Contract Law : A Fundamental Concept Of Relational Contract

Contract theory - studies how economic actors can and do construct contractual arrangements, generally in the presence of asymmetric information

Contract law has set out to provide a healthy trade environment. Contracts are promises enforced by the law, with the support of something of value that has a legal purpose. It is an agreement between parties, formed by the elements: offer and acceptance, with all parties having the capacity to perform obligations enforceable by law. There are instances where the enforcement of a contract would bring about gains or losses to society and commerce.

A contract is a bargain which two or more parties entered into voluntarily with a lawful object, each of whom intends to create one or more legal responsibility between them in law. Thus, a contract may be formed when two or more parties each promise to perform or to refrain from performing a little action now or in the future. (Boston, T. 1779) What is more, contract law shows what promises or commitments our society believes should be legally binding. Similarly, Professor Arthur Corbin's (1874–1967) famous first axiom of contract law is that the main purpose of law is the realization of reasonable expectations induced by promises. Hence, comments demonstrate that the purpose of contract law is to protect legal promises or commitments between two or more parties which build a

Contracts are an important part of everyday life. They are an essential part of business. As a student of a business law class, I will discuss in this paper several aspects of contracts. This paper will give a definition of a contract and the essential elements necessary to form a valid contract. It will briefly discuss breach of contract and the difference between a material breach and a nonmaterial breach of contract. Examples of legal and equitable remedies available for breach of contracts will be highlighted. Also, legal excuses for nonperformance or other grounds for discharge of contracts will be addressed. Finally, three types of common contracts personally and professionally encountered will be mentioned.

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

A legal contract arises when there is an offer, acceptance of that offer and also a sufficient consideration to make the contact valid. There are five essential elements that make a contract legal and these includes;

A contract comes into existence with the initiation of an offer made by one party, which in turn should be ‘accepted’ by the other party. The element of offer and acceptance thus initiate the legal process of the formation of a valid and binding contract. The significance of acceptance with respect to the contract laws stems from the fact that the proposed offer must be accepted by the promisee and forthwith be communicated to the promisor. Together offer and acceptance create a promise which can

Contracts are an integral part of our everyday life and play as important role in our personal and business lives. In order to deal effectively with promises provided in the business world, a legal framework is needed. Basically, a contract is a promise or set of promises, for which the law provides a remedy if a party breaches or failing to perform. In order to form a contract, four basic elements are needed: an agreement, bargained-for consideration, legal capacity to enter into the contract and a legal purpose consistent with law and public policy. The case Michelle M. Nichols v Century West, LLC et al. below described how the contract is important in business and the promises enforceable in court.

Due to the different roots of the two systems, the definition of a contract, as well as its formation, differ between contract law in Common Law Jurisdictions and in Civil Law Jurisdictions (France). The Common Law views contracts as bargains, exchange, a simple agreement has no binding force. It is mainly concerned with forecasting the impact and the binding legal consequences of a party’s promise. The structure or purpose of the contract is not as important as knowing whether the promise of performance that the contract is based upon is enforceable.

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).

When interpreting a contract, the literal approach is often taken to determine what was meant by the contract. The literal approach to contract interpretation means that when looking over a contract, words are assigned their ordinary meaning. Words are interpreted literally, as they ordinarily would be, regardless of the presumed context. However, giving words their ordinary meaning without adjusting for the context of the situation may cause problems. An example would be when a business places a clause in a contract proclaiming that any fees or costs associated with, say, the hourly cost of renting equipment, are subject to change without notice. This contract would cause problems should the fees suddenly be raised by an exorbitant amount because the literal approach would side with the business as they literally state that they could alter their fees at any time without any notice, and they reserve the right to change prices as they see fit. If, in the example given previously, the business hiked rental fees from $5,000 to $50,000 per year, the literal approach could be taken and be fully justifiable but could be problematic. Clearly, a reasonable person would see that a tenfold increase is completely unreasonable, but the literal approach would defend this. Therefore, it would be important to look at the other three forms of contractual interpretation to decide this matter.

Contracts can be made in various ways, whether these include written documents, verbally or virtually they all must have the same relative foundation or attributes to make it a legal document which holds persons accountable. These attributes or factors of a

Contractual agreements are supposed to be consensual, and freely entered into by the parties involved. Therefore, ‘before a court enforces a relationship as a contract, the courts must have a reasonably certain basis in fact to justify binding the parties to each other.’ (St. John’s Law Scholarship Repository, no date). Resolution of whether a contract was intended to be legally binding is not determined by what the parties themselves thought or intended. Rather, a more objective stance is taken by the courts. This is known as the objective theory of contract, and essentially enables ‘the courts to look at external evidence (what the parties said and did at the time)’ (Poole, 2006, p. 34), as to objectively indicate the parties’ intentions

Contracts are used in many different forms and for just as many different situations within our everyday lives. Some contracts are more involved than others and for some; contracts are an essential of their success. As we continue, we will take a look at different types of contracts with the main focus on enforceable contracts. With so many elements that are incorporated into any contract, the six essential elements of enforceable contracts will be the main focus of this writing. Having a clearer understanding of the essentials of life will help prepare us for life’s curves that may come our way.

Introduction: In this assignment I will go over a few legal terms in relation to contract law. I will also talk about a few precedents that help explain the law.