ASSIGNMENT ONE

Approximately 3000 – 3500 words

Please also note that additional readings relevant to the assignments may be made available to students. If so, students will be advised on this on the Moodle-based course website which all students should access on a regular basis.
Question 1 5 marks
Define and distinguish between domestic law, public, private international business law and explain their interaction.
Question 2 5 Marks
Provide an account of what riba is and why it is prohibited by Islamic law.

Question 3 20 Marks
Find the following judgment, HebeiJikai Industrial Group Co Ltd v Martin [2015] FCA 228, and answer the following questions:
(a) Provide an account of the parties in this case and what relief if any is sought by them. (5 marks)
(b) What was the primary, basic legal issue in contention between the parties, what were the relevant
legal principles relied upon by the Court? (c) What orders were made?

Question 4 20 Marks
Bell Ltd is a leading Queensland importer and distributor of mining equipment who wishes to import a US$2,000,000 excavator. They communicate with a US company, based in Alabama, who, subsequently supplies the excavators. Bell seeks your advice as an adviser on the following key legal aspects of its proposed purchase. The Alabama based company utilises a standard form contract
based on US law, with no arbitration clause, but is amenable to negotiation on key legal issues in exchange for Bell making payment in full, prior to shipment.
1. (a) Choiceoflawissues,AustraliaorUS-whatUSlawwouldbydefaultgovernthesalescontractif the standard form US contract was relied upon and is it possible under the relevant US law to select CISG for the law of the contract? (10 marks)
2. (b) The merits of a compulsory arbitration clause and if arbitration was to be US based, what arbitration law would apply and what arbitration bodies are available. (5 marks)
3. (c) Alternatively, assuming the parties selected Queensland law, CISG and either the Queensland courts or arbitration to settle contract disputes, discuss and appraise, how a Queensland court judgment or Queensland arbitration award would be recognised and enforced under the US legal
system. (5 marks)

Commercial law
Order Description
“Civilian systems are characterized by wide-ranging codification of legal rules, whereas common law systems are distinguished by? their reliance on incremental change through the accumulation of judicial precedent. It may be that this ability to shape the law on a case-by-case basis helps to render legal regulation more adaptable to changed circumstances. In contrast, civilian legal systems may suffer from excessive rigidity, as change may only be made infrequently through legislation.”

J Armour et al ‘How do legal rules evolve? Evidence from a cross-country comparison of shareholder, creditor and worker protection’ (2009) 57(3) American Journal of Comparative Law 579

With reference to the above quote critically analyse whether the UK should codify commercial law with particular reference to whether commercial law would suffer from ‘excessive rigidity’ and an inability to adapt if it were to do so.