Contract Law

Introduction

Contract basically describe as an agreement between two or more parties which is enforceable by law. Legislative and regulatory framework imposed by government of the UK guide the contracts (Amin, 2013). Thus, it is imperative to prevent unethical practices in the country. This report is basically focuses on the various aspects of contracts so that legal relationships between the parties can be understood. Further, present report will describe the different types of contracts and their potential impact on the parties involved. Lastly, several cases are presented and analyzed.

Case Scenario

Case 1

The case describes that Salvatore wanted to attract more customers to sale the cars. For this aspect, he needs to enter into a contract. It has been suggested that there are three types of contracts namely; face-to-face, written and distance (Ford, 2010). The best suitable contract for Salvatore is distance contract because; by developing the website for the garage, he can upload pictures of the cars in order to attract the customers. This aspect aids in attracting more customers by using different modes of communication like e-mails, telephone, social media, websites, etc. Thus, this enables him to know about the ways to place order and deal with customers.

It will be highly helpful to the Salvatore if; he prepares standard format of a contract or a deed (Milner, 2011). It is because; by doing this, he will be able to communicate with all terms and conditions which are planned prior to the commencement of contract. This will help in reducing the confusions and would become easier for Salvatore to make contracts with the customers. However, for Salvatore there is an option that he can do the modifications in the standard form of contract as per their will and nature of buyers (Contracts, 2015).

Case 2

A contract becomes a contract when there is an inclusion of term named “offer and acceptance”. Offer refers to as the proposal given by one of the party offerer where he proposes another party to enter into a valid contract (Zoll, 2012). The offer must be valid and to the point as described in the case of Harvey v Facey [1893] UKPC 1, where telegram sent by Facey does not give any evidence for the offer. However, it must be valid in eyes of law then only at the time of breach of contract, remedy can be paid. Offer can be terminated at the time of death of offerer and by the lapse of time. In case of Ramsgate Victoria Hotel v Montefiore (1866) LR 1 Ex 109, offer was terminated due to the lapse of time (Rancourt, 2011).

On the other hand, acceptance refers to as the reply given by the opposite party against the offer given to them (Chetwin, 2011). Once a valid acceptance is given then a binding contract is formed. To give a valid acceptance, offeree must communicate the acceptance to the offerer as in the case of Entorres v Miles Far East [1955] 2 QB 327. Further, the terms of acceptance must match with the terms of offer. Lastly, the agreement must be certain. However, according to the case of Felthouse v Bindley [1862] EWHC CP J35, silence does not mean acceptance.One can avail the best coursework help from Assignment Desk and get quality grades.

Case 3

In the given case, invitation to treat has been given by Salvatore and his son Markus to various people for the purchase of equipments used by mechanic at garage. They had given invitation to treat offer and thus, they received several offers from customers (Ayres, 2012). Thus, acceptance and rejection lies with them only. At this point, Mike gives an offer and Markus showed his consent and duly accepted the offer. Thus, there was a legal contractual relationship formed between them. However, Salvatore was unaware about this contract and he accepted the offer of Danny who made the offer on phone. The same mistake was conducted by Salvatore as he failed to provide information about this to the Markus. At evening, when Danny arrived he found out that equipments have been already sold to Mike and it costs a lot to Danny. Hence, Salvatore is liable to pay the damages to Danny and also he is liable to pay additional cost incurred by Danny for purchasing the parts (Sweet and Schneier, 2012).

Case 4

The parts were duly sold to the Mike and after the examination of those equipments; it was found that some of the parts are rusty. For these aspects, a buyer would now expect a refund (Kreitner, 2011). Thus, in this contract, there is a breach of condition. Therefore, a condition is the major element of a contract and if there is a breach of condition; then innocent party has right to terminate the contract and can claim damages along with that. This can be cited with the case law of Poussard v Spiers (1876) 1 QBD 41, in which innocent party had a right to break the contract because the central aspects of the contract was not fulfilled (Fisher and Kalbaugh, 2012). Therefore, a buyer could claim the refund and terminate the contract as the equipment is not working well which is a major aspect of the contract (Contract law, 2015).

If in case where some parts would differ in slightly different colour then, buyer could not expect the refund because this include the term warranty which constitutes the minor aspect of contract (Pieck, 2010). Further, when there is a breach of warranty then deceased party could claim for the damages. Therefore, in this case, Mike can claim for the damages and Salvatore could provide him the damages. This can be cited with the case of Bettini v Gye 1876 QBD 183.

Conclusion

From the above report, it can be inferred that every organization must have knowledge regarding aspects of contract because; this will help them to form a valid contract. It is necessary to solve and prove an appropriate solution to the legal dispute. The essential elements of a contract help in describing validity of contract. Moreover, this report also concludes that breach of condition and warranty results in termination of contract and repayment of damages respectively.

References

• Amin, N., 2013. Protecting consumers against unfair contract terms in Malaysia: the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act 2010. Malayan Law Journal. 1. pp.1-11.
• Ayres, I., 2012. Studies in Contract Law. Foundation Press.
• Chetwin, M., 2011. Comparative analysis of some aspects of assessment of damages for contractual breaches in England and Wales, Australia and New Zealand. International Journal of Law in the Built Environment. 3(2). pp.113-125.
• Fisher, J. A. and Kalbaugh, C. A., 2012. United States private-sector physicians and pharmaceutical contract research: A qualitative study. PLoS Med. 9(7). p.e100-1271.
• Ford, D. G., 2010. The ethical duties and prohibitions affecting the decision of an attorney to blow the whistle on an organization client. Mustang Journal of Law and Legal Studies. 1. p.44.
• Kreitner, R., 2011. On the New Pluralism in Contract Theory. Suffolk UL Rev. 45(8) p.915.
• Milner, 2011. Contract interpretation. Potential for relaxing the exclusionary rule. 3(3). pp. 205-221.
• Pieck, M., 2010. A Study of the Significant Aspects of German Contract Law. Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law. 3(1). p.7.
• Rancourt, S. J., 2011. Hacking, Theft, and Corporate Negligence: Making the Case for Mandatory Encryption of Personal Information. Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev. 18. p.183.
• Sweet, J. and Schneier, M., 2012. Legal aspects of architecture, engineering and the construction process. Nelson Education.
• Zoll, F., 2012. The binding power of the contract: Protection of performance in the system of the Common European Sales Law. Journal of International Trade Law and Policy. 11(3). pp.259 – 265.