or a B group tutorial
MUST attend their
prescribed tutorial in this
week to submit their
assignment. Once your
assignment has been
recorded as being
submitted by the tutor,
only those students who
have a prescribed tutorial
for this week need stay
for the remainder of the
class (see the Learning
Guide to confirm whether
this is an A or a B group
week for the tutorial).

Submission Place: In your designated tutorial

Late Assignments:

 Late assignment can only be accepted if submitted in strict accordance

with the following instructions.

 You are required email a copy of your late assignment to

d.newlyn@uws.edu.au . The relevant attachments will need to be scanned &
attached electronically to your email. You will receive an electronic
confirmation of your submission and a record of the date/time of submission.
Submission is not effective unless this receipt is received. You will ALSO
need to post a hard copy of your assignment to Dr. David Newlyn, School of
Law - Campbelltown Campus, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag
1797, Penrith South DC NSW 1797. The date of submission of your late
assignment will be the date of receipt of your properly sent email including all
attachments. Your assignment will NOT be marked until the hard copy is
received by mail. NOTE: Late assignments will NOT be returned with other
 properly submitted assignments. Late assignments may take many weeks to
mark and be returned to students. Failure to follow these instructions
explicitly will result in further deductions for lateness being imposed.

The penalty for late submission of the Assignment is 2 marks per day or part
thereof, including each weekend day and any public holiday.

Late assignments will not be accepted after the marked assessment tasks have
begun to be returned to students who submitted the task on time.

You may not fax your late assignment.

Submission Requirements:

When submitting your assignment you must attach:

a completed assignment cover sheet (a copy can be found in your Learning

Guide available on vUWS);

a copy of your newspaper article;

a copy of all pages up to and including the 1st paragraph of the relevant case (to not more than 2
pages);

a copy of the section from the relevant statute

Failure to attach any or all of these items WILL result in a significant reduction in marks.

PLEASE DO NOT PLACE YOUR ASSIGNMENT IN ANY FOLDER OR PLASTIC COVER - Simply staple the assignment and attachments
securely in the top left corner of the pages.

Photocopy the completed assignment, including attachments, before submission for your records. Note: If you fail to submit any of the required
attachments together with the assignment marks will be deducted.

Applications for an Extension of Time/Special Consideration

 In the event of serious illness or serious misadventure that prevents you from submitting on the due date, you may submit a written
application for an extension of time prior to the due date.

 Please note that an extension will not be granted where:

 You simply hand your assignment in with a medical certificate attached thereto; or

 You are unable to print your assignment out on the day it is due. Computers have a terrible habit of crashing at such
times and you must organise your schedule to take account of such problems as may arise.

 You must follow the instructions contained in the Learning Guide for this unit if you wish to apply for an extension/special
consideration.
Assessment Task: Instructions

You are required to find and review a newspaper article published on or after 1st February 2010 relating to one of the following substantive
business law topic as covered within the lectures of this unit. Topics:

1) Torts

2) Contracts

3) Consumer Protection

NOTE: You may not select an article related to criminal law.

As well as locating a newspaper article, you will be required to locate an Australia case and a section of an Australian statute that relates to your
topic. Then you will need to complete a series of questions relating to the newspaper article, the case and the section from a statute. The questions
are contained in the proforma (entitled "Assignment Proforma") at the end of these instructions. Download the assignment proforma and enter your
responses, following the italicised instructions provided. DO NOT CHANGE THE PROFORMA IN ANY WAY. To assist you, a sample
assignment will be provided via vUWS.

The law librarian has prepared 3 pathfinders to assist you in locating newspaper articles, case law and legislation. These pathfinders are available via
vUWS. If you are having difficulty following the pathfinders, you may contact the law librarian, David Sinfield, on 9685 9101 or email on
d.sinfield@uws.edu.au or Joy Keast, Liaison Librarian, 4620 3615 or email j.keast@uws.edu.au

The assignment has 3 parts.

Part 1: Current Article

The article MUST (no exceptions possible) be selected directly from an edition of ONE of the following newspapers, excluding any
Sunday edition:

The Australian

Australian Financial Review

Sydney Morning Herald

(if using electronic editions of these newspapers be exceptionally careful of links to other sources. These would be unacceptable. It
must be as if the article would appear in the hard copy of the original publication.).

The article MUST be an edition published on or after 1st February 2010.

The article MUST be between 500 and 1200 words. You MUST provide an accurate word count for the article. Do not use an article
we have presented in the lectures or unit materials.

The UWS libraries subscribe to "hard copies" of each of the newspapers from which your article can be found.

Articles from the Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald can also be located using the UWS library’s "E-Resources".

Part 2: Related Case

 You must find an Australian case related to the topic to which your article relates.

This must be a court decision, not from either a tribunal or a commission.

The case must NOT be mentioned in your article.

You might find the name of a suitable case by reviewing the topic area for your article in your textbook.

If you have the case name, you can use it to search www.austlii.edu.au to locate the actual case.

If you do not have a case name, you will need to use one of the electronic databases.

Part 3: Related Section from a Statute

By browsing the chapter related to your topic in the textbook, you should be able to find a section in an Australian statute (NSW or
Commonwealth only) related to your topic.

