Excerpt
Principles and Practices of Construction Law presents the most common areas of law encountered in the construction industry in an easy-to-read format geared to college students, particularly undergraduate students. The legal concepts are simplified and presented in such a way that students can understand the legal points involved without getting so involved in the minute details of the law that they lose interest or become overwhelmed. Although such minute details are important in the actual practice of law or in any specific case, these details have a tendency to be the trees that hide the forest for people who need only a basic understanding of the important legal principles applicable to their profession.
Focuses of the Text
The Law
Chapter 1 is designed to give students an understanding of how the legal system in the United States operates. This chapter also gives students the basics that all business people should understand in order to operate effectively in the U.S. market.
Although this text does not begin to discuss specifics of the law until Chapter 6, the primary focus of this text is on the areas of law that students will encounter in the construction industry. Several chapters are devoted to contracts and contract-related issues such as differing site conditions and scope issues. In addition, chapters are devoted to torts, joint liability, and bankruptcy.
This text differs from others in that it also contains chapters on tort law and joint liability.
Critical Thinking and Reasoning
In addition to teaching students about a few laws, this text can be used to teach students how to apply these laws to real situations and to solve problems they encounter. Chapters are designed to increase the ability of students to solve problems using the law. Students are taught to think logically and to prepare valid arguments in support of some position. Chapter 4, Preparing Legal Arguments and Briefing Cases, is probably best left as a graduate student topic. It is not likely that undergraduate students will spend much, if any, tine reading actual court cases, and since reading and understanding them is difficult, there is not usually sufficient time in the undergraduate curriculum to devote to this skill. Graduate students may find this topic challenging, however.
In addition, each chapter contains some THINK exercises. These are designed to encourage more active learning by students.
Problems
Each of the chapters discussing a specific area of the law (Chapters 6-17) contains problems for students to solve. Many undergraduate students find solving such problems extremely difficult, so this task has been made simpler by supplying hints that will help undergraduates solve the problems without being overwhelmed.
Frequently Asked Questions
The text ends with a chapter designed to acquaint students with some of the recent trends and the most common legal issues in the construction industry. Much of the material is a summary of material covered in the text and is a good review.
Cases
Several actual cases have been included in appendices to some of the chapters. Generally, these are best used in a graduate class where the students have a greater ability to read and understand complex writings. Cases are, after all, written by legal professionals for other legal professionalsthey are not written for students.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the following reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions: Frederick E. Gould, Roger Williams University; Mark Pruitt, Oklahoma State University; and John A. Wiggins, New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Nancy J. White