Australian Contract and Consumer Law

News: On 22 March the Attorney General announced a Review of Australian Contract Law. Submissions are invited and are due by 20 July 2012.

Important note: on 1 January 2011 the Trade Practices Act 1974 was re-named the 'Competition and Consumer Act 2010' (CCA) and the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) came into full force. The consumer-related parts of the Act were repealed and the substance of the provisions (with some significant changes) were introduced as part of the ACL which forms Schedule 2 of the CCA. State and Territory consumer laws have also been repealed and replaced with enabling legislation, making the ACL Australia's first nationally consistent consumer law.

In many cases the new consumer provisions have been modified from the pre-2011 provisoins. In some cases this site has been updated to reflect the new law, but this remains a work in progress; please, therefore, treat references to consumer laws on this site with care. An overview of the new consumer laws is available from the ACCC website.

Contract law encompasses any laws or regulations directed toward enforcing certain promises. In Australia contract law is primarily regulated by the 'common law', but increasingly statutes are supplementing the common law of contract - particularly in relation to consumer protection.

This site is broken into a number of different categories:

The Law is split into sections on the common law of contract in Australia and consumer law (with some overlap). In relation to contract law the main section is divided into five broad areas:

• formation (agreement, consideration, intention to create legal relations, capacity to contract and formalities)
• scope and content (how do you determine and interpret the terms of a contract?)
• avoidance (how may a party avoid their obligations under a contract? This overlaps with consumer law and includes discussion of vitiating factors such as duress, undue influence and unconscionability as well as the effect of mistake on contractual obligations and frustration)
• performance and termination and
• remedies.

In relation to consumer law current topics include the law relating to implied terms in consumer contracts, unfair terms in consumer contracts, unconscionable conduct and manufacturers' liability.

Select from the left hand menu for quick links to each section.

Legislation includes extracts and links to key pieces of legislation relevant to contract law - in particular, consumer protection legislation which in some cases implies terms into consumer contracts and in others might provide remedies for 'unconscionable contracts', or provide mechanisms for avoiding 'unfair terms.'

Blog links to my contract and consumer law blog, containing discussion of relevant news items, new case law or legislative amendments relating to contract and consumer law.

Publications provides some information about relevant contract law publications.

Links contains links to other online resources relating to contract law.

About contains more information about this site, including currency, disclaimer and contact details.