SCHOOL OF LAW

Session 2022/23

Obligations 1A

Course Document
Table of Contents
Course documentation and information 2
Teaching methods and hours 2
Course outline 4
Reading 4
Course documents and handouts 7
Course assessment 7
Assessment and feedback policy 7
Criteria for passing the course 7

Course documentation and information

The purpose of this document is to provide you with essential information about
Obligations 1A. Other information about the course, updates and material can
be accessed via the course Moodle page. Please ensure that you regularly check
your university email for class notifications, which will be posted on the
Moodle site and forwarded to your university inbox.

If you wish to consult information about communication with the School of

Law; absences; late submission of work; requirements for submission of work;
requirements for the award of credit and resits, please consult the Code of
Assessment, the School of Law Undergraduate Law Student Handbook
2022/23, and the Course Catalogue entry.

Course convenor
Dr Stephen Bogle

External examiner
Mr Gordon Cameron, University of Dundee

Teaching methods and hours

This course will be taught by means of podcasts, online tutorials, and interactive
live sessions with teaching staff.

Face-to-face lectures
In accordance with University policy for 2022-23, at lectures for Obligations 1A
Obligations 1A – 2022-23 – General Course Document 2
will be face-to-face. Unfortunately, the timetable for this coming semester is
going be complicated. Although you can count on their being a lecture every
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 9 am the location of these lectures
will vary. It is most likely that lectures will be on the Gilmorehill campus. Yet
you are strongly advised to check before each lecture its location using you own
MyCampus timetable and to provide enough time to locate the lecture theatre on
campus. At the time of writing this handbook, we have not been given
confirmation of the venue of our lectures. Please monitor your inbox for Moodle
updates and regularly check your own personalised MyCampus timetable.

Face-to-face tutorials
Five tutorials accompany the topics covered in your textbook, handbook, private
reading, and lectures. Tutorials offer direct contact with staff and peer-to-peer
interaction in a live setting. It is where you test your understanding and ensure
you are adequately following the content of the course. Each student will be
assigned a specific tutorial group and will be expected to attend a prescheduled
tutorial. All tutorials have been designed to ensure that student participation is
maximised, and students should be prepared to answer questions and contribute
to discussions.

Please note that attendance at tutorials is compulsory.  Attendance at tutorials is

monitored and failure to attend without good cause may, in some circumstances,
result in discontinuation of studies or withdrawal of funding.  Good cause
includes illness; serious adverse personal circumstances, such as bereavement;
unavoidable transport problems; and other unavoidable personal commitments,
such as attendance at a funeral.  It does not include work commitments; sporting
commitments; or social commitments.  If you are unable to attend your own
tutorial group, you should try, wherever possible, to attend another class in the
same cycle, but you must first seek the permission of your own tutor and of the
tutor whose group you wish to join.

Reading
Throughout the course you are expected to do your own private reading, this
includes reading case law and legislation as well as the essential reading
outlined below. Please consult the library e-reading list for Obligations 1A,
where you will find links to online material. Sometimes this is referred to as
Reading Lists @ Glasgow. Note, however, that in order to help you develop
strong Westlaw and LexisNexis research skills we have not provided direct
links to case law on the course e-reading list. Essential reading is what you must
read, recommended reading is what we encourage you to read, and additional
reading is what we suggest you read. It is unlikely that you will be able to do
Obligations 1A – 2022-23 – General Course Document 3
everything. Prioritise essential reading.

Essential reading

In addition to case law, G Cameron, Thomson’s Delictual Liability, 6th edn

(2022) is essential reading for this course. Please ensure that you use the most
recent edition of Thomson, i.e., the 2022 edition. You may find online or in
bookshops earlier editions of Thomson, but it is highly recommended that you
use the 2022 edition and disregard earlier editions. Delict, either by statute or
case law can change fast and earlier editions of Thomson may not reflect these
changes. Remember, however, the library has an electronic copy which is freely
available to you.

Recommended

 E Reid, The Law of Delict in Scotland (2022). (A new comprehensive and

in depth account of the law of delict in Scotland, along with a historical
overview).
 P Giliker, Tort, 7th, (2020) (You will find this text is available online via
Westlaw. Although this text covers English tort law, you may find the
opening chapter of interest, which is equally applicable to Scots and
English tort law. Moreover, the sections on negligence (paras 5-001 to 5-
014), professional negligence, employers’ liability and consumer
protection describe the law as it applies in England and Wales as well as
Scotland).
 H MacQueen & Lord Eassie, Gloag and Henderson: The Law of
Scotland, 15th edn, (2022), Ch 25-29 (by G Cameron). (Available online
via Westlaw, offering a concise and very lucid description of the law in
Scotland).
 “Obligations arising from a Wrongful Act” in Stair Memorial
Encyclopedia of the Laws of Scotland, vol 15, (1996; 2018) paras 213-
610. (Extensive, detailed and regularly updated, the SME entry on
“Obligations arising from a Wrongful Act” aka delict is a very important
source for practitioners. It is available to you online via LexisNexis and
can be navigated by working your way through the encyclopaedia’s
(byzantine) hierarchy, which is arranged alphabetically, i.e. Stair
Encyclopedia; Obligations; Obligations arising from a Wrongful Act;
then follow various entries under this heading).

