Elements of the law of contract Catharine MacMillan Richard Stone 2009 LLB 2650040 Diploma in Law 2690040 page 2 This subject guide was prepared for the University of London External System by: University of London External System Catharine MacMillan BA (Victoria) , LLB (Queen’s, Canada), LLM (Cantab), Lecturer in Law, School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London and Richard Stone LLB (Soton), LLM (Hull), Barrister, Professor and Head of Law, Lincoln Law School, University of Lincoln. In the 2004 edition of this guide Catharine MacMillan was primarily responsible for Chapters 1–2, 4–5, 7–8, 10–14 and 16–17. Richard Stone was primarily responsible for Chapters 3, 6, 9 and 15. Catharine MacMillan was responsible for the …show more content…
. . 6 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Studying the law of contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Method of working . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Some issues in the law of contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Plan of the subject guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Format of the examination paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 page 6 University of London External System Introduction This subject guide is designed to help you to study the Elements of the law of contract in England and Wales. This guide is not a textbook and it must not be taken as a substitute for reading the texts, cases, statutes and journals referred to in it. The purpose of the guide is to take you through each topic in the syllabus for Elements of the law of contract in a way which will help you to understand contract law. The guide is intended to ‘wrap around’ the recommended textbooks and casebook. It provides an outline of the major issues presented in this subject. Each chapter presents the most important aspects of the topic and provides guidance as to essential and further reading. Each chapter also provides you with activities to test your understanding of the topic and self-assessment exercises designed to assist your progress. Feedback to many of these activities is available at the back of this guide. There are
The particular focus of this essay is on how terms are implied. This is central because the courts intervene and impose implied terms when they believe that in addition to the terms the parties have expressly agreed on, other terms must be implied into the contract. Gillies argued that the courts have become more interventionist in protecting the rights of contracting parties thereby encroaching upon the notion of freedom of contract. The doctrine of freedom of contract is a prevailing philosophy which upholds the idea that parties to a contract should be at liberty to agree on their own terms without the interference of the courts or legislature. Implied terms can be viewed as a technique of construction or interpretation of contracts. It has been argued that the courts are interfering too much in their approach to determine and interpret the terms of a contract. The aim of this essay is to explore this argument further and in doing so consider whether freedom of contract is lost due to courts imposing implied terms. The essay will outline how the common law implies terms. The final part of the essay will examine whether Parliament, by means of a statute, or terms implied by custom restrict freedom in a contract. An overall conclusion on the issue will be reached.
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.
Welcome to TOP Education and TLAW201 COMPANY LAW. This document provides you with information relevant to successful completion of this unit; including schedule of lecture topics, prescribed texts, assessment policies, assessment tasks, examinations, academic and administrative contacts and online learning support facilities.
Overall in the briefing sheet I have made sure that all evidence is provided, also that a clear explanation is made of how a contract protects the consumer and what happens if that contract is breached. Mainly information is suggested on the different conditions made by the sales of goods act such as title, description, fitness for purpose and also satisfactory quality. Factors that invalidate contracts:
The assignment will provide detailed information using case laws and a report around the main elements of a contract. These case laws will include:
summarizing the most important principles of contract law governing the formation of an employment contract.
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.
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
In today’s English law, freedom of contract is one the foundation of contract law. The existence of freedom of contract requires three main considerations: the freedom to
A Contract requires several elements in order to be considered enforceable. However for the purpose of this essay we would explore one of these elements in order to effectively understand the controversial cases of Williams v Roffey Brothers and Nicholls (contractors) Ltd (1990) and Stilk v Myrick (1804). Before going any further one should briefly understand the doctrine of Consideration. Despite the vast amount of content written, the doctrine of consideration is still to this day unclear due to the inconsistency of the courts and its application of necessary rules. Consideration refers to that which the law deems as valuable in that the promisor receives from the promise that which was promised. In other words, it is the exchange of something of value between the parties in a contract. One should be mindful that in English law, every promise may not be legally enforceable; it requires the court to distinguish between are enforceable and non-enforceable obligations. This brings us to the controversial cases of Stilk v Myrick and Williams v the Roffery brothers. Many argue that that the case of Williams was wrongly decided leading to impairments in the rule initially established in Stilk v Myrick. This essay seek to analyse and critique the cases of Stilk v Myrick and Williams v Roffey Brothers and also highlight whether or not the new rule of Practical benefit lead to serious impairments in later cases.
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.
A contract is a written or spoken agreement between two or more parties that involves the exchange of two promises, which is intended to be enforceable by law. The four basic elements are the offer, consideration, acceptance, and mutuality. When elements are broken down individually, each one is just as important as the next. If one of these elements are broken or misunderstood, it could mean result in the contractual agreement becoming not valid and end in lawsuit. The overall purpose of the contract is for legal purpose and to keep a order within an agreement.
Using different types of sources an explanation to the basic principles of contract law and how they apply. From doing this there will then be an explanation to what extent standard forms of contract are special types of contract. Contract that has been chosen is the JCT 2005 standard from of contract with quantities.