Contracts: a legally enforceable agreement • Essential agreements between parties • When you make purchases and sales those are contracts. What are the terms? How much am I paying, how long is the agreement, etc. • Legally enforceable: if someone does not keep their promises, then you can go to court and seek a remedy. You can sue them. You can file a breach of contract. • In the area of civil law again. • Why wouldn’t an agreement be legally enforceable? K is the civil law for contract. Contracts are subset of the larger set known as agreements. • Illegal agreements: if you make an agreement that violates the law you cannot sue the person if the don’t go through with it. o Gambling is illegal, hiring a hit man, criminal agreements are unenforceable o If the hit man kills the person, but the student doesn’t pay. If he sued the student it would not happen. Common sense says don’t do it. o “He who seeks equity must do equity” – you have to act fairly to get treated fairly. o Unclean hands doctrine: if you come into court with unclean hands (done something wrong) then the court is not going to give you a remedy. You have to act appropriately • Social agreements are also not enforceable o You and your friend agreed to meet somewhere so you can receive a ticket and he never showed up. If you sued your friend for this, then the judge would dismiss the suit. It is a social agreement – we are not going to get involved in social agreements. o If we had social agreements in court, we would have an avalanche of cases. o Exceptions to this rule: guy asked this girl to prom and she had bought shoes, dress, did her hair. He stood her up. They eventually settled. Blurring of the lines. o Proposed to a woman, she said yes. Both parents are paying for the wedding spent 20-30k for this wedding. The day before the wedding decides to cancel. At this point somebody has to pay. This is not a social agreement, it is a business agreement. Court figures out who is responsible.732.702 Waiver of spousal rights - Want to enter into a legally binding contract. Enter in one of these contracts before or after marriage, or not after at all. Pre-Nuptial/Post-Nuptial: in writing, signed and in the presence of two scribing witnesses. It has to be a formal written contract. Those who are really wealthy and has lots of property, they want to make sure they know what belongs to who. Law says you think about it before hand, rather than after. Famous people have entered into pre-nuptial. • Kate and Will were advised to sign a prenup. We don’t know if they ever did. Private matter. Remain confidential agreements. Essentials of a contract • 1. Agreement – manifestation of mutual assent • Manifestation means a showing. You show each other that each of you agrees to something. You either orally agree or contract in writing. Also shown through conduct. Words are not necessary to the formation of a contract o A. the objective theory of contracts (“meeting of the minds”) § Look at things from an objective basis as opposed to a subjective basis § Meeting of the minds: we agree on the same thing, on the same terms, at the same time. § Seller offers to sell horse for $2200 and the buyer immediately sends the letter back to the letter, I accept your offer to sell the horse for $2200 and enclosed the check. The buyer meant to say it was for $2500. Seller says they don’t have a contract because they aren’t meeting of the minds. § We can only rely on what people objectively manifest. What this particular seller says $2200, we can’t go on in the mind of a seller, the most objectively way of saying something is in words. Seller should have proofread his letter. • 2. Obligation – legal duty o You have an ethical obligation in social agreements. Meeting someone for a date, inviting someone to a play. They should keep their word, but the law does not require this. This is moral duty. There is no legal duty in social agreements. Types of Contracts • A. Express – agreement manifested in words (oral or written)o Dozens of kinds. Signing a lease, there are words and this is written. Does not have to be written. But an express contract is in words • B. Implied – agreement manifested by conduct (dental appointment) o You aren’t even having any words o Dentist fills cavity the fee is $500. At no time do you have a conversation that you will pay if the fee if necessary. Otherwise why else would you be there. You may never have talked about any of the financial terms but you know that you are going to pay. The dentist sues you because you refuse to pay. o In an implied contract, all the terms of the contract are impliedly reasonable. This is the law. How are you going to defend the lawsuit. § Bring in the prices of other dentists to fill cavities. § Reasonable means fair market value of filling a cavity. Reasonable is going to vary from case to case and service to service. o Buying a drink at a convenience store, you don’t have to say a word but it is a contract. You wanted to buy it and you did. It can be all by conduct. • C. Unilateral – promise for an act o Uni: means one o Only one promise – I promise to do something for you if you do something for me o Example: Reward for lost dog. Whoever finds my dog, I will pay. Not necessarily looking for the dog. Once the act is complete, then I will come through the promise o May not have to pay a realtor if they didn’t sell your house in the time you wanted • D. Bilateral – promise for a promise o Bi – two o Two or more promises – you are buying and selling food, merchandise. Each person is promising to do something, a promise in return for a promise. Most common type of contract. o Does not have to be in writing. It can be oral • E. Executory – not yet performed o We haven’t started the contract yet o Not yet performed or even begun. You haven’t done any work, I haven’t done any. • F. Executed – completely performed o After working for a month, I pay you.Elements of a Valid Contract • A. Mutual Assent (offer and acceptance) – is the agreement. o If I offer to pay you for your horse then you will give it to me. It is an agreement. • B. Consideration – the bargained for exchange. o Quid pro quo. Tit for tat. o All contracts are a two way street. I will do this for you if you do that for me. • C. Capacity –
View Full Document
Unlocking...