Various Issues of Contract Law - Essay Example

?Contract Law This paper has been divided into four different parts as part of the The shall deal each part separately and equal wordings will be provided for each and every part of the paper. Part 1 Valid Deal in the Court of Law: This part of the paper shall discuss and explain a valid deal in the court of law, how it is done and the different parts to the same. To start with, let us understand the definition of deal from a legal perspective: “Agreement to sell or exchange” In a layman terms, a deal is an agreement, which is entered into between by two or more parties for the sale or exchange of goods or services. This is the basic definition and understanding of how a deal is formed. Following are the characteristics of deal: 1. Agreement between parties 2. Agreement for consideration of goods or services 3. Should be in a written format 4. Should have an offer and an acceptance to the same offer 5. Deal should be sufficient in nature 6. There should be damages if the deal does not take place As mentioned above, a deal starts with an offer made by one party, then the same offer has to be accepted in the language it was made by the other party.1 The characteristic of an offer consists of a consideration on both sides to the parties. Without consideration like money, service a deal/contract cannot e formed between the two parties. It is paramount that each and every deal consist of a consideration to do something or to not do something in return of the favor by the other party. Once the parties form the deal, the next step is to get it down in a written format so that the same can be challenged, and argued in a court of law. An oral deal does not stand any status or character in the court of law. Part 2 This part of the paper is divided into three questions. The first question is as follows: Advice Jay on his position: Jay had been given the power to run the business and saw an advert for a sale of Bankrupt stock in the warehouse. He decided to place an order for 500 Singing Santas from the warehouse and promised them that he will be at 7 to pick them up. However, when he arrived the stock has been sold to someone else. Applying the principles of contract law, at the outset, Jay saw an advert which was an invitation to offer and not an offer it totality. Following is the definition of invitation to offer: “invitation to treat – that is, an invitation for other people to submit offers. Some everyday situations, which we might think, are offers are in fact invitations to treat: Goods displayed in a shop window or on a shelf. When a book is placed in a shop window priced at ?7.99, the bookshop owner has made an invitation to treat.” Understanding from the above definition, the advert in the warehouse was a merely invitation to offer and not an offer. Once Jay placed an order of 500 Singing Santas, he offered his willingness to purchase the bankrupt stock, and not vice versa. This means that the offer was made by Jay and not by the warehouse owners. The next step in this contractual relation is the acceptance of the offer. The warehouse owners were made an offer by Jay, and it was upto them to accept it or withdraw. As obvious from the facts, they withdrew the offer by selling the bankrupt stock to someone else. Therefore, there is no legal defense in this case for Jay. There is no breach of contract as there was no contract formed in the first place. b) After leaving, Jay bought a handful of flashing fairy lights and put it up on sale. When he put it on sale he had written a disclaimer saying that goods will not be refunded until and unless there is a defect with the object of purchase. There were three customers who were not happy with the purchase, and this part of the essay shall deal with each and every customer. Elena is the first distraught customer, who claims that the lights do not flash. This is a genuine defect with the goods and this falls within the ambit of the disclaimer written down by Jay. Therefore, Jay should refund Elena immediately. In the second case, Henry complained that his set does not work at all. Even in this case, this falls within the ambit off the disclaimer provided by Jay. Therefore Jay should refund the money he owes to Henry immediately. In the third cased Anita is annoyed because of the fact that the colour of the lights is too bright for the creation of a romantic corner in her house. This is not a need, which has been covered by the disclaimer provided by Jay. Therefore, since there are no shortcomings in the product, Jay need not refund Anita. c) In this situation, Jay knocks off the 50 USD in the Bill, which was presented to him by Samantha. Under the contract law, Samantha and jay had entered into a valid contract, which was revoked by Samantha at the last moment. Since Samantha breached the contract, she is responsible for the damages to Jay, which in this case comes to 500 USD for the use of the services of an alternate source. Therefore, Jay is legally entitled to knock off the 500 USD from the bill, under the purview of the Contract law.2 Part 3 Laws of Negligence with respect to Business: Laws of negligence are pertinent to any business, which strives to be successful in nature. Following is the definition of negligence: “Conduct that falls below the standards of behavior established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. A person has acted negligently if he or she has departed from the conduct expected of a reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances.” 3 Negligence consists of three elements. The first element is the duty of care to the neighbor, the second element is the breach of that duty and the final element is the damage arising out of such breach of duty. Negligence plays a major role in the business shapes up and al the entrepreneurs should be wary of not acting negligently in the course of their business activities. Part 4 Occupier’s liability is the liability of the owner of the property to make sure that the place is safe for those who enter the premises. “in Robert Addie and Sons v Dumbreck [1929] AC 358, Lord Halisham stated that the highest duty was owed to a person who had been invited into the property in which case the occupier had to take reasonable care to ensure the premises were safe.” 4 It is the responsibility of the owner/occupier to make sure that no act of negligence takes place in their premises. b) Tim suddenly came before the car and Jay ended up hitting Tim and injuring him badly. Tim owed a duty of care under the law of negligence to Tim and everyone else on the road while he was driving his care. Therefore, according to the law of negligence Jay does owe a duty of care to Tim, and since he has breached such duty he should pay him for the damages. However, the principle of Contributory Negligence would work in the favour of Jay and it shall reduce the quantum of damages dramatically. The principle of contributory negligence says that when a man lands himself up in a position where he acts negligence and suffers from the same, then the individual who acted negligently would not have to be responsible for the entire act committed. Therefore, in this case it is contributory negligence on the part of Tim for suddenly landing up on the road, and that is why the quantum of damages would be low. Answering the second part, there would be no difference whatsoever to the advice if any set of circumstances would have occurred. c) Tim had been running to catch a bus for a demonstration he was supposed to give at a street dancing competition. He unfortunately got injured. The damages would include the fee of the demonstration at the street dancing competition. Since Tim was moving for the demonstration that is the nearest loss he faced due to the negligent act of Jay. Had Jay not him, then he would have surely got the fee for the dancing demonstration he was going to give at the competition. Rest of the money, which he could have earned, is not a matter of fact but more as a matter of chance, and therefore the damages do not include the income, which is foresighted. However, in this case the income, which was a fact, would be paid to Tim as part of the damages for the negligent act committed by Jay. References Claim-advice.com (1957) Occupiers' Liability | Tort Law Advice. [online] Available at: http://www.claim-advice.com/occupiers_liability.html [Accessed: 10 Nov 2012]. Legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com (2012) deal legal definition of deal. deal synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary.. [online] Available at: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/deal [Accessed: 10 Nov 2012]. Legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com (2003) negligence legal definition of negligence. negligence synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary.. [online] Available at: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/negligence [Accessed: 10 Nov 2012]. Tutor2u.net (2012) Contract - Elements of a Contract. [online] Available at: http://tutor2u.net/law/notes/contract-elements.html [Accessed: 10 Nov 2012]. Read More