H. DOUGLAS BARCLAY LAW LIBRARY
INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES GUIDE
Wendy Scott, Assistant Director for Faculty & Outreach Services
8/2006
Selection of Resources to Support First Year Contracts Courses
This guide directs faculty to instructional aids and materials available in the law library or on the web. It encompasses such resources as key web sites, texts, databases, guides, handouts, PowerPoint presentations, and tutorials that faculty can integrate into their classes and/or assign to students. Materials crafted especially for faculty are designated as such in the annotations
Sources on the Internet
Finding Legal Forms (including how to locate sample contracts)
A guide to locating legal forms on the Internet and in print from the E.B. Williams Law Library at George Washington. To see if our library has print titles listed in the guide, check
SUMMIT.
Key Texts & Treatises in the Library & Online
Nutshells
Contracts in a nutshell, 6th ed.
Reserves KF801.Z9R62 2006
Stacks - 1 copy
Contract remedies
Reserves KF836.Z9F75
Hornbooks
Calamari and Perillo on contracts, 5th ed.
Reserves KF801.C26 2003 (2 copies)
Corbin on contracts, rev. ed (1993)
KF801 .C62 (with current supplements)
Treatises
Farnsworth on contracts, 3rd ed., v. 1- 3
KF801 .F37 2004
Restatement of the law, Contracts 2d, v. 1-8
KF395.A2 C65 1981
Samuel Williston, A Treatise on the law of contracts, 4th ed.
KF801 .W53 1990
Databases
This is a guided search feature on Lexis. Access with a valid Lexis ID. To access the Search Advisor, log in, and then click on the Search Advisor tab, then click on Contracts. You may then locate cases and secondary source material on specific subtopics, such as Consideration.
This is a guided search feature on Westlaw. Access with a valid Westlaw ID. Click on Contracts.
For each subtopic you can locate cases, treatises, encyclopedias and journal articles.
Research Guides & Tutorials
Research guides were developed by our librarians. They are annotated outlines with references to our print and online sources. Subjects include basic research skills (case research, West Digests, ALR, statutes) and topic-specific research.
Students should bring these with them to the library when pursuing research assignments and papers. The guides are also available in print at the Reference Desk.
Please note: To open or download CALI lessons, you must be registered. Faculty & student authorization codes may be obtained by contacting Electronic Services Librarian, Robert Weiner, at rjweiner@law.syr.edu.
There are numerous CALI lessons on Contracts, including some podcasts. See the complete list
by clicking on the CALI hyperlink, above. A selection of titles of potential interest to first year students follows.
Conditions
This lesson distinguishes promises from conditions, discusses the various kinds of conditions, and explains ways the courts relieve parties from the harsh effect of conditions.
Contract Formation I
Contract Formation II
Students are given a series of hypothetical problems dealing with basic contract law as reflected
in Restatement of Contracts (Second) and the Uniform Commercial Code.
Contract Tutorials on Damages
This lesson is designed for first-year contracts students to use prior to class discussion of the topics. The lesson presents a case or a statute and then asks students to respond to questions designed to test their understanding of the text.
Contract Tutorials on Remedies
This lesson is designed for first-year contracts students to use prior to class discussion of the specific topics. It presents basic rules and definitions, a case or a statute, and then asks questions designed to test their understanding of the text.
Defenses
This lesson provides an overview of the subject of defenses and introduces the user to the lessons that follow: Void, Voidable, and Unenforceable Contracts; Illegal Promises; Lack of Capacity; Duress and Undue Influence; Unjust Terms (Unconscionability); Fraud and Misrepresentation; Misunderstanding and Mistake and Statute of Frauds.
Exploring a Contract
The goal of this lesson is to take the user systematically through UCC Article 2.
Express and Implied Contracts
This lesson explores the nature of express contracts, implied-in-fact and implied-in-law contracts.
An Introduction to Contract Remedies
This lesson enumerates some general principles of contract remedies.
Mutuality of Obligation
The topic of this lesson is one of the fundamental components of contract formation—mutuality of obligation or commitment. The lesson includes a discussion of illusory promises.
Offer
This exercise deals with offer, an essential element of the bargaining process.
Overview and Sources of Contract Law
This lesson provides an overview of Contract Law, including the sources of Contract Law. The lesson can be run either as an introduction to Contract Law or as a review any time during or after your study of Contract Law.
The Parol Evidence Rule
This exercise examines the functions served by the rule, taking the user through a series of questions that can be used to resolve most issues involving the application of the rule.
Specific Performance
This lesson explores the circumstances in which a court is likely to award specific performance as a remedy.
Substantial Performance
This lesson examines the grounds for determining whether a breach is material and explores the consequences if it is.
UCC Remedies: An Introduction
This lesson demonstrates how the principles of remedies are found in the UCC and provides some guidance for working with the UCC.