Contract law is a very popular field of law as we all have at one point of the time unknowingly formed a legally approved contract. This field of law is associated with making and enforcing the contract. Anyone who is someway participating in conducting business uses contract law. Both consumers and companies use the form of contracts to buy and sell goods, to license products and activities. Whether the employee using a recruitment agreement or getting insurance for various products, all include in Contract Law.
Contract tends to make these transactions go smoothly without any flaws or misunderstandings. They allow all the parties to conduct the whole affairs confidently. The contract ensures that both the parties to a transaction are clear on their terms.
The Importance of Contract Law
Rent agreements, terms and conditions, mortgages, receipts and loan agreement are all various types of contracts that bind both the parties into a special relationship. As a consumer, we enter hundreds of contracts in our lifetime. The field of contract in law has a number of everyday applications and it binds when we purchase a tiny thing such as needles or when a government acquire antiballistic missile from another country.
Whether you are an advocate, a legal clerk or a judge, you are gonna find yourself looking through a heap of legal paperwork. Contractual agreements often concern multiple parties at the same time. This implies that your role in the contractual agreement needs a significant deal of correspondence between various parties. The cases and proceedings based on the contractual agreement can sometimes last for years.
Contract lawyers usually work on the contractual agreements from the beginning to the end. This process involves investigation, the filing pleas, the filing for a case and motions before the presiding court and even conducting the trial.
Contractual law is a very lucrative field of law, and proceedings are normally wrong. Contract law is often integrated into other fields of law such as land law, corporate law and family law.
Contract law is all about relating the laws of the outside world to an actual legal practise between two or more parties. Your job as a contractual lawyer is to ensure your client’s best interest are protected.
Is it tough to master Contract Law?
It is important to focus on every aspect while studying law. If you think that it is going to be a tough academic journey, relax. Yes, there would be a lot of things to handle, but an ideal law assignment help online can be a helping hand. In order to master the concepts of contract law, you can always ask for guidance by experts. That being said, let’s move to know some basics of contract law listed below:
The layout of a contract law
There are four parts of a contract. For preparing a valid contract, you must focus on its four aspects:
Making an offer
First of all, one part should make an offer. The party should clarify the terms which they want the opposite party to agree with. In case the opposite party agrees to the terms of this offer, they may accept it. In this scenario, the contract will stand complete. For initiation, a party must make an offer. They must ensure that they need the other party to agree to their terms. If the other side agrees to the terms and conditions of the offer, the opposite party may accept it and the contract is considered complete.
Letter of Acceptance
Agreeing to other party’s offer makes a contract complete. The Party that requires to accept the offer must accept the terms of the original offer. They also have to ensure that the other side is informed about acceptance.
If the above parties want to offer some different terms than no contract is binding. Instead, the new terms are a counter offer. It is then the prior party’s decision to accept the counteroffer or strike another offer.
When the offer of the opposite party is accepted the contract gets complete. However, there is a stern condition of acceptance. The party who receives an offer should accept it in its whole. This means that it has to accept the offer in its original form without any bifurcations, on the same terms. Also, this party should ensure that the offering party knows about their acceptance.
In case, they agree to different terms, there is simply no contract at all. Instead of accepting a contract, they would be providing a counteroffer. It then comes back to the first party to accept their counteroffer or initiate a different counteroffer.
Consideration
A valid contract requires every party to have minimal negotiations, this particular step is known as consideration. For instance, in the case of a recruiting contract, one of the party agrees to hand out the salary and another party requires to do certain work. A contract is a two-way street where each of the party gives something up to attain something else.
To reach a valid contract every party should have something to give. This is called consideration. For instance, if we talk about an employment contract when one party agrees to invest money for the sake of a contract, the other may agree to give up labour. In this manner, the contract is always a two-way street. Both the parties giving up something to gain something that they require.
Mutual intention to enter into the agreement
To have an apt contract, both the parties must show the intention to follow all the instructions of the contract. If a legal document says that it is only the remarked statement of intention then the parties possibly do not have the contractual agreement. Informal agreements between family and friends often fall into this section.
Normally an offer or promise of a reward in the exchange for the particular behaviour which produces an enforceable agreement with the human who undertakes the task. For instance, if someone assigns a reward for the information, the one is liable to receive the reward. On the contrary hand, a mare advertisement is not considered as a contract without an additional personalized invitation from the seller.
Understand mutual intent better with examples
A contract is implied, for instance, a man who seeks reasonable medical treatment has a valid contract with the doctor or lab professional who treats them to get a charge for their service. Similarly, a guy who orders some dish in the restaurant has a valid contract to pay for the meals they order. Let’s look at another example: In case you lost something, let’s say your documents and you offer a reward for the person who finds and returns them. The founder of your documents can seek enforcement of the reward. On the other side, a lost and found ad in the newspaper will not be considered a contract. Because it will lack an additional and personalized invitation from a party to another one.
Both the parties must have a mutual intent to get bound into a contract. This is something most important to build a valid contract. In case a document says that it is just a statement of intent, the related parties may not have a mutual agreement to enter into a contract. This will turn into a different category such as informal agreements between friends. Generally, an offer or a promise of a reward in exchange for a specific behaviour results in an enforceable contract with the people who undertake a particular activity.
Contract laws in view of the court
To interpret a contractual agreement, a court views at the language of the contract and determine what the contract actually imply. The court tries to adopt the viewpoint of an objective and reasonable person. If the contract is not suitable, the court looks at outside evidence such as statements and behaviour of the parties. The court has the authoritarian rights to invalidate the contract if it seems fraud or faulty. Contract law is substantially applied and studied in the corporate context. To understand corporate laws, click here.
Jurisdiction and Choice of Law
When lawyers generate a contract or handle disputed cases, they are aware of the jurisdiction and choice of law. Choice of law implies that the state laws the court follow to interpret the contract. Generally, most of the contract law comes in state law, choosing certain state litigation over another can completely change the outcome.
Lawyers need to carefully consider which state litigation to follow or whether to incorporate a choice of law. On the other hand, they can go with the contract and follow the same state litigation at the time of drafting. It is essential to look for the jurisdiction state because the regulations vary in every state, and these changed regulations can hugely impact the verdict of the case.
What is Contract Breach?
When there is a dispute over agreement about the regulations and terms than there is contract breach. Both parties might include a legal court to resolve the whole dispute. The party which seeks damages must provide evidence to support a valid contract. They also have the burden to depict the court appropriate remedies for the dispute.
Various remedies assigned for contract breach
There is a number of remedies that a party might ask the legal court to proceed for breach of contract. The most known one is Compensatory damages. Damages are provided to the party which actually suffered financially. If both the parties agree on the damages in advance if the breach occurs, this arrangement is known as liquidated damages. Mostly all contracts nowadays have a clause that defines the path of the future, if one party chooses to breach the contract.
When a breach of contract occurs without any financial damages, the plaintiff can still receive a small number of damages known as Nominal damage.
In some disputes, a party intentionally acts poorly and non-efficiently for contract breach. When such cases are proven, the court can award more damages than compensatory known as punitive damages. However, this condition is unusual. It is also rare that courts order both the parties to follow their obligations according to contract law. These conditions might occur in case when the nominal or compensatory damages are inadequate.
Conclusion
In a contract, words have certain meaning and implications. Each clause and terms are important and crucial. for lawyers who are good at observing and noting everything down, the field of contract law is a good choice.
Contract law enables people to conduct all types of business. The contract is a critical, common and daily part of economic and business activity. Lawyers who negotiate and draft contract assist their clients in conducting business on fair terms.
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