CONTRACT LAW

Contract Law

Contract Law

Introduction

As long as obligations exist in our everyday lives, it is reasonable to assume that these obligations - whether they arise out of contract, tort or restitution - will be breached. “Once the plaintiff has established that the defendant is in breach of an obligation, he will normally seek damages to compensate for the loss flowing from the breach”1. It is necessary, however, when discussing compensatory damages, to make a “simple inquiry: toward what end is this activity directed?” 

The law of obligations is a body of law that sets out the duties that individuals owe to each other, and the rights they can enforce against each other, as a result of their private dealings. The law of obligations has many branches - two of which are the law of contract; and the law of negligence(Treitel, 1988). 

An obligation may arise from:

a contract;

unlawful damage;

unjustified enrichment;

negotiorum gestio;

a public promise to pay;

other bases provided by law.

Contract Law

Eric Agreed to pay the extra money to Fudge-It-Up so that his saloon can be finished with in the time he wanted, otherwise it would have taken six months more to get the saloon ready. Eric paid the extra amount and when the saloon got ready he paid the last installment. A contract is an agreement between two or more persons (individuals, businesses, organizations or government agencies) to do, or