LAWS 2202C: Final Examination (Take Home)
Submission Instructions:
Examinations must be completed and submitted by Saturday April 25th 2020 at 11:59pm – the last day of the
formally scheduled examination period.
All exams must be submitted through cuLearn, must be submitted in word (.doc or .docx) format, and following
standard university guidelines (double-spaced, in 12pt Times New Roman font with standard 1” margins).
Any examination not received via cuLearn by the deadline will be considered not submitted and will be assigned a
grade of zero unless a formal extension is granted by the Registrar’s Office. Students seeking extensions on the
final exam must seek a formal deferral from the Registrar’s Office.
This assignment is worth 50% of the final grade for the course.
Examination Instructions:
Answer 2 of the 3 provided questions.
Answer in essay style – following all standards for university level writing. Students are expected to ensure their
papers are properly edited for clarity, spelling and grammar. Each answer must be between 5 and 7.5 pages in
length (excluding title page and bibliography). The total exam length for both answers should not exceed 15
pages (excluding bibliography and title page). Answers must be fully cited (uniform legal citation).
The exam provides students with scenarios, and students are tasked with identifying the relevant principles,
precedents and particulars from the assigned course materials – and apply those selected materials to the scenario
presented. In answering each question, students are instructed to demonstrate knowledge of, and the ability to
apply, the concepts and approaches discussed in appropriate course materials.
Emphasis should be placed on the articles assigned throughout the semester, specifically the demonstration of
having read and understood assigned articles, and the ability to draw links between the ideas in those articles
with the themes covered in the course. It is insufficient to simply identify issues or conceptual tools – you must
be able to show that you understand the content of the ideas you deploy by applying them to the question you are
answering.
Outside sources are neither required, nor permitted.
April 2020
Laws 2202C – Obligations in Private Law
Questions:
1. A dear friend of yours knows you have taken a course on legal obligations, and has come to you
for advice. They know you are not a lawyer, but would like your informed perspective. Your
friend is a senior researcher with a company developing a new kind of winter jacket that uses
milkweed instead of down. Your friend has been sent on several paid trips to different parts of
the world to research how milkweed is grown and harvested, and has produced two reports
with the research they collected to the company’s president on the best ways to use plant
matter as an insulator. Overall, the job is very interesting, but your friend doesn’t feel the
compensation is worth all the effort they are putting into the company. They are also frustrated
that, despite having most of the responsibilities of an executive, they do not have the title of
‘executive.’
Recently, one of the senior partners at your friend’s company has left to start his own business.
This new venture is also looking to develop winter jackets using plant matter for insulation – but
it will be focusing on using a certain breed of moss. Your friend has been approached by this
new company, and specifically the ex-senior partner, and offered a job. The job pays much
better, and your friend would gain shares in the new venture. However, your friend is
concerned about legal implications. The new job would entail using parts of your friend’s
previous research, which while not confidential, was developed while on paid travel. Your
friend has checked their employment contract and not found anything explicitly prohibiting
them joining a rival company after leaving the current position. Still, they are worried about any
potential legal implications.
Explain to your friend what ‘fiduciary obligations’ are, and (drawing on the relevant assigned
readings, case law, and doctrines/tests) advise your friend as to how standards of loyalty, good
faith and avoidance of conflict of interest are typically used by the courts when considering
fiduciary duties.
Finally, provide your informed opinion (based on the materials covered) as to whether, in the
circumstances your friend has described, a court might or might not find that these types of
private law obligations exist. [Note – you are not being asked to be sure, only to make an
informed guess, and demonstrate why you guessed the way you did.]
2. You are a writer for a media blog dedicated to New Technologies and Social Media. The blog
discusses new technologies, social media trends, and even has a technology related advice
column. This week, the blog has received questions from readers about a new ‘free’ service
that has just launched: Big-Brother-Twit-Snap-Insta-Book-Face or BBTSIBF. The service combines
online banking, image sharing, social media communications, online games, instant messaging,
email, grocery ordering/delivery, and health advice. Many of your readers are extremely
excited, and have begun uploading all their financial, personal, medical, and grocery information
into BBTSIBF. A large volume of questions has come in about the BBTSIBF service and various
legal implications of using it; your editor has asked you to write a general response in the advice
section discussing the legal risks associated with online agreements.
April 2020
Laws 2202C – Obligations in Private Law
Your editor has been clear that the response cannot be one sided. On the one hand, it should
support your readers’ exploration of new technologies, connecting with friends and family, and
taking advantage of modern conveniences. On the other hand, it also should identify concerns
regarding the binding nature of online terms of service, the types of terms and conditions such
services might include, and any other privacy issues your readers might face. He doesn’t want
your readers to remain ignorant of the risks associated with this online service or others like it,
but he also doesn’t want to scare them into thinking new technology is all bad.
Drawing on your critical legal studies expertise (by identifying and deploying relevant course
materials), draft the requested advice column explaining the direct and indirect risks readers
might be exposed to through the BBTSIBF or other similar services’ terms and conditions, and
the ways that existing contract law can, to some extent, still protect them from those risks.
3. From a critical legal studies perspective, one of the central tensions in private law (and in law
generally) is between the need for consistent predictable rules on the one hand, and the
objective of ensuring that each unique situation is considered in a way that embodies the
principles and ‘promise’ of justice.
This tension is particularly visible when courts struggle to decide whether or not to intercede
under their ‘equitable jurisdiction’ – either by interceding in express agreements, or enforcing
duties and obligations where no formal agreements were purposefully created.
Drawing on your knowledge of the relevant articles, cases, lectures and any other applicable
course materials, describe how the courts have sought to navigate these tensions with regards
to the various equitable doctrines discussed in class (unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary
duty, and the recognition of an inequality of bargaining power). When are the courts willing to
set aside otherwise legally binding agreements or impose obligations in the absence of such
agreements? What tests are applied, and which cases best demonstrate such judicial
interventions?
Finally, briefly comment on what the justice system gains (or loses) through the various
interventions rendered under the equitable jurisdiction. What is at stake in this element of
private law, and why should it (or not) continue to be included as part of how the law
recognizes, respects or reorganizes the obligations between private persons? [Note – here you
are being asked for your perspective, informed by the materials you have read and considered.
You are not being graded on what you think, but rather how you demonstrate how you arrived
at the perspective you are presenting.]
~Good luck – Do you best – Be kind to yourself – This too shall