LAW4198 Australian Commercial Law Exam Notes Formation of contracts 1. Agreement Offer Offeror/promisor = person making the offer. Offeree/promisee = person to whom the offer is made. Characteristics of an offer Offer: Proposal; Invites acceptance; With a willingness to enter into a contract upon acceptance. An offeror will have made an offer where it appears to a reasonable person in the position of the offeree that an offer was intended. Subjective intentions are irrelevant. Examples Invitations to treat: An invitation to others to make offers or enter into negotiations; Display of goods for sale (customers make an offer when they present the items to the cashier. There is no sale until the cashier accepts that offer; Boots …show more content…
Electronic communication Email and Interactive websites i. Virtually instantaneous general rule should apply (ie. contract is formed when the offeree’s acceptance is received by the offeror; per Lord Wilberforce in Brinkibon)4; ii. Time of receipt governed by Electronic Transactions Act 2000 (Vic): ‘Electronic communication’ = a communication of information in the form of data, text or images (s 3(1)(a)). ‘Information system’ = a system for generating, sending, receiving, storing or otherwise processing ECs (s 3(1)). If the recipient has designated5 an information system for the purpose of receiving electronic communications, then, unless otherwise agreed, time of receipt = time when the EC enters the IS (s 13(3)); If the recipient has not designated an information system then, unless otherwise agreed, time of receipt = time when EC comes to the attention of the addressee (s 13(4)). 2. Consideration Essential elements When is consideration required? A’s promise to B can only be enforced by B if B has given consideration for that promise; An agreement not supported by consideration on both sides is nudum pactum (‘a naked agreement’) and unenforceable. Elements 1. Benefit/detriment requirement; Promisee must incur a detriment or confer a benefit on the promisor (Currie v Misa). Examples: Mutual promises: If B makes a promise in return for A’s promise, this will confer a benefit on A (because A will have an enforceable legal right to have the promise
14) Where a promise can only be accepted by the performance of the person to whom it is offered is an example of a/an
A bilateral contract comes into existence at the moment promises are exchanged. True, “promise for a promise”
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises herein set forth and subject to the terms and conditions hereof, the parties agree as follows:
Rule : : Contract formation requires mutual assent (offer and acceptance), consideration, and no viable defenses to contract formation.
Mutuality of obligation-This refers to the parties’ mutual understanding and also assents in expressing their
The following case American Agricultural Chemical Co. v. Kennedy & Crawford, 103 Va. 171 (Va.1904) it is expressed that; where the consideration for the promise of one party is the promise of the other party, there must be absolute mutuality of engagement, so that each party has the right to hold the other to a positive agreement. Both parties must be bound or neither is bound. A party making a promise is bound to nothing until a promisee, within a reasonable time, engages to do, or else do or begins to do, the thing which is the condition of the first promise. Until such engagement or such doing, the promisor may withdraw his promise, because there is no mutuality, and therefore no consideration for it.
…in every compact between two or more parties, the obligation is mutual; that the failure of one of the contracting parties to perform a material part of the agreement, entirely releases the obligation of the other; and that where no arbiter is provided, each party is remitted to his own judgment to determine the fact of failure, with all its consequences.
This is a legal term that is given to the bargained for exchange between the parties in which a contract is made. This can be something of some value that is passed from one party to the other. In addition each party of the contract will gain some benefit from the agreement as well as incur some obligation in exchange for the benefit received.
There are many ideas about the correct basis for contractual obligation. They include promise, consideration, and cause. All jurisdictions follow at least one. In Thomas E. Davitt’s The Elements of Law, the author articulates a very credible argument for the basis for contractual obligation being one of those named above. Davitt simplifies the arguments for all of these and names one correct basis: the promise itself. Generally Thomas E. Davitt, S.J., The Elements of Law, 272 (1959). This paper will argue in favor of Davitt’s writings. The basis for contractual obligation is the promise itself. In order to effectively argue in favor of one basis over the possible others, it is necessary to discuss and rule out the others.
A promise to perform subject to being able to obtain financing is an example of a condition precedent.
Electronic methods of communication refer to more modern communication, which can be performed through a variety of more modern devices, such as Computers (and laptops), Telephone/mobile phones,
• Explain that the remedies can be covered in court enforceable undertakings or ordered by the Court.
It is the policy of the Unique Bearings Company to provide an environment in which data can be captured in a manner that allows for its conversion to information and its future communication and use in the effective operation and management of the company.
NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the promises contained herein, intending to be legally bound hereby, the Parties agree as follows:
Privity of Contract is the relationship that exists between the promisor and the promise of a contract (Miller, 2016). Subcontractors