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Contract Law Basics Presentation
Contract Law Basics Presentation
Instructor’s Name
Course Title
Date
C O N T RAC T L AW , T H E B A S I C S
ok before i begin is there anyone here that has already completed the
ls1509 course in contract law? good then we can begin.
ok the idea of todays meeting is to give you some idea of the basics of
contracting, im not going to bombard you with cases and i dont want you to
take notes i just need everyone to listen participate.
by the end of the evening i hope you will all have some idea of what a
contract is, how a contract is formed, what type of terms you can expect to
find in a contract and what happens when there is a breach of contract
obligations.
right first off, can anyone define a contract for me???? good , ok, at the
most basic level a contract is an agreement , most contracts can be made
orally or in writing, you all make contracts each and every day, when you buy
things from a shop, when you get on a bus or a train. contract law is really
important to soociety because it provides a framework for commerce as well as
adjudicating disputes.
ok now for a more formal definition. dont worry were going to break it
down. starting with capacity, now your going need to know all this in much
more detail next year but as an overview. contracts made by a person under
the age of 16 are void. the act does of course have exceptions under s2 so
children under 16 can make contracts suitable for there age group this
generally covers buying things from shops etc. Someone who is insane likewise
has no contractual capacity and neither do people who are incapacitated
through drink or drugs but this is only if your too shitfaced to know what your
doing, ive put a wee questionmark up on the slide because the law is often
reluctant to reduce contracts because someones blazing.
right , this is the important part. were going to look at exactly how a
contract is made. the formation of a contract really boils down to a negotiation
with each party pursuing his or her interests.
well use this pen as an example, terms etc ok i offer you accept, at the
point of your acceptance the contract is created this is because both of us are
in agreement the words we have spoken are objective evidence of what is
called consences in idem or meeting if the minds
now if for instance i offer to sell you this pen for 20 pounds and you give me
a different offer there is no consenses between us . what you have done is
issued a qualified acceptance. the effect of this is that my previous offer is
effectively struck down legally you can not turn round and say i accept your
original offer because it no longer forms part of the contract
the reason we have this rule that a counter offer kills the original offer is to
create certainty over the content of the terms of the contract if we allowed
prior negotiations to be mooted in the courts then no one would contract as
there is little certainty that you have a stable contract.
breach of contract occurs when one party breaks one or more of these
terms without justification so for instance if i failed to give you your bottle of
water that would constitute a breach of contract.
you have to be aware however that not every failure will amount to a
breach if for example i tried to deliver your water to you but you wouldnt
answer your door and had taped up the letterbox then this would not amount
to a brech
where the innocent party has suffered a breach there will often be a
remedy. sometimes this can be specified in the contract itself and at other
times it will be implied in law
ok now we,ve got that out of the way we can move on to the two basic
principles that govern breach of contract mutuality and materiality.
well start with mutuality. right obligations under a contract are reciprical in
nature, in other words they are counterparts of one another i give you
something in exchange for something else.
the next big concept we need to look at is materiality. can anyone guess
what materiality means. ok materiality means the degree of seriousness, or
importance of the breach.. the more serious the breach the more remedies
become available . to illustrate imagine if you order a porche from a car
salesman and the delivered you a ford focus this would be considered a
material breach. when there is a material breach the party at fault is said to
have repudiated the contract does anyone remember what repudiation
means ? Now heres the important bit , when a contract is repudiated i.e there
is a material breach or the party walks away from the contract the innocent
party has a personal remedy . he can rescind the contract, which basicaly
means bring it to an end this is one of the only remedies you dont need to go
to court to exercise.
now, im not going to bore you for much longer guys this is the last slide. ok
so judicial remedies.
ok thats me finished for the day and your all free to go , im sorry if i bored
you , if you have any questions dont hesitate to go to the library and pick up a
book on contract law, the blue one by woolmans pretty good , right , cheers