Faculty of Business, Economics & Law

Professor Rick Bigwood

Academic Dean and Head of School
TC Beirne School of Law
+61 7 336 56611
W257 Forgan Smith Building, St Lucia campus. Availability by appointment.
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Professor Rick Bigwood

Professor Rick Bigwood's principal teaching and research interests lie in the areas of contract and property law. He was formerly a Senior Solicitor and Acting Principal Solicitor with the Federal Attorney-General's Department in Canberra (Office of Commercial Law). Before joining TC Beirne School of Law, Professor Bigwood taught at Bond University for five years, and he was on the Auckland Law Faculty for 16 years before that, where he was also the Director of the Research Centre for Business Law.

Professor Bigwood has published widely in leading international journals on subjects within contract, equity and property law, and he has been a keynote speaker at international conferences on contract law. His publications include the following books: Legal Method in New Zealand (Butterworths, 2001); Exploitative Contracts (Oxford University Press, 2003) (awarded the JF Northey Memorial Book Award for 2003); The Statute: Making and Meaning (LexisNexis, 2004); Public Interest Litigation: The New Zealand Experience in International Perspective (LexisNexis, 2006); The Permanent New Zealand Court of Appeal: Essays on the First 50 Years (Hart Publishing, 2009); Contract as Assumption: Essays on a Theme (by Brian Coote) (Hart Publishing, 2010); The Law of Remedies: New Directions in the Common Law (Irwin Law, 2010) (with Jeff Berryman); and Cheshire & Fifoot, Law of Contract (10th Australian edition, 2012) (with Nick Seddon).

Professor Bigwood was formerly the General Editor of the New Zealand Universities Law Review, and was Editor of the New Zealand Law Review 2002-2008. He is currently a member of the editorial boards of the New Zealand Universities Law Review and the Journal of Contract Law. Professor Bigwood has received a number of awards, prizes and honours for his teaching at various tertiary educational institutions, in a variety of countries, including a National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award in 2006 (New Zealand).

Publications

Books (5)
Book Chapters (9)
Journal Articles (38)

Books

Seddon, Nicholas and Bigwood, Rick (2022). Cheshire and Fifoot law of contract. 12th ed. Chatswood, NSW, Australia: LexisNexis.
Fridman, Gerald and Bigwood, Rick (2019). Variations on the theme of contract. Toronto, ON Canada: LexisNexis Canada.
Seddon, N. C. and Bigwood, R. A. (2017). Cheshire & Fifoot law of contract. Sydney: LexisNexis.
Seddon, Nicholas , Bigwood, Rick and Ellinghaus, M. P. (2012). Cheshire & Fifoot’s Law of Contract. Sydney, Australia: LexisNexis, Butterworths.
Bigwood, Rick (2003). Exploitative Contracts. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

Book Chapters

Bigwood, Rick (2021). Contract Vitiation. Australian Contract Law in the 21st Century. (pp. 153-173) edited by John Eldridge and Timothy Pilkington. Alexandria, NSW Australia: Federation Press.
Bigwood, Rick (2020). The norm against misleading conduct and implications for the regulation of ‘misleading silence’. Misleading silence. (pp. 107-132) edited by Elise Bant and Jeannie Paterson. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing. doi: 10.5040/9781509929283.ch-005
Bigwood, Rick (2019). New Zealand perspectives on contract remedies. Research handbook on remedies in private law. (pp. 390-408) edited by Roger Halson and David Campbell. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781786431271.00031
Bigwood, Rick (2019). Exploitation. Reimagining Contract Law Pedagogy: A New Agenda for Teaching. (pp. 61-78) edited by Warren Swain and David Campbell. Oxford, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315178189
Bigwood, Rick A. (2018). Continuing representation and strict responsibility for accuracy after Cramaso: fact or (legal) fiction?. Transnational Commercial and Consumer Law: Current Trends in International Business Law. (pp. 187-221) edited by Toshiyuki Kono, Mary Hiscock and Arie Reich. Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-13-1080-5_8
Bigwood, Rick (2014). The partial codification of contract: lessons from New Zealand. Codifying contract law: consumer law and international law perspectives. (pp. 165-203) edited by Mary Keyes and Therese Wilson. Farnham, Surrey, United Kingdom: Ashgate.
Bigwood, Rick (2012). Review of A. Swan and J. Adamski’s Canadian Contract Law. Canadian Contract Law. (pp. 313-322) edited by Angela Swan and Jakub Adamski. Ontario, Canada: LexisNexis.
Bigwood, Rick (2009). From Morgan to Etridge: tracing the (dis)integration of undue influence in the United Kingdom. Exploring contract law. (pp. 379-430) edited by Jason W. Neyers, Richard Bronaugh and Stephen G. A. Pitel. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
Bigwood, Rick (2001). Taking Stock: Legal Method in New Zealand Today (and for the Future?). Legal Method in New Zealand: Essays and Commentaries. (pp. 305-338) edited by Bigwood, R. . Wellington, New Zealand: Butterworths.

