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CONFLK1 · 10 topics

SQE1 Contract Law.

Formation, terms, breach, and remedies.

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All 10 topics in Contract Law

SRA-aligned
  1. 01

    Formation of a Contract

    Offer, acceptance, intention to create legal relations, certainty, and capacity

    Free
  2. 02

    Consideration and Promissory Estoppel

    Doctrine of consideration, its rules, and the equitable doctrine of promissory estoppel

  3. 03

    Privity and Third Party Rights

    Doctrine of privity, common law exceptions, and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999

  4. 04

    Express Terms and Incorporation

    Express terms, incorporation by signature, notice and course of dealing, and parol evidence rule

  5. 05

    Implied Terms and Exemption Clauses

    Terms implied by common law and statute, and the law on exemption clauses

  6. 06

    Classification and Interpretation of Terms

    Conditions, warranties, innominate terms, contractual interpretation, and variation

  7. 07

    Misrepresentation

    Types of misrepresentation, remedies, and the Misrepresentation Act 1967

  8. 08

    Mistake, Duress, Undue Influence and Illegality

    Vitiating factors: mistake, duress, undue influence, and illegality

  9. 09

    Discharge of Contract

    Termination by performance, breach, frustration, and restitution

  10. 10

    Remedies, Causation and Remoteness

    Contractual damages, equitable remedies, causation and remoteness of damage

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4 sample CON questions

Real SBA questions from the Contract Law bank, with the full explanation. The paid bank covers all 10 topics and difficulty levels.

A shop owner displays a vintage amplifier in her shop window with a price tag of £2,500. A customer walks in, places £2,500 in cash on the counter and says that he will take the amplifier. The shop owner refuses to hand it over, telling the customer that she promised the amplifier to a friend last week.

Is the shop owner obliged to sell the amplifier to the customer?

  1. No, because the display was an invitation to treat and the customer's tender of the price was an offer she may reject. Correct
  2. Yes, because the priced window display was an offer to the world which the customer accepted by tendering the full price in cash.
  3. Yes, because the customer tendered the exact price before the owner had communicated any withdrawal of the display.
  4. No, because her earlier promise to her friend was itself a binding contract which takes priority over the customer's offer.
  5. No, because a contract for the sale of goods displayed in a shop window must be evidenced in writing.
Why: The correct answer is A. Goods displayed with a price are an invitation to treat, not an offer: Fisher v Bell [1961], and Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists [1953] for goods on display generally. The customer makes the offer when he tenders the price, and the shop owner is free to accept or refuse it. B is incorrect because a priced display is not an offer to the world; the smoke-ball advertisement in Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co [1893] was a promise coupled with evidence of sincerity, which a price tag is not. C is incorrect because there was no offer to withdraw, so the timing of the customer's tender is irrelevant. D is incorrect because a promise to a friend to keep goods for them is not itself a contract, and even if it were it would not prevent a sale to the customer. E is incorrect because a contract for the sale of goods requires no writing; only certain contracts, such as those for the disposition of land, do.

A dealer writes to a collector offering to buy a painting for £5,000, adding: "If I hear nothing from you by Friday, I shall treat the painting as mine at that price." The collector reads the letter but does not reply. On Saturday the dealer arrives at the collector's house with £5,000 in cash and asks for the painting. The collector refuses to sell it.

Is the collector bound to sell the painting to the dealer?

  1. Yes, because the dealer set a clear deadline and, as offeror, he was entitled to prescribe how his offer was accepted.
  2. No, because silence cannot amount to acceptance and an offeror cannot impose a duty to reject. Correct
  3. Yes, because the collector had a reasonable opportunity to reject the offer and did not take it.
  4. No, but the collector must reimburse the dealer for the wasted cost of travelling to collect the painting.
  5. Yes, because the offer identified specific goods at a stated price, so no further acceptance was needed.
Why: The correct answer is B. Silence is not acceptance: an offeror cannot impose on an offeree the burden of replying in order to avoid being bound (Felthouse v Bindley (1862)). The collector did nothing, so no contract was formed. A is incorrect because although an offeror may prescribe a method of acceptance, he cannot prescribe that doing nothing counts as accepting. C is incorrect because an opportunity to reject is not a duty to reject; failing to answer an unsolicited offer has no legal effect. D is incorrect because the collector owed the dealer no duty to respond, so there is nothing on which to found a claim for wasted expenditure. E is incorrect because identifying the goods and the price makes the offer certain, not self-executing; acceptance is still required.

