CONTRACTS THE LANGUAGE OF BUSINESS A LEGALLY ENFORCEABLE DOCUMENT Legally enforceable means that when a person fails to live up to the agreement If a person doesn t keep promises of agreement you can take them to court to force action or so for value and any damages The injured party can sue the other party for breach of contract K is used to symbolize a contract A MAXIM ABOUT THIS SUBJECT HE WHO SEEKS EQUITY MUST DO EQUITY There are agreements and there are contracts all contracts are agreements however not all agreements are legal contracts Some agreements are not legally enforceable AGREEMENTS Example illegal contracts An Administrator suspected a student of cheating during an exam the student knew there was a good chance he was going to get into big trouble or expelled for cheating so he put a hit out on the administrators head The scheme was found out so the student and the hit man were arrested If the plan went through and the student refused to pay the contract was illegal so the hit man cannot sue his client It s like if someone sold you drugs and gave you less than you paid for you couldn t bring it to court you would have to solve the problem yourself or be SOL MOST Are not recognized by law SOCIAL AGREEMENT Ex If you agreed to meet a friend a baseball game but was stood up and you were left to the baseball game all alone Would claim emotional damage or hurt feelings Courts do not address this breech of social obligations this aims to prevent an avalanche of legal cases of hurt feelings HOWEVER Marriage is respected by the law there are Social agreements that are recognized by the law but what about before marriage you can t sue for backing out of a marriage but the caterer the band the minister the flowers the contracts for these things are business so they are recognized and you will be liable for compensation AS SEEN IN THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLE SOMETIMES LINES ARE BLURRED A young girl was asked to prom by a young man She bought an expensive dress and shoes and had appointments for pedicures hair etc made He called and canceled the night before This case went to court and eventually settled This wasn t just a social agreement because there was money spent AGREEMENTS IN MARRIAGE Nuptial relating to the marital relationship pre before the contract before marriage Post the contract after the marriage Example royal finances Will Kate sign prenup The prince was advised to get a prenup by James Stewart British Courts agreed to recognize deals after a row of high profile divorce awards LONDON NOW HAS THE REPUTATION OF THE DIVORCE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD Prenups popular with blended families settles matters of finances especially when one has substantial finances assets Donald Trump In blended families there may be Children from previous marriages IN FLORIDA A PRE OR POSTNUPTIAL AGREEMENT MUST BE A FORMAL AGREEMENT ON THE TEST o In writing o Signed o Two witnesses RIGHTS CAN BE WAIVED TO PROPERTY SHARES ETC o Meaning if you feel like your future spouse is not entitled to your house in the case that you divorce this can be stated in a post or prenuptial agreement o The law does not require you to disclose your full financial situation to your spouse before committing to a prenuptial agreement o If you are not yet married and enter a pre nup CATHERINE ZETA JONES AND MICHAEL DOUGLAS EXAMPLE Prenup Catherine gets 1 5 million dollars for every year they are together Catherine also gets money if she catches him cheating Michael gets all wedding gifts worth more than 20 000 and his privacy about the relationship ESSENTIALS OF A CONTRACT 1 AGREEMENT MANIFESTATION A SHOWING OF MUTUAL ASSENT CONSENT How do we show this Oral written contract Conduct what you do conduct shows agreement buying a coke at a gas station with no words exchanged is still a contract A OBJECTIVE THEORY OF CONTRACTS MEETING OF THE MINDS Ex someone is selling a horse and sends a letter to the buyer Seller mistakenly writes 2 200 as the price rather than the agreed upon 2 500 The letter states that he will sell the horse for 2 200 The buyer likes the offer and returns a letter accepting terms and attaches check for 2 200 The buyer wrote 2 200 yet meant to write 2 500 The buyer sues seller for breach of contract The seller says they didn t have a meeting of the minds and therefore don t have a contract If this were to go to court the court can only base this on what was objectively manifested VERDICT what s written in the letter goes because we cannot read minds or hearts therefore the 2 200 sale is a contract However If there was a substantial error like the seller accidentally leaves off the last zero making it 250 instead of 2500 The seller s mistake is clear and it was not intended The judge would give the seller the case because the mistake should have been realized by both parties as a mistake 2 OBLIGATION LEGAL DUTY A contract must have a legal commitment Ex social or illegal provisions do not constitute a legal commitment TYPES OF CONTRACTS A EXPRESS CONTRACT AGREEMENT MANIFESTED IN WORDS ORAL OR WRITTEN Ex agreeing verbally or in a written lease to pay your friend 400 per month to live at their apartment B IMPLIED CONTRACT AGREEMENT MANIFESTED BY CONDUCT o Ex at a dental appointment The dentist finds a patient s cavity during the appointment The patient agrees to have the procedure done but did not ask the price The patient was then asked to pay 500 The patient argues that he didn t make a contract Therefore according to the patient he is not responsible for payment The dentist argues that an implied contract was made because even though the fees weren t discussed the patient agreed to have the services performed Therefore the patient is responsible for payment Rule in an implied contract all the terms of the contract are impliedly reasonable This means that the jury would decide what is reasonable Taking surveys of multiple dentists and seeing what a reasonable fee would be for filling a cavity would help the jury decide if the 500 fee is reasonable If the normal price was 150 then the jury may lean in the patient s favor C UNILATERAL CONTRACT PROMISE FOR AN ACT Ex A reward contract I promise to pay you 500 if you find my cat This is different from a bilateral contract because it is not promising you pay for looking for the cat The contract is only promising to pay for the act of finding the cat Meaning you can spend your life searching for the cat and not receive squat unless you find it Ex Realtor contracts
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