Elements of a contract - by Ms. Daniela Zabala
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The document discusses the key elements of contract law in English and American jurisdictions, emphasizing the components necessary for a binding contract: offer, acceptance, consideration, and intention to create legal relations. It illustrates these concepts through a practical example involving a disagreement over a vacation arrangement, as well as landmark legal cases such as 'Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co.' and 'Donoghue v. Stevenson,' which highlight the principles of unilateral offers and duty of care in contracts. The material serves as an educational resource for understanding legal agreements and their implications.
Elements of a contract - by Ms. Daniela Zabala
- 1. The Language of Contract Law Seminario Inglés Jurídico 2020 Dra. Daniela Zabala Universidad Católica de Cuyo sede San Luis- Equipo de Trabajo en Ingles jurídico.
- 2. CONTRACT It is a legal agreement between two or more parties
- 3. The elements of a contract It is a general principle of English and American contract law that all of the necessary elements must be present to make a binding contract 3
- 4. “Maria is Charles's girlfriend. The relationship started eight months ago. Charles asks Maria if she would like to go to Italy with him for a skiing holiday. Maria agrees. Charles pays for the holiday on his credit card. The cost is £2500 in total. However, a week before the holiday Maria meets Will.4
- 5. “…Maria calls Charles and explains that she is now Will’s girlfriend and she doesn’t want the holiday. Charles is very angry. He demands £1250 from Maria and says she has to pay. She says she thinks the holiday was a present from him. Charles says the holiday was not a present because Maria has a great job and makes more money tan him. …Do the have a contract?5
- 6. The elements of an English contract are: ▸ Offer ▸ Acceptance ▸ Consideration ▸ Intention 6
- 7. OFFER The first element of a contract where one of the parties makes a proposal to the other party. The proposal is on absolutely certain terms. 7
- 8. ACCEPTANCE It is an unconditional agreement to what is proposed by the other party. It is absolutely necessary that a person accepting an offer does not change the terms of the original offer. 8
- 9. CONSIDERATION ▸In order to make the contract valid, the parties must exchange something. Each of them must give something to the other, such us money, goods or services. It must be reciprocal. ▸The parties must gain some benefits from what is exchanged or detriment some loss. Motive: personal reason for entering into a contract9
- 10. INTENTION ▸ Intention to create a legal relationship ▸ The court look at the relationship between the parties and decide if they really want to make things legally binding in this particular situation10
- 12. 12 THE PARTIES
- 13. THE END OF AN OFFER ▸ LAPSED: to much time has passed. ▸ COUNTER OFFER: cancel the original offer by making a new offer. ▸ REJECTED: cancel the original offer by not accepting it. ▸ REVOKED: the offer is withdrawn. 13
- 14. HOW MUST ACCEPTANCE BE COMMUNICATED? ▸ Must be made to the offeror and not to anyone else. ▸ Must be communicated, cannot be by silence ▸ Must be actually heard or received. ▸ If the offer specifies a method of acceptance it must be used. 14
- 15. YOUR TURN! LET’S PRACTISE 1) “I´ll give you £85 instead of £100 for each ticket” 2) “You say that you accepted my offer by email. It never arrived.” 3) “No thank you, the price is too high… Forget it.” 1) “I’ve changed my mind. The offer is no longer open.” 15
- 16. YOUR TURN! LET’S PRACTISE 1) “As well as an offer, acceptance and consideration, the parties to a contract need to have ….. to create a legal relationship.” 2) Both parties to the contract must provide consideration, in other words it must be ….” 16
- 18. ▸ It is a 1892 decision from the U.K. Court of Appeal. ▸ The Court of Appeal held that an advertisement containing particular terms to get a reward is considered a binding unilateral offer that is accepted by anyone who completes its terms. ▸ In this case, the company created a flu remedy called the ‘carbolic smoke ball’. As part of its advertising campaign, the manufacturer stated that customers would be awarded £100 if they found it did not work. 18 CARLILL V. CARBOLIC SMOKE BALL CO.
- 19. ▸ Mrs Louisa Elizabeth Carlill bought the product, used it for months, but still caught the flu. When the company refused the pay out, Mrs Carlill sued. The Court of Appeal found that the advertisement constituted a binding agreement as the essential elements of a contract – including offer and acceptance, consideration and an intention to create legal relations – were all present. ▸ The Carlill case played a large role in developing the law of unilateral offers, and laid the foundation for the modern practice of outlawing misleading advertising. 19 CARLILL V. CARBOLIC SMOKE BALL CO.
- 20. ▸ 1932. It relates to negligence in Contract Law. It is a House of Lords decision. ▸ It sets out the principle whereby one person would owe a duty of care to another due to a Contract. ▸ Mrs Donoghue went on holiday. In Paisley, she entered a café, and drank a bottle of ginger beer. The bottle contained a dead snail. When she fell ill, she sued the manufacturer, Mr Stevenson. 20 Donoghue v Stevenson
- 21. ▸ The case proceeded all the way from the Court of Session to the House of Lords. The H.of L. held that the manufacturer was liable as he owed a duty of care to the customer. ▸ This duty of care was breached, because it was reasonable to foresee that a failure to ensure product safety could harm the consumer. ▸ The ”neighbour principle” was born: the idea that “one must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions that could reasonably be foreseen as likely to injure one's neighbor”. (1932)21 Donoghue v Stevenson
- 22. THANK YOU! Hope you enjoyed it! Source: Mason Catherine.“The Lawyers English Language Coursebook”, Second Edition, Global Legal English LTD, 2014, England. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d6bc0d06-609c- 4a50-9dd6-8ebbe0e998f3