Essential Cases: Contract Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Felthouse v Bindley [1862] EWHC CP J35; 142 ER 1037. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Nicola Jackson.
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Felthouse v Bindley [1862] EWHC CP J35; 142 ER 1037
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Felthouse v Bindley [1862] EWHC CP J35; 142 ER 1037
Essential Cases: Contract Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Felthouse v Bindley [1862] EWHC CP J35; 142 ER 1037. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Nicola Jackson.
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2. Contract I: essential features of a contract
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the essential features of a contract. Offer and acceptance are the first stages in establishing an agreement that may form a legally binding contract. An offer may be accepted at any point until it is terminated. Acceptance can only be made by the offeree or their agent. Consideration is the bargain element of a contract and may be referred to as the ‘price of a promise’. The parties must intend for an agreement to establish legal relations to create an enforceable contract. Presumptions exist in relation to social/domestic agreements and business/commercial agreements.
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Adams v Lindsell [1818] EWHC KB J59; (1818) 1 B & Ald 681; (1818) 106 ER 250
Essential Cases: Contract Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Adams v Lindsell (1818) 106 ER 250. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Nicola Jackson.
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Adams v Lindsell [1818] EWHC KB J59; (1818) 1 B & Ald 681; (1818) 106 ER 250
Essential Cases: Contract Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Adams v Lindsell (1818) 106 ER 250. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Nicola Jackson.
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5. Consideration and Promissory Estoppel
This chapter evaluates the other requirement for an agreement to be legally enforceable: consideration. In its simplest form, consideration is often described as being something of value that is given (or promised) by each party in exchange for the other party’s promise or performance. Disputes concerning consideration usually begin by one party claiming that the other is in breach of their contract. The other party then argues that no consideration had been given in return for what they promised to do, and therefore the agreement is not enforceable. In a case concerning consideration, courts will typically focus on the obligations to be enforced, and then work out if something of value was given (or promised) in return for the performance of those obligations. Sometimes, a strict application of the consideration requirement is a barrier to reflecting the parties’ intentions. For that reason, the courts have developed a more relaxed approach in certain circumstances. There is also a limited exception to the requirement for consideration, which is known as promissory estoppel.
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6. The formation of the contract
This chapter examines the legal requirements relating to the formation of a contract. It discusses the five essential elements of a contract, namely offer, acceptance (offer and acceptance are collectively referred to as ‘agreement’), certainty, consideration, and the intention to create legal relations. It analyses these individual requirements in detail and considers the courts’ approach in determining whether an enforceable contract is present or not. This chapter also explains the principles of different types of contracts, namely the distinction between bilateral and unilateral contracts, and how the normal rules of contractual formation are modified in the cases involving unilateral contracts.
Book
Robert Merkin KC and Séverine Saintier
Course-focused and comprehensive, Poole’s Textbook on Contract Law provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This book has been guiding students through contract law for many years. It places the law of contract clearly within its wider context, including the growing distinction between commercial and consumer contracting, before proceeding to provide detailed yet accessible treatment of all the key areas encountered when studying contract law. Part 1 considers formation, looking in detail at agreement, certainty and agreement mistakes, the enforceability of promises and the intention to be legally bound. Part 2 looks at content, interpretation, exemption clauses and unfair terms, performance, and breach. Part 3 considers the enforcement of contractual obligations, including remedies, detailed treatment of damages for breach of contract, privity and third party rights, and discharge by frustration. Part 4 looks at methods of policing the making of a contract, such as non-agreement mistakes which render the contract void, misrepresentation, duress, undue influence, unconscionable bargains, and illegality. The book also includes references to relevant EU consumer legislation and introduces students to the various attempts (international and European) to produce a harmonized set of contract principles.
Book
Robert Merkin QC and Séverine Saintier
Course-focused and comprehensive, Poole’s Textbook on Contract Law provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This book has been guiding students through contract law for many years. It places the law of contract clearly within its wider context, including the growing distinction between commercial and consumer contracting, before proceeding to provide detailed yet accessible treatment of all the key areas encountered when studying contract law. Part 1 considers formation, looking in detail at agreement, certainty and agreement mistakes, the enforceability of promises and the intention to be legally bound. Part 2 looks at content, interpretation, exemption clauses and unfair terms, performance, and breach. Part 3 considers the enforcement of contractual obligations including remedies, detailed treatment of damages for breach of contract, privity and third party rights, and discharge by frustration. Part 4 looks at methods of policing the making of a contract, such as non-agreement mistakes which render the contract void, misrepresentation, duress, undue influence, unconscionable bargains, and illegality. The book also includes references to relevant EU consumer legislation and introduces students to the various attempts (international and European) to produce a harmonized set of contract principles.
