1. Mark owns a 20 acre residential property and lives there with his wife Mirka. When Sandy and her husband Pat, come to live on the property in a comfortable cottage, they come as tenants.
Sandy at that material time, is married to Pat, who happens to be the younger brother of Mark. For about 3 years all is well, as Sandy and Pat continue to live on as tenants in the cottage.
Things start to change when Mark and Sandy become emotionally involved. Mark promises Sandy that as he loves her, he would look after her by subdividing the property that he owns and giving Sandy
the cottage that she lives in. Pat finds out that Mark and Sandy are in a relationship and decides to move out of the cottage and apply for divorce.
During the course of the divorce proceedings, Mark once again declares he loves Sandy and dissuades her from seeking a property settlement with Pat, in relation to another property which Pat owns.
Sandy is quite persuaded by Mark’s declarations of love and advice and a repetition of the promise that Mark will subdivide the 20 acre property, transferring the cottage to Sandy’s ownership. She
believes Mark and drops any intention of seeking a property settlement from Pat.
After the divorce of Sandy and Pat, Sandy continues to live in the cottage as a tenant and makes substantial improvements to it, with the knowledge of Mark, using her own money. She does so, in the
genuine belief that the cottage will become hers. Another three years go by and one day, Sandy approaches Mark about the division of the property and the transfer of the ownership of the cottage to
her. Mark tells her that he has changed his mind, and will not subdivide the property and transfer the ownership of the cottage to Sandy after all. She comes to you for legal advice.
You are to consider the following:
a) If Sandy is to sue Mark for the subdivision of the property and transfer of ownership of the cottage from Mark to herself, what is the cause of action that you should advise her to base her
legal action against Mark on?
b) How would you frame the issues that need to be tried in relation to matters stated in the preceding paragraph?
c) What factors would you advance in argument in support of Sandy’s claim?
d) What is the relief that you would ask the Court to award to Sandy? Give reasons.
You are expected to support your legal arguments with the appropriate legal principles and the relevant case law. No aspect of matrimonial division of assets needs to be considered.
When you are writing a letter to Sandy, you should base your advice on your answers for points (a), (c) and (d) in Question 1.
You should take about 1,200 to 1,300 words for the memo to your boss in the law firm and about 250-300 words for the letter of advice to Sandy.
Question 2
Communication in all matters relating to contact formation by the respective parties is by telex. The offeror’s agent Alisha, is located in Sydney, NSW and she sends a telex from her own telex
machine to the offeree’s agent Max, in Port Lincoln, South Australia. When the offeree’s agent receives the telex, he does not have a telex machine of his own. He proceeds to the Post Office in
Port Lincoln and dictates a reply accepting the offer. When did acceptance of the offer take place? Where was the contract made? Give reasons for your answers.