Obligations
Master Obligations.
Obligations is the foundation of private law. It covers how binding obligations arise: from agreements, from promises relied upon, and from benefits that must be returned. Strong answers turn on a disciplined, element by element method.
New · Practice bank: 100 exam-style restitution drills across money had and received and quantum meruit, plus 20 integrated exam scenarios, each with Pass and H1 model answers and examiner's comments. →The challenge
Where students get stuck
Obligations spans contract formation, equitable estoppel and unjust enrichment, and students often run them together. Common errors are asserting a contract without proving each element, treating estoppel as a vague fairness argument rather than a set of elements, and missing when a claim in restitution is the better route. Students misunderstand estoppel in particular. They forget that it turns on an induced assumption, reliance, detriment and unconscionability.
How the method applies here
One structure runs across the subject: the element, the rule with its authority, the application to the facts, then a conclusion. Estoppel is worked one requirement at a time: assumption, reliance, detriment, unconscionability. The leading cases include the recent High Court guidance in Kramer v Stone.
The method
One method, every problem
Four steps run every argument: name the issue, state the rule, apply it to the facts, conclude. Almost every legal rule takes one of six shapes. Any of these six shapes may carry a twist. Learn the six shapes and the twist →
Common questions
Obligations: common questions
Does this cover contract, estoppel and restitution?
Yes. Formation and the sources of obligation, equitable estoppel, and unjust enrichment.
Estoppel confuses me. Where do I start?
Run it as four elements: assumption, reliance, detriment and unconscionability, with authority for each.
Related subjects: Contracts, Equity & Trusts, Remedies. See all subjects.
Master Obligations.
I am building the guides and worked problems for this subject and will announce them in the Publication as they land.