Ch 11 Introduction to Contracts

Question 1

Contracts

List: Offer ☑ Acceptance ☑ Consideration ☑ Legality ☑ Capacity ☑ Consent☑ Writing

Answer 1

A contract is a legally enforceable agreement

The List must be present.

[Other Important Isseues]
-Third-party interests. If Jerome and Tara have a contract, and if the deal falls apart, can Kevin sue to enforce the agreement? It depends.
-Performance and discharge. If a party fully accomplishes what the contract requires, his duties are discharged. But what if his obligations are performed poorly, or not at all?
-Remedies. A court will award money or other relief to a party injured by a breach of contract.

• A valid offer and acceptance. website set forth in terms
• Consideration.
• Capacity and legality
• Consent, no fraud or trickery
• Writing. don’t have to be.

Question 2

All Shapes and Sizes

Some contracts—like those in the opener—are small. But contracts can also be large

Answer 2

Many contracts involve public issues
At times, we even enter contracts without knowing it. We make contracts each time we download an app, purchase software, and order from a restaurant menu. We even form legally enforceable agreements when we buy a bag of chips from a vending machine.

Question 3

Contracts Defined

Answer 3

contract
A legally enforceable agreement
Basic questions.
* Is it certain that the defendant promised to do something?
* If she did promise, is it fair to make her honor her word?
* If she did not promise, are there unusual reasons to hold her liable anyway?

Question 4

Development of Contract Law

Answer 4

Courts have not always assumed that promises are legally significant
The common law changed very slowly, but by the fifteenth century, courts began to allow some suits based on a broken promise
* noncompetition agreement: A contract in which one party agrees not to compete with another

Question 5

Types of Contracts

Bilateral-Unilateral

Bilateral and

Answer 5

bilateral contract: A promise made in exchange for another promise.
In a unilateral contract, one party makes a promise that the other party can accept only by actually doing something.

Question 6

Excutory and Executed
Contracts, Valid, Uneforceable, Voidable, and Void Agreements
Express and Implied Contracts

Answer 6

• executory:An agreement in which one or more parties has not yet fulfilled its obligations
• executed:An agreement in which all parties have fulfilled their obligations
• valid contract: An agreement that satisfies all of the law’s requirements
• unenforceable agreement:An agreement in which the parties intend to form a valid bargain, but a court declares that some rule of law prevents enforcing it
• voidable contract: An agreement that may be terminated by one of the parties.
• void agreement: A contract that neither party can enforce because the bargain is illegal or one of the parties had no legal authority to make it.
• express contract: An agreement with all the important terms explicitly stated.

In an implied contract, the words and conduct of the parties indicate that they intended an agreement.

Question 7

Common Law

Answer 7

We have seen the evolution of contract law from the twelfth century to the present. Express and implied contracts, promissory estoppel, and quasi-contract were all crafted, over centuries, by courts deciding one contract lawsuit at a time. This pattern continues today: Many contract lawsuits continue to be decided using common law principles developed by courts.

Question 8

Uniform Commercial Code

Answer 8

. “Goods” means anything movable, except for money, securities, and certain legal rights.

Question 9

Enforcing Non-Contracts

Now we turn away from “true” contracts and consider two unusual circumstances.

Answer 9

• In promissory estoppel cases, the defendant made a promise that the plaintiff relied on.
• In quasi-contract cases, the defendant received a benefit from the plaintiff and retaining that benefit would be unfair.

Question 10

Promissory Estoppel

Answer 10

• Promissory Estoppel: A possible remedy for an injured plaintiff in a case with no valid contract, when the plaintiff can show a promise, reasonable reliance, and injustice

Even when there is no contract, a plaintiff may use promissory estoppel to enforce the defendant’s promise if he can show that:
* The defendant made a promise knowing that the plaintiff would likely rely on it,
* The plaintiff did rely on the promise, and
* The only way to avoid injustice is to enforce the promise.

Is enforcing the promise the only way to avoid injustice?

Question 11

Quasi-Contract

Example: “ I’d really like someone to paint my house” ..painter near by”

Answer 11

Quasi-contract: A possible remedy for an injured plaintiff in a case with no valid contract, when the plaintiff can show benefit to the defendant, reasonable expectation of payment, and unjust enrichment.

• The plaintiff gave some benefit to the defendant,
• The plaintiff reasonably expected to be paid for the benefit and the defendant knew this, and
• The defendant would be unjustly enriched if he did not pay.

quantum meruit: “As much as he deserves”—the damages awarded in a quasi-contract case