Questions
1 Anna, aged 17, obtains a loan from Brillbank and enrols for a course in underwater
photography at Countyshire College, payment being on a monthly basis. She is hoping
to make her career in this field. Anna then visits her local bookshop, Dreamread, and
buys a quantity of books on credit. Most of these are for her course, one is about pop
music and one is entitled ‘Stylish Swimming’. On the way home Anna is also tempted to
subscribe to a mobile telephone service from Evertalk. Two months later,Anna decides
that the course is not helping her at all and no longer wishes to attend classes. She has
only made one of the monthly payments. Dreamread demands payment for the books
and Anna wishes that she had not taken on the mobile phone subscription. On top of
all this,Anna’s bank overdraft has grown so Brillbank is now asking for repayment of the
loan. Advise Anna regarding outstanding payments to Brillbank, Countyshire College,
Deamread and Evertalk.
OCR 2003
2 Ben is a 17 year old student at Campshire College, following a course in media studies.
Whilst shopping at Downtown Stores he is persuaded by a sales assistant that a
computer would be useful to him, so he agrees to buy one on credit. He also decides
to buy on credit from the same store an expensive digital camera for his planned holiday
abroad. The bus service to Campshire College is terminated by the local authority, so
Ben decides to buy a car in order to attend lectures. He obtains the money for this by
a loan from Evergreen Bank, guaranteed by his mother. Ben later experiences financial
difficulties, and is unable to pay either the credit payments to Downtown Stores or the
loan repayments to Evergreen Bank. In addition he sells the camera to a friend, retaining
the proceeds in his bank account ready to pay for his holiday. Advise Ben regarding the
payments for the computer, the camera and the loan repayments to Evergreen Bank.
3 Critically assess the amount of protection which the law gives to a minor who enters
into a contract with an adult.
4 Consider whether the law of contractual capacity is satisfactory for the society in which
we live. Are there any areas which are in need of reform?
5 Minors are clearly in need of protection in the formation of a contract, but not at the
expense of fair-minded adults with whom they may be dealing.’ How far does the law of
contract support this view?
6 Discuss the reasons why limits are placed on the contractual capacity of certain parties
within society.
OCR 2004
Capacity 91