You then go to a database to look it up.

Remember, you can use www.austlii.edu.au to locate legislation or you can use www.comlaw.gov.au to search for Commonwealth
legislation or www.legislation.nsw.gov.au to search for NSW legislation.

Note: Do not use a section that is mentioned in your article.

Please note very carefully:

The marks allocated to each question are set out in the assignment.
Plagiarism and collusion are not permitted and will result in disciplinary action.

Significant marks will be deducted if you do not follow the instructions precisely and accurately.
You will be allocated 0/20 if you submit an assignment based on a newspaper article published before 1 February 2010, therefore you
should check this requirement very carefully.

Introduction to Business Law

Autumn Session 2010

Assignment + Instructions

Part 1: Current Article:

You must attach a complete copy of the article. You must provide a word count for the article.

Item Enter your response in this column Marks

Insert the name of the person who wrote the article and the date on which it was
1.1 Author and Date /½
published.

Insert the name of the publication and the page number on which the article is located,
1.2 Publication and Page/URL path /½
or the full URL that leads to the article on the website.

With some detail, explain the method you used to find your article. Do not miss any steps
1.3 How did you locate this article? /2
you took in finding the article.
 In your own words, write an overview of the main points of the article. This would
1.4 Summary of the article /4
normally include: who, what, when, where and why.

1.5 Why did you choose this article? With Work out which subject area the article’s topic falls within. To understand the
some detail, how does this article relate to a connection between your article and the topic, you should look at the relevant chapters /3
topic in Introduction to Business Law? of the textbook.

Article word count _________

Part 2: Related Case

You must attach all the pages up to and including the 1st paragraph of the judgment to your assignment. But not more than 2 pages in total.

2.1 Add a case related to this article
Find a case using Austlii or one of the databases in the Finding Case Law Pathway on
the vUWS site for IBL that deals with the same areas of law covered in the article. This
cannot be the same case as mentioned in the article. Make sure this is not a decision /1½
from a tribunal or a commission. Make sure you provide a proper legal citation for the
case

2.2 How does this case relate to the article? With some precision, explain how the case is connected to the article. /2

2.3 How many judges decided this case?

Identify the number and full names/titles of the judges who decided this case. /1
Name them.

2.4 In what jurisdiction was this case heard? Identify the jurisdiction in which the case was heard and whether it was a decision at
/1
Was this an appellate decision or original? first instance or on appeal.

Part 3: Related Statute

You must attach a copy of the section from the statute.

Find a section in a NSW or Commonwealth statute using Austlii or another electronic

3.1 Add a section of an Australian statute database that deals with the same areas of law covered in the article. This can be the
/1½
related to this article. same statute as mentioned in the article, but not the same section. Make sure you
provide a proper legal citation

3.2 Explain how this section is connected to Explain how the section of the statute is relevant or related to the article. Make sure you
/2
the article? cite the legislation accurately.

3.3 How did you locate the related section of

Explain the method you used to find the legislation. /1
a statute? (ie not mentioned in the article)

Score: /20

Penalties: Part 1: (eg: Failure to meet the required word count for the article by any amount - 5 marks. Use of an inappropriate source - 5 marks.
Use of an inappropriate topic - 5 marks) Part 2: (eg: Use of an inappropriate case - 5 marks. Failure to provide a copy of the case - 2 marks.
Exceeding the two page limit for the case attachment - 2 marks) Part 3: (eg: Use of an inappropriate statute - 5 marks. Providing more than one
statute or section and/or failure to attach - 2 marks for each matter)
Final score: /20

Introduction to Business Law

Autumn Session 2010

Assignment Proforma

Part 1: Current Article:

You must attach a complete copy of the article. You must provide a word count for the article.

Item Enter your response in this column Marks

1.1 Author and Date /½

1.2 Publication and Page/URL path /½

1.3 How did you locate this article? /2

1.4 Summary of the article /4

1.5 Why did you choose this article? With

some detail, how does this article relate to a /3
topic in Introduction to Business Law?

Article word count _________

Part 2: Related Case

You must attach all the pages up to and including the 1st paragraph of the judgment to your assignment. But not more than 2 pages in total.

2.1 Add a case related to this article /1½

2.2 How does this case relate to the article? /2

2.3 How many judges decided this case?

/1
Name them.

2.4 In what jurisdiction was this case heard?

/1
Was this an appellate decision or original?

Part 3: Related Statute

You must attach a copy of the section from the statute.
3.1 Add a section of an Australian statute
/1½
related to this article.

3.2 Explain how this section is connected to

/2
the article?

3.4 How did you locate the related section of

/1
a statute? (ie not mentioned in the article)

Score: /20

Penalties: Part 1: (eg: Failure to meet the required word count for the article by any amount - 5 marks. Use of an inappropriate source - 5 marks.
Use of an inappropriate topic - 5 marks) Part 2: (eg: Use of an inappropriate case - 5 marks. Failure to provide a copy of the case - 2 marks.
Exceeding the two page limit for the case attachment - 2 marks) Part 3: (eg: Use of an inappropriate statute - 5 marks. Providing more than one
statute or section and/or failure to attach - 2 marks for each matter)

Final score: /20