Mary J. Novak Section 1
- The last assignment this semester will deal with the doctrine of frustration of purpose. Go to the "Descriptive Word Index" for West's California Digest 2d and indicate below the subject matter and key number that would best address that area of the law.
Commercial Frustration, Contracts ยง 309(1).
- Look up that subject matter and key number in the appropriate volume of West's California Digest 2d. Now look up the same in the pocket part and find the latest law review article on the doctrine of frustration of purpose. List below the volume, journal, page number and year of that article.
43 Hastings L.J. 1 (1991).
- If you wanted to look up California cases before 1950 under this same subject and key number, where would you look?
The original California digest should be consulted for cases prior to 1950.
- In the California Digest that covers cases before 1950, look up the matter and key number you used in question two. Scan the list of cases. In correct Bluebook format, list below the case name and citation of the California Supreme Court case that likely has the most extensive discussion of the doctrine of frustration of purpose.
Lloyd v. Murphy, 25 Cal. 2d 48, 153 P.2d 47 (1944).
- Find the Tenth Decennial Digest for the years 1991-96 and look up the subject and key number you found and used above. List below, in correct Bluebook citation form, the most recent opinion under this key number by the United States Supreme Court and United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
U.S. v. Winstar Corp., 518 U.S. 839, 116 S.Ct. 2432, 135 L.Ed.2d 964 (1996).
McCalden v. California Library Ass'n, 955 F.2d 1214 (1990).
- Judging by the headnote descriptions of the cases you listed under number five above, do you think those cases would be helpful to your research on the law in California on the doctrine of frustration of purpose?
These cases would not be helpful as they deal with the doctrine of impossibility of performance and not the doctrine of frustration of performance.
- Look up the same subject and key number in the Tenth Decennial Digest for 1986-91. Assume that you had read in a secondary source that the state of Illinois had the same rule of frustration of purpose as California did. List below, in correct Bluebook citation form, one of the two cases that you found from Illinois in the Tenth Decennial Digest for 1986-91 that you might want to read.
U.S. v. Southwestern Elec. Co-op., Inc., 869 F.2d 310 (1989).
Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Allied-General Nuclear Services, 731 F.Supp. 850 (1990).
- Now go to the appropriate Shepards' book, and look up the case you listed above for question number four. (Hint: the date of the case should be 1944; if it is not, go back and recheck your answer for question number four.) Is that case still good law? (You need to go through all of the updates to answer this question.)
This case is still good law because no cases were found that overruled or reversed it.
- In correct Bluebook format, list below the most recent United State Supreme Court case (name and citation) that cites the case you listed in question number four above.
United States v. Winstar Corp., 518 U.S. 839, 905 (1996).
- Your Shepards' research of the case listed in question number four indicates that while many other cases have cited it, only one case interprets it in a significant way (e.g. "explains it"). In correct Bluebook format, list below that one case.