Seminar 2 – week 11

INTRODUCTION TO CONTRACT LAW

A. The objectives of the seminar are:

To introduce some of the key ideas embodied in the law of contract

 To broach the idea that some key ideas in contract may have problematic
aspects
 To ensure that students are able to locate the report of a named (older) case

Relevant Lecture: Week 10 Lecture on Introduction to Contract Law

B. Reading:

1. Required reading:

 University of Kent, Terms and Conditions of the Accommodation Agreement

(available at
https://media.www.kent.ac.uk/se/27531/TermsandConditionsoftheAccommod
ationAgreementsv1.pdf ) Also available on Moodle in week 11 section.

 Standard Form Contract example (on Moodle)

 L’Estrange v Graucob (1934) – (on Moodle)

2. Recommended reading

Janet O’Sullivan, O’Sullivan & Hilliard’s The Law of Contract, 10th ed. (OUP, 2022),
chapter 1 and pp. 165-168. If using older 9 th ed. (OUP, 2020): ch 1 and pp. 165-167.

Roe v Naylor [1917] 1 K.B. 712 (on Moodle)

Linda Mulcahy, Contract Law in Perspective – pp. 25-35 (on Moodle)

3. Background reading

John Wightman, Contract: A Critical Commentary (Pluto Press 1996).

Enright, M., “Contract Law” in Great Debates in Gender and the Law. Great Debates
in Law (Red Globe Press 2018) (on Moodle)

John Adams and Roger Brownsword, Understanding Contract Law, 5th ed. (Sweet &
Maxwell, 2007) pp. 3-16 (on Moodle)

C. Questions to prepare for discussion in the seminar:

1. A common definition of a contract is ‘an enforceable agreement’ based on mutual
promises. What does ‘enforceable’ mean? Do the following relationships seem to
fit this?
1. X buys a newspaper at the local shop
2. Y hires a car
3. Z buys a train ticket
4. A student becomes a member of a University

2. What does it mean to say that the test of agreement is objective rather than
subjective?

3. What is usually meant by ‘freedom of contract’?

4. What is a standard form contract? Have you recently contracted on somebody’s

standard terms?

5. You are a solicitor and are approached by a student who is considering staying in
the student accommodation provided by the University of Kent, which uses the
standard terms provided in the reading pack. Identify three clauses which might
adversely affect your client, explaining the problem and how each clause might
be written differently.

6. Examine the sample standard form contract (the two-page document on Moodle).
a. Who do you think had this contract drawn up? What was their objective?
b. Who do you think actually wrote the contract?
c. How could a householder dealing with a builder become bound by these
terms?
d. If you were about to have building work done, would you question any of
the terms? What might the response of the builder be?

7. Read L’Estrange v Graucob (1934)

a. According to L’Estrange, does it matter whether a party has read or
understood a contract? Or if the party putting it forward realises the
other has not read or understood it?
b. Read Roe v Naylor (1917). Is there anything in the Roe judgment that
suggests the court in L’Estrange could have reached a different
decision?
c. Is L’Estrange still good law (and how do you find out?!)?

8. Does the law of contract have a purpose (or purposes)? If so, can you define it?
1 – An enforceable contract is one that people can be made to obey – not all
contracts are enforceable by law, which means that the court must enforce the
contract or law. When a party is enforced to oblige by the contract.
If X bought the newspaper that means they agreed to an enforceable agreement.
This is because it includes an offer and acceptance.
Y agreed to an agreement when he hired the car (mutuality and offer and
acceptance).
Z buying a train ticket means that he agreed to the train stations rules, it was an offer
and acceptance.
A student becoming a member of a university forces him to abide by the terms and
conditions of the university.

2 – The objective test of agreement is when the court decides whether there is
contract based on the outward appearance of what constitutes the contract.
However, the subjective test of agreement involves trying to establish whether there
was a “meeting of minds” when the contract was made. This relates to the
defendant’s perspective of the contract.

3 – Freedom of contract refers to the ability of parties to bargain and make the terms
of their agreement without the interference of an official party.

4 – A standard form contract is where the terms and conditions are non-negotiable
by the party agreeing to the contract. The accommodation contract is considered a
standard form contract.
- 'sanctity of contracts' implies that contracts should always be strictly enforced.

5 – Three clauses:
-Clause 6.1 about access may be an issue to the client as they wouldn’t be
comfortable with someone entering their room with a master key without prior notice
if they think its necessary. The clause can be rewritten to please the client, by only
allowing university staff to enter the accommodation whilst the client is present.
-Clause 6.3 about visual room checks can also cause a similar issue as the client
may not be contented with the fact that a designated staff member can enter their
accommodation at any time.
-Clause 11.1 about the termination of the agreement can be distressing as failure to
disclose information can cause the termination of the agreement. The client may
unintentionally give misleading information and that would terminate the agreement.
The clause can be rephrased to make the client feel at ease when agreeing to the
contract.

8 – The purpose of a contract is for parties to maintain a formal and professional

relationship by providing terms that both parties agree to.