S1: Introduction to contract law

Question 1

What is a contract ?

Answer 1

Contracts are a legally binding agreement made between two or more parties. Parties who have chosen to enter a contract are subject to obligations.

Question 2

What is an agreement ?

Answer 2

It isn’t a mental state but an act which is a matter of inference from conduct. Parties aren’t judged by what’s in their minds but instead by what they’ve said or done.

Question 3

The Objective Approach in Contract Law- What is the quote used here ?

Answer 3

‘In the common law, to speak the outcome of consenting minds or even more mystically, of consensus adidem is to mislead’.

Question 4

Which side does contract law favour - The objective standard or subjective standard and what does this suggest?

Answer 4

The objective standard and this suggests that the court will look at all evidence available and what the reasonable man would believe.

Question 5

Howarth, ‘The Meaning of Objectivity in contract’ (1984) 100 Law Quarterly Review 265- What is the quote from here ?

Answer 5

’ your plea is utterly naught, for it doesn’t shew that when you made up your mind to take them, you signed it to Plaintiff…’

Question 6

What must a legally binding contract include ?

Answer 6

• Offer
• Acceptance
• Consideration
• ITCLR
• Certainty

Question 7

A summary of contract law- What are the key points ?

Answer 7

• It’s a branch of private law regulating agreements between individuals.
• It includes rights in personam
• They govern dealings and provide remedies when there’s a breach of contract
• It involves substantive rules concerned mainly around case law supplemented by statute.