A man attends an auction of vintage cars. The catalogue states that every lot is subject to a reserve. The auctioneer invites bids for one of the cars, starting at £10,000. The man bids £15,000, another bidder bids £16,000, and the man then bids £17,000. No one bids against him. Before bringing down the hammer, the auctioneer announces that the reserve has not been reached and withdraws the car from the sale. The man insists that the car is his at £17,000.

Was the auctioneer obliged to sell the car to the man at £17,000?

  1. Yes, because inviting bids was an offer to sell to whoever bid the highest.
  2. No, because each bid was an offer, and no contract arose until the hammer fell. Correct
  3. Yes, because his bid of £17,000 accepted the auctioneer's invitation at the highest price offered.
  4. No, because a sale at auction is binding only once the price has been paid.
  5. Yes, because withdrawing a lot after bidding has started breaks an implied promise to the bidders.
Why: The correct answer is B. At an ordinary auction the auctioneer's call for bids is an invitation to treat: each bid is an offer, which the auctioneer accepts by the fall of the hammer (Payne v Cave (1789); Sale of Goods Act 1979, s 57(2)). Until the hammer falls the bidder may withdraw the bid and the auctioneer may withdraw the lot, so nothing bound the auctioneer here. A is incorrect because a call for bids invites offers; it is not itself an offer to sell. C is incorrect because the bid was the offer, so there was nothing for the man to accept. D is incorrect because it reaches the right answer for the wrong reason: the sale is complete on the fall of the hammer, whether or not the price has yet been paid. E is incorrect because the auctioneer promises nothing to bidders where the lots are subject to a reserve; the position differs if a lot is advertised without reserve.

In January a shareholder writes to an investor offering to sell 10,000 shares in a listed company at £5 per share. The letter sets no deadline for a reply but mentions that the shareholder needs the proceeds for a purchase completing in February. The investor does not respond. By July the shares are quoted at £8 each. The investor then writes: "I accept your offer to sell at £5 per share." The shareholder refuses to sell.

What is the legal effect of the letter the investor writes in July?

  1. It concludes a contract, because an offer with no stated deadline stays open until the offeror withdraws it.
  2. It concludes a contract, because the shareholder never communicated any withdrawal to the investor.
  3. It concludes a contract, because a posted acceptance takes effect at the moment of posting.
  4. It concludes no contract, because six months of silence amounted to a rejection of the offer.
  5. It concludes no contract, because the offer had already lapsed after a reasonable time had passed. Correct
Why: The correct answer is E. Where an offer states no time for acceptance it lapses after a reasonable time: Ramsgate Victoria Hotel Co Ltd v Montefiore (1866), where an offer to buy shares was held to have lapsed after five months. What is reasonable depends on the subject matter, and it is short for shares, whose value moves. Six months, on an offer made with a February deadline in view, is well past it, so there was no offer left to accept in July. A is incorrect because an offer does not last indefinitely merely because no deadline was fixed. B is incorrect because lapse of time ends an offer automatically; nothing need be communicated. C is incorrect because the postal rule fixes when an acceptance takes effect, not whether there is still an offer to accept. D is incorrect because it reaches the right conclusion for the wrong reason: mere delay is not a rejection, and the offer ended by lapse rather than by anything the investor did.
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Common questions

Contract Law FAQs

Formation, terms, breach, and remedies. The SRA assessment specification breaks Contract Law into 10 topics, each examined through single-best-answer (SBA) questions in the FLK1 paper.
Contract Law sits in FLK1. Both FLK1 papers are 180 single-best-answer questions in two 2h 5m sittings on the same day.
10. Our notes, flashcards, and question bank are mapped one-to-one against the SRA's CON specification so nothing is missed.
Most candidates allocate roughly 30–50 hours across notes, flashcards, and timed practice. The exact split depends on your background — re-sitters can usually focus on weak topics rather than re-reading.
Active recall beats re-reading. Read the notes once, then practise SBA questions in mixed order, then revisit weak topics. Our weak-area tracker surfaces the topics where your accuracy is below 70%.
Yes. The free readiness quiz includes a sample from every subject, and free accounts can access sample questions across all subjects. The full CON question bank is unlocked with a one-time lifetime purchase and is covered by the 14-day money-back guarantee.
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