ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book gives an account of teaching using the casebook method in New Zealand. It also give rich accounts of the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional pedagogy. The book points out, “The benefits of the casebook method and forcing students to read a large number of cases is probably increasing, since students in the second decade of the twenty-first century are so ill-equipped to concentrate and read for long periods of time”. It discusses a striking and difficult to cure example of the problem which concerns the vitiating factors of duress, undue influence and the unconscionable bargain doctrine. The book suggests that rather than exploitation what is needed is “a more complete and nuanced conceptual account of ‘victimization’ in connection with the procurement or receipt of contractual benefits, ‘victimization’ including ‘exploitation’ but not being exhausted by that particular concern”.