Chapter
4. Certainty and the Intention to Enter a Legal Relationship
This chapter investigates the basic law on the certainty and intention requirements in the creation of an agreement. To be legally enforceable as a contract, the agreement must be sufficiently certain and show an intention to enter a legal relationship. Agreements can be uncertain because they are vague, or because they are incomplete. This can indicate there was no intention to enter a legal relationship. The courts must not rewrite the agreement; they must simply interpret it. If an agreement is incomplete, the courts may decide that the missing terms are implied, and this is more likely if there has been performance. A gap in an incomplete agreement can be filled if the parties have provided a mechanism for doing so, or if the terms can be construed so as to do so. The chapter then differentiates between an agreement to negotiate (a lock-in agreement) and agreements not to negotiate with other parties (lock-out agreements). Agreements between businesses are presumed to be made with the intention to be legally binding, but the facts, the interpretation of the terms, or the surrounding circumstances could mean there was no such intention.
Book
Jill Poole, James Devenney, and Adam Shaw-Mellors
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. Contract Law Concentrate contains a wealth of information on the field of contract law to aid with revision and understanding the elements of the contract law syllabus. It looks specifically at the components of agreement, enforceability criteria comprising intention to create legal relations, consideration, and the doctrine of promissory estoppel. It also focuses on some problems associated with reaching agreement, such as whether the terms are sufficiently certain, and mistakes which prevent agreement. The doctrine of privity determines who has the ability to enforce the contract and whether a third party can take the intended benefit of a contract. Contract Law Concentrate focuses on the terms (or promises) of the contract and breach of contract when those promises are broken. It also examines exemption clauses and unfair contract terms. Next it looks at remedies for the breach of contract. It then turns to contractual impossibility and risk where the default rules of common mistake (initial impossibility) and frustration (subsequent impossibility) will determine the parties’ positions in the absence of party allocation. Finally, it outlines contractual remedies for actionable misrepresentations and looks briefly at the common law doctrine of duress and the equitable doctrine of undue influence.
Chapter
1. Agreement
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the components of agreement; an essential ingredient of a contract. Traditionally, an agreement is comprised of an offer and a corresponding acceptance. There are two types of agreement: bilateral and unilateral. Bilateral agreements are by far the most common in practice and consist of a promise in exchange for a promise. Unilateral agreements consist of a promise in exchange for an act. This chapter analyses the agreement process in terms of offer, acceptance, and revocation of offers in bilateral and unilateral scenarios in order to provide structures and scenarios for future use. It also explains the two-contract analysis which is used to impose pre-contractual liability in English law.
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2. Agreement problems
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter focuses on issues which may prevent the parties from reaching agreement. Agreement problems generally affect the agreement by rendering it void. It is necessary, however, to distinguish a void contract from one which is merely voidable. If an apparent agreement is too uncertain in its terms (e.g. because it is vague or essential terms are missing), the courts will not enforce it because they will not construct a binding contract for the parties. An apparent agreement may be void where the parties entered into the agreement under a ‘fundamental’ mistake which the law recognizes as preventing the parties from ever reaching agreement.
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13. Discharge by Agreement
Jack Beatson, Andrew Burrows, and John Cartwright
Contract rests on the agreement of the parties: as it is their agreement that binds them, so by their agreement they may be discharged. This chapter begins by identifying two sources of difficulty, which render the topic of discharge by agreement one of considerable artificiality and refinement, and then discusses the forms of discharge by agreement, covering release, accord and satisfaction, rescission, variation, waiver, and discharge provisions contained in the contract itself.
Book
Richard Taylor and Damian Taylor
Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers at undergraduate level through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams, and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. Contract Law Directions is a comprehensive guide, now in its ninth edition, to all aspects of contract law. It is structured in four parts. Part 1 looks at the creation of obligations. It considers agreement, intention to create legal regulations, and consideration and estoppel. Part 2 is about contents and borders and looks at positive terms, exemption clauses, and misrepresentation. Part 3 examines defects in terms of mistake, duress, undue influence, and unconscionable bargains. The final part explains finishing and enforcing obligations. It analyses frustration, damages, specific remedies, and privity and the interests of third parties.