Journal Articles

Bigwood, Rick (2023). Legal fictions and the attainment of the just result: Continuing (mis)representation and the Insurance Contracts Act. Journal of Contract Law, 39 (1) 1, 27-50.
Bigwood, Rick (2021). Strict Liability Unconscionability in the Supreme Court of Canada: Observations on Uber Technologies Inc. v Heller. Canadian Business Law Journal, 65 (2), 153-194.
Bigwood, Rick and Dietrich, Joachim (2021). Uncertainty in private law: rhetorical device or substantive legal argument?. Melbourne University Law Review, 45 (1), 60-98.
Bigwood, Rick (2019). Knocking down the straw man: reflections on BOM v BOK and the Court of Appeal's "Middle-Ground" narrow doctrine of unconscionability for Singapore. Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, 29-66.
Bigwood, Rick (2019). The undue influence of "non-Australian" undue influence law on Australian undue influence law: farewell Johnson v Buttress? Part II. Journal of Contract Law, 35, 187-215.
Bigwood, Rick (2019). Undue influence as constructive fraud. Journal of Equity, 13, 144-182.
Bigwood, Rick and Mullins, Rob (2018). Teaching Contract Vitiation in Australia: New Challenges in Subject Design. Bond Law Review, 30 (2), 185-216. doi: 10.53300/001c.6797
Bigwood, Rick (2018). The undue influence of "non-Australian" undue influence law on Australian undue influence law: farewell Johnson v Buttress? Part I. Journal of Contract Law, 35 (1), 56-89.
Bigwood, Rick (2017). ‘Rescuing the Canadian Unconscionability Doctrine? Reflections on the Court’s “Applicable Principles” in Downer v. Pitcher’. Canadian Business Law Journal, 60 (1), 124-155.
Bigwood, Rick (2013). Still curbing unconscionability: Kakavas in the High Court of Australia. Melbourne University Law Review, 37, 463-508.
Bigwood, Rick (2012). Fairness Awry? Reflections on the BCLI Report on Proposals for Unfair Contracts Relief. Canadian Business Law Journal, 52, 197-225.
McLauchlan, David W. and Bigwood, Rick (2011). Lapse of offers due to changed circumstances: A contract conversation. Journal of Contract Law, 27 (3), 222-246.
Bigwood, Rick (2011). Ill-gotten contracts in New Zealand: parting thoughts on duress, undue influence and unconscionable dealing — Kiwi-style?. Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, 42 (1), 83-116.
Bigwood, Rick (2011). Circumscribing election: reflections on the taxonomization and mental componentry of affirmation of a contract by election. University of Queensland Law Journal, 32, 235-277.
Bigwood, Rick (2010). Doctrinal reform and post-contractual modifications in New Brunswick: Nav Canada v. Greater Fredericton Airport Authority Inc.. Canadian Business Law Journal, 256-277.
Bigwood, Rick (2010). Fine-tuning affirmation of contract by election: part 2. New Zealand Law Review, 617-688.
Bigwood, Rick (2010). Fine-tuning affirmation of contract by election: part 1. New Zealand Law Review, 2010 (1), 37-91.
Bigwood, Rick (2009). “Threats” versus “warnings”. New Zealand Law Journal, 385-387.
Bigwood, Rick (2008). Throwing the baby out with the bathwater? Four questions on the demise of lawful-act duress in New South Wales. University of Queensland Law Journal, 27 (2), 41-84.
Bigwood, Rick (2006). The full truth about half-truths?. New Zealand Law Journal, 114-116.
Bigwood, Rick (2005). Contractual duress and the Supreme Court. New Zealand Law Journal, 140-141.
Bigwood, Rick (2005). Pre-contractual misrepresentation and the limits of the principle in With v. O’Flanagan. Cambridge Law Journal, 64 (1), 94-125. doi: 10.1017/S000819730500680X
Bigwood, Rick (2005). Contracts by unfair advantage: from exploitation to transactional neglect. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 25 (1), 65-96. doi: 10.1093/ojls/gqi004
Bigwood, Rick (2005). When Exegesis Becomes Excess: The Newborn Problematics of Contractual Duress Law in New Zealand. Journal of Contract Law, 21, 208-225.
Bigwood, Rick (2005). Antipodean reflections on the Canadian unconscionability doctrine. Canadian Bar Review, 84 (1 & 2), 171-216.
Bigwood, Rick (2004). 'The elements of duress in New Zealand law today': a case for Ockham’s Razor?. New Zealand Business Law Quarterly, 10 (4), 326-335.
Bigwood, Rick (2004). Exploitation in contract formation. New Zealand Law Journal, 278-280.
Bigwood, Rick (2004). Reflections on partial-truths, supervening falsification, and pre-contractual misrepresentation. New Zealand Business Law Quarterly, 124-159.
Bigwood, Rick (2004). Australian competition and consumer commission v CG Berbatis Holdings: curbing unconscionability: Berbatis in the High Court of Australia. Melbourne University Law Review, 28 (1), 203-231.
Bigwood, Rick (2002). Undue influence in the House of Lords: principles and proof. Modern Law Review, 65 (3), 435-450. doi: 10.1111/1468-2230.00388
Bigwood, Rick (2002). Some reflections on the personalty–realty interface in New Zealand. New Zealand Business Law Quarterly, 290-302.
Bigwood, Rick (2001). Economic Duress by (Threatened) Breach of Contract. Law Quarterly Review, 117, 376-381.
Bigwood, Rick (2000). Conscience and the Liberal Conception of Contract: Observing Basic Distinctions — Part II. Journal of Contract Law, 16, 191-222.
Bigwood, Rick (2000). Conscience and the Liberal Conception of Contract: Observing Basic Distinctions — Part I. Journal of Contract Law, 16 (Special Issue), 1-36.
Bigwood, Rick (1999). Are “Without Prejudice” Communications Admissible in a Claim for Rectification of a Settlement Agreement?. New Zealand Business Law Quarterly, 5, 199-203.
Bigwood, Rick (1996). Undue influence: 'impaired consent' or 'wicked exploitation'?. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 16, 503-515.
Bigwood, Rick (1996). Coercion in Contract: The Theoretical Constructs of Duress. University of Toronto Law Journal, 46 (2), 201-271. doi: 10.2307/825693
Bigwood, Rick (1987). The civil liabilities of air traffic control personnel in New Zealand. Auckland University Law Review, 5 (4), 429-439.