Key themes in the teaching of remedies

Abstract

In this chapter I will argue that the general if by no means universal practice in the US of spendingsubstantial time on remedies at the start of courses on the general principles of the law of contract should be adopted much more widely in the Commonwealth, where it is unusual if not unknown, and my impression is that remedies typically feature as the residuum of the contract course, if they are taught in any substantial way at all. My argument will, however, rest on a different ground than that on which the US practice typically rests, which is a belief that first obtaining a knowledge of what precisely the claimant can hope to gain from recourse to law – which is not justice, or vindication, or the like, but a particular remedy – aidsthe student in understanding the way that sophisticated legal advice can and should be structured so as to achieve the best possible actually available outcome. (For an account of this attitude, see Bix’s chapter in this book.) I am of the opinion that this belief is overall true and very important, but even so of less importance than the belief that lies behind my own commitment to teaching remedies first, which is the following. © 2019 selection and editorial matter, Warren Swain and David Campbell.