Contract Formation Flashcards
What happens first in the sequence of contract formation?
Invitation to treat
Adams-v-Lindsell (1818) set a precedent which has resulted in which common stipulation being included in contract documents?
Proof of postage is not proof of delivery?
The rule in Adams-v-Lindsell (1818) only applies to which form of communication?
Post
What can be considered valid as a consideration?
Something of at least nominal value (a pepper corn, money, a promise not to do something)
What kind of contract does not require consideration?
A deed
Name three contributors to the ‘battle of the forms’
- Counter offers
- Parties’ standard terms of purchase
- Parties standard terms of supply
When can a submitted tender be withdrawn?
Before it has been accepted
If you don’t want a discussion document to be enforceable as a contract what should you write on it?
Subject to contract
What, along with ‘offer’ and ‘acceptance’ completes the trinity test for contract formation?
Intention to create legal relations
What will generally create a legally binding contract?
Standard form contract
What do courts look for to determine whether the parties intended to create a binding contract?
What the persons said and did (objective factors)
What is the name of a contract that only comes into effect if a future event occurs?
A conditional contract
Name three types of people who cannot enter into a binding contract to buy a property?
A minor, a mentally impaired person, a dead person
In what circumstance can an offer be withdrawn?
Before it has been accepted
What is the nature of the ‘if’ contract?
An ‘if’ contract my arise to provide for payment for certain preliminary works on a construction project where the person who carried out those works does not win tender for the main project to which the preliminary works related
‘The law deals in end points, not negotiations along the way’ is most applicable to what?
Agreements to agree
Why is Blackpool & Fylde Aeroclub -v- Blackpool Borough Council (1990) a cause of concern for persons running tender contests?
It indicated that in certain circumstances (e.g. where the organisation running the contest had failed to follow its own stated contest rules) there might sometimes be a risk of liability to pay unsuccessful tenderers some compensation
What did the judge decide in Regalion Properties-v-London Docklands Development Corporation (1995)?
Any costs incurred by a person during a pre-contractual negotiation were incurred at that person’s own risk. If the negotiations broke down there would not normally be any claim to compensation or cost recovery against the potential client for costs already incurred
The Barnwell Report (1964) warned (unsuccessfully) about what?
The proliferation of standard form construction contracts promoted by various professional bodies
Name three standard form construction contracts
JCT - Joint Contracts Tribunal
ICE - Institution of Consulting Engineers
NEC - New Engineering Contract
