About contract law

A contract is described as a legally binding relationship between two or more people. It may also be described as a collection of guarantees or promises, the violation of which the legislation provides the performance or redress for, and which is accepted as a duty by statute. Contracts are divided into four types: contracts under seal, basic contracts, contracts requiring written proof, and specialty or written contracts (Bradgate, Robert et al.).

Under the rule, written deals are contracts; this means that they must be formalized by a written document, such as a contract of selling of property, a contract of maritime insurance, or a hire purchase agreement. A contract under seal is that one written by one member of the contract then sealed and later on sent to other member or members for signature. The contract under seal does not require any form of consideration for example charge, mortgage, and the lease agreement. Contracts requiring a written evidence are simply those that must be evidenced by some memorandum or notes. These contracts must have these details first the signatures of the parties, the consideration (value), the full description of the particular subject matter, and a full description of all the parties involved so that it is easier to identify them. A simple contract represents an agreement whose formation is not subject to nay form of legal proceeding. Such agreements can be oral, partly written and verbal and written.

For any contract to be considered to be valid, then individual ingredients must exist. These elements are formality, legality, consideration, intention, capacity, acceptance and offer. This implies that a contract comes into existence when one individual who is known as an offer comes up with a contract that is unequivocally accepted by another party, both the parties to the contract must have the capacity to contract. Some consideration must exist, and all the parties to the contract must have intended their dealing to come up with a contract the legally binding. For any contract to be fulfilled, then it must be legal, and the required formalities have to be complied with.

An offer to a contract represents an unequivocal manifestation by one individual to a contract of his/her intention to enter into a contract with another party. The party to whom the intention is manifested is the offeree while the person who comes up with the intention is referred to as the offeror. Acceptance is the external manifestation by the offeree to assent to the contract that has been presented by the offeror. The agreement comes into existence at that moment when the minds of both the parties to the contract meet. Acceptance may be implied, written or oral and the offeree must have intended to accept the offer presented. Additional to intention and consumes capacity must characterize all the parties to a contract. Capacity means the legal ability of the parties to a contract form a contractual relationship. The contractual capacity is limited to certain classes of people namely Undischarged bankrupts, corporations, persons of unsound mind, drunken persons and minors or infants (MCKENDRICK, EWAN). The parties to the contract must have intended to form a legal agreement. This is one of the basic elements of contract law. An agreement is unenforceable unless all the parties to it intended such consequence. An agreement must also bee characterized by consideration so that it can be enforceable as a contract. A contract must also be legal; legality, in this case, does not just the criminal offense that is involved. It implies that the contract, in this case, must be unenforceable. Any illegal contract is simply unenforceable. In addition to all the elements of an agreement, certain formalities must comply with. These formalities include the requirement of consent, the requirement for written evidence, a requirement of writing and a requirement for signatures.

The Remedies for Contract Breach

The court of justice might compel a party to perform a contractual obligation that was previously agreed. The court might compel the party to perform their part without an option to pay the damages. The injunction is also a remedy in case one party decides to breach a contract; this arises when the court restrains a party to a contract to undo what has been wrongfully done or continue to do a certain thing. Rescission is also one of the remedies involved; the essence of this remedy is to restore the parties to the original position where they were before the contract.

Discharge of Contracts

A contract can come to an end when any of the following are done. First, by express agreement, operations of law, impossibility or doctrine of frustrations, performance and express agreement. The express agreement means that all the parties to the agreement agree to discharge the contract, discharge by performance means that all the parties satisfactorily fulfill their part. Frustration, on the other hand, means that performance of the obligation is taken to be impossible, commercial useless or impossible.

References

Bradgate, Robert et al. Commercial Law. 1st ed., Oxford, University Press, 2012,.

MCKENDRICK, EWAN. CONTRACT LAW. 1st ed., [S.L.], PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 2017,.