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4. The creation of the agency relationship
This chapter considers the various methods by which a relationship of agency can be created, namely by agreement, by ratification, by operation of law (including agency by necessity), and agency arising due to estoppel. It should be noted that an agency relationship might be held to exist, even though the parties or one of the parties do not wish for it to exist, or have expressly declared that such a relationship does not exist. Equally, the fact that the parties describe themselves as ‘principal’ and ‘agent’ will not conclusively establish that a relationship of agency exists, and the courts will disregard such labels if the realities of the relationship indicate that it is not one of agency. An agency relationship can therefore be created consensually or non-consensually. The chapter also discusses preliminary issues such as the capacity of agent and principal, and the formalities needed to create a relationship of agency.
Chapter
6. Non-existence and perishing of goods
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter examines the effect of the contract of sale of goods in the event that the goods never existed or, if they did exist at one time, are no longer in existence. It first looks at the contract for the sale of specific goods which, without the knowledge of the seller, have perished at the time when the contract is made and then considers an agreement to sell specific goods which, without any fault on the part of either party, subsequently perish before the risk passes to the buyer. The chapter also explains the frustration of a contract for the sale of unascertained goods under s 7 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and the question of monies owing or to be repaid under the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943.
Chapter
4. Intention to be legally bound, formalities, and capacity to contract
Robert Merkin KC, Séverine Saintier, and Jill Poole
Course-focused and comprehensive, Poole’s Textbook on Contract Law provides an accessible overview of the key areas of the law curriculum. This chapter examines the requirement that there must be an intention to create legal relations and specific requirements of form, such as writing, for an agreement to be enforceable as a legally binding contract. Traditionally, this intention to create legal relations is determined objectively using two presumptions that can be rebutted on the evidence. First, it is presumed that there was no intention to be legally bound in the context of social or domestic agreements. Secondly, it is presumed that the parties to commercial agreements intended to be legally bound unless there are clear words indicating the opposite, such as the existence of an honour clause. In addition, some contracts require particular formalities to be binding. The chapter outlines some examples of these and discusses the consequences of non-compliance with the formality requirements. It also considers the capacity rules in contract (i.e. a party’s ability in law to contract) and the effect of incapacity on a contract, focusing on contracts made by minors (persons below 18 years old). The chapter concludes by discussing electronic signatures and the implications of e-commerce for formality requirements in contracts.
Chapter
2. Agreement
Robert Merkin KC, Séverine Saintier, and Jill Poole
Poole’s Casebook on Contract Law provides a comprehensive selection of case law that addresses all aspects of the subject encountered on undergraduate courses. A contract is a legally enforceable agreement. This chapter explains how the existence of an agreement is determined. After considering how the courts assess whether an agreement has been, using subjective and objective methods, it discusses the precise criteria used to determine agreement, namely offer and acceptance. The chapter defines offers and distinguishes them from invitations to treat. It focuses on identifying acceptances and distinguishing acceptances from responses which are not a mirror image of the offer, such as counter-offers. Much emphasis is placed on explaining the communication principles applicable to acceptances—postal and instantaneous communications, including email. The chapter explains revocations of offers and the communication principles applicable to revocations. The courts will enforce an agreement only if it is sufficiently certain in its terms. This chapter therefore considers how the courts deal with vagueness and incompleteness, including agreements to agree and whether there can ever be a duty to negotiate in good faith. It also examines the position where there is no contract due to uncertainty, but there has been performance. Finally, the chapter distinguishes bilateral and unilateral contracts and the special principles applicable to unilateral contracts.
Book
Cheshire, Fifoot & Furmston’s Law of Contract is a classic text on contract law. The first edition was published over seventy years ago. The book combines an account of the principles of the law of contract with analysis and insights, and the narrative brings understanding of complex contractual issues to a wider readership. It starts by providing a historic introduction, and goes on to look at issues such as modern contract law, agreement, consideration, and legal relations. The book details the contents of the contract and looks at unenforceable contracts, mistake, misrepresentation, duress, and undue influence. Chapters then examine contracts rendered void under statute, contracts illegal by statute or at common law, and contracts void at common law due to public policy. The text moves on to look at privity, rights and liabilities, performance and breach, and discharge under the doctrine of frustration. Finally, the book looks at remedies for breach of contract.
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