Why should students not be able to read and participate in this  

discussion?  I would resist those simply asking questions and hoping  

others will provide answers - but I see no harm in them engaging in  

the discussion properly and using the insights they gain from the  

discussion in their own work, just as I imagine other members of the  

group do.

Hector

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Hector L MacQueen

Professor of Private Law

Co-Director, AHRC Research Centre Intellectual Property and Technology Law

Edinburgh Law School

University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh EH8 9YL

UK

Tel: (0)131-650-2060; Fax: (0)131-662-6317

Quoting John Murphy <john.murphy@manchester.ac.uk>:

> Dear All,

>

> I've been staying out of this discussion until now because I don't

> think it is a good idea to provide the student who prompted it with

> just the kind of information that s/he was looking for.

>

> That said, I now feel bound to say that I am surprised that so many

> people see Williams v Roffey as such a special or startling decision.

> Yeah, it's controversial; but there's nothing new about controvesrial

> consideration cases.  From an ever-failing memory I seem to recall that

> Treitel and Atiyah had some kind of spat about consideration cases at

> the margins (nominal versus "invented" consideration?).  And what about

> Nigel Simmonds' essay, "Bluntness and Bricolage", which explored and

> revealed years ago (in Gross and Hyman (eds): JURISPRUDENCE: CAMBRIDGE

> ESSAYS) the way that certain consideration cases seemed either to

> twist, or have very little genuine connection with, received wisdom on

> consideration?

>

> As I say, there's nothing really new about the kind of discussion that

> Roffey prompts.  Its novelty, for me, lies purely in the fact that it

> is (in contract law terms, at least) a new case.

>

> Finally and most importantly, though, what can be done to stop other

> students infiltritating this discussion group.  I'd hate it to get to

> the stage where I almost automatically reach for the delete key when I

> receive an ODG message.

>

> John M

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