Binding Contract and Existing Duty Rule

The case of Jonah v White (2012) 48 FAM LR 562 wishes to appeal the original decision of Murphy J, in which his Honour asserted that the appellant, (“Ms Jonah”) and the respondent (“Mr White”) had not been in a de-facto relationship in correspondence with the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (“the Act”). The appeal is bought before May, Strickland and Ainslie-Wallace JJ in the Full Court of the Family Court of Australia in Brisbane. The case seeks to question and determine what constitutes a law-binding de-facto relationship.

The law of contract requires that there must also be evidence of an intention to create legal relations between the parties. However it is usually held that the decision is against the intention for an agreement domestic in nature to be legally binding, such as in the case of Cohen v Cohen where an agreement between family members that may be morally binding will not necessarily create a lawfully binding contract. However there are exceptions to this. When both parties show an intention to enter a legally binding arrangement and it would be unreasonable for one party to revoke their decision, the arrangement holds evidence of a possible contract.

There are three main elements for the formation of a legally binding contract, intention, agreement and consideration. The requirement that requires discussion here is the existence of an agreement by the parties to enter into a legally binding contract.

a) Alan wants to know the five requirements in order to make a valid contract.

A contract is a legally obligatory promise or set of promises (Bagley, C. 2013). If this promise is broken, either party involved can be legally responsible and take the other party to court. There are four basic elements in the creation of a valid contract. The first consist of an agreement between the parties involved, by an presented offer and acceptance. The second states that the parties’ promises must be supported by something of worth, known as consideration. The third advises both parties must have the ability to enter into a contract. The fourth element states the contract must have a legal purpose (Bagley, C 2013).

A contract requires four elements to be valid. Essential elements in any contract include the following: agreement, consideration, legal ability, and a legal object (Kubasek, Browne, Herron, Dhooge, & Barkacs, 2016). The agreement includes the offer made to the other party who then agrees to enter into the contract. The consideration includes the exchange each party receives as a result of the contract. The legal ability is capacity one has to enter into a legal contract. The legal object is the legality of the contracted issue. These elements together create an effective, valid contract.

In regards to the issue between Mr. Stevens and the chain store, various elements must be present to prove that a valid contract exists. The four elements to a contract are: agreement between the parties, consideration, contractual capacity, and finally, legal object (Kubasek, Browne, Giampetro-Meyer, Barkacs, Herron, Williamson, & Dhooge, 2011).

The court held that the participation of P’s aunt and grandmother in the transaction did not change the rule that contracts by a minor regarding personal property are voidable.

Danny Davidson sold a single family home to Paul and Priscilla Peterson. A long-term relationship between Danny and Paul is the basis for not including a written agreement. The simple contract was made orally and only included the legal object and the amount to be paid. Danny did not disclose a dispute with his neighbor over boundary lines or include information about a soil subsidence in the front yard he claims not to have known about.

P1.1 explain the importance of the essential elements required for the formation of a valid contract

Question 4. 4. (TCO 4) Sandy mails a letter back to Andrea that she has signed; the letter makes reference to a car Andrea has for sale and Andrea’s desired price. When Andrea later delivers the car to Sandy, Sandy returns the car, claiming she does not want the car and that they did not have a contract, so she is not bound to keep the car. Andrea, however, claims they do have a contract and wants to enforce said contract for the price of the car. What standard would the court use to determine whether there is a contract between the parties for the sale of the car? (Points : 25)

Two other elements that are necessary for the successful conclusion of the contract are reality of consent and legal capacity of the parties to form a contract .

In contract law there are four basic elements that must be met before a contract can be valid. These elements are: an offer and intent to do something, acceptance of what is offered, intent to create legal relations, and consideration. (Kubasek 2008). In the case of Sam Stevens and the national chain store, an offer is made when the chain store manager says it will sell Sam’s barking dog machine exclusively.

Contracts can be defined through promises between parties that are enforceable through law. We know that both parties agreed verbally, an oral agreement was made to hold the car for one day with a hundred-dollar deposit and Stan agreed to the terms that the deposit was refundable. Contracts can be in in two form which are written or oral. Based on the elements of contracts, many fundamentals factors are considered mandatory to form a contract that is binding on parties and are primarily outlined through the following:

The four elements of a valid contract are offer and acceptance, meeting of the minds, consideration and competent parties. The contract must cover a legal purpose or objective as well (Binder, 2012). The objective theory of contracts holds that contract formation is dependent on what is communicated, rather than what is thought by one of the parties (Barnes, 2008).