Additional reading
 EW Peel and J Goudkamp (eds), Winfield and Jolowicz on Tort, 20th edn,
Obligations 1A – 2022-23 – General Course Document 4
 (2020) (Available to you online via Westlaw. Although an English law
text it is very useful on areas of law in which Scots law and English law
are indistinguishable, i.e. negligence, causation, consumer protection, etc.
It is also otherwise a very helpful point of comparison).
 M Jones et al (eds), Clerk and Lindsell on Torts, 23rd edn, (2020)
(Another English text. Extremely detailed, and the go-to practitioner text.
It is available on Westlaw and may supplement your reading (if keen!) in
the same fashion as Winfield and Jolowicz above).
 K Reid & R Zimmermann (eds), A History of Private Law in Scotland,
Vol 2: Obligations (2000) (Volume 2 has numerous chapters giving
historical perspectives on areas of delict; although not comprehensive and
differing in style and approach, these entries are the first port of call (and
hopefully not the last) for those interested in the history of private law in
Scotland and is the most accessible and extensive history we have of
Scots private law. This is available online via the library website).

Course documents and handouts

Course documentation, including handouts and PPT will be posted on Moodle
during the delivery of the course. Students are expected to have access to
relevant documentation (including, importantly, case lists) during lectures, and
to carry out background and/or further reading as directed by staff.

Course assessment

Nature of Work Status Percentage Date/Deadline

Value for Submission
Examination: Formative 0% 20 October 2022
1 hour exam

Examination: Summative 100% Semester

1 hour exam Examination
Period

Assessment and feedback policy

1-hour formative exam: this assessment is formative (i.e., it does not contribute
to your overall grade for the course but is intended to help you monitor your
progress and understanding of the subject). You will be provided with detailed
feedback on performance by to you by tutors.

2-hour final examination: since this assessment is summative (i.e., it contributes

Obligations 1A – 2022-23 – General Course Document 5
100% towards your overall grade for the course), examination scripts will not be
returned to students. Grades will be published in late January following the
meeting of the School of Law Board of Examiners. General feedback on
examination performance will be posted on Moodle.

Format of assessment
The provisional examination format in Session 2022-2023 will be online, ‘timed
exam – fixed start time’ and open book, following a formula of ‘indicative exam
time plus fixed time of 30 minutes to allow for uploading.’ An upper word limit
will apply for the whole exam submission, calculated based on 1250 words per
indicative hour.

The final exam for Obligations 1A has an indicative time of 2 hours and
students will have a 2.5-hour window for completion and submission. An upper
word limit of 2,500 for the entire examination submission will apply. Late
submission penalties and word limit penalties will be applied. For planning
reasons this format is necessarily provisional. The School expects to be able to
confirm exam format plans and will share more details by the end of week 1 of
teaching.

Criteria for passing the course

In order to receive credit for this course, students normally must have attempted
the formative examination; and must have completed the summative
examination. The minimum grade regarded as satisfactory performance is D3 in
the summative examination.

Obligations 1A – 2022-23 – General Course Document 6

Timetable

Week/Date Lecture Number and Activities

Topic
0 (w/b 12th Sept) 1: Introduction to Tutorial 1 preparation
Private Law for group A

1 (w/b 19th Sept) 2. Mapping the law of Tutorial 1 preparation

delict for group B

3. Duty of care I TUT1A

4. Duty of care II

2 (w/b 26th Sept) 5. Duty of care III Tutorial 2 preparation

for group A
6. Duty of care IV
(nervous shock) TUT1B

7. Breach of the DOC I

3 (w/b 3rd October) 8. Breach of the DOC II Tutorial 2 preparation

for group B
9. Causation basics
Preparation for
10. Defences formative exam

TUT2A

4 (w/b 10th October) 11. Product liability I Tutorial 3 preparation

for group A
12. Product liability II
Preparation for
13. Occupiers liability formative exam

TUT2B
5 (w/b 17 October)
th
14. Employers’ liability
Formative exam
15. Employers’ liability

NO LECTURE
6 (w/b 24 October)
th
16. Professional liability Tutorial 3 preparation
I for group B

Obligations 1A – 2022-23 – General Course Document 7

 17. No lecture TUT3A

18. No lecture
7 (w/b 31 October)
st
19. Bodily Integrity I Tutorial 4 preparation
for group A
20. Bodily Integrity II
TUT3B
21. Privacy
8 (w/b 7 November)
th
22. Reputation I Tutorial 4 preparation
for group B
23. Reputation II
Return of Formative
24. Q&A Feedback (TBC)

TUT4A

9 (w/b 14th November) 25. Economic I Tutorial 5 preparation

for group A
26. Economic II
TUT4B
27. Economic III
10 (w/b 21 November)st
Tutorial 5 preparation
28. Vicarious liability I for group B

29. Vicarious liability II TUT5A

30. Advanced causation

11 (w/b 28th November) 31. Prescription and Start Revision

Limitation
TUT5B
32. Damages

33. Revision
REVISION

Obligations 1A – 2022-23 – General Course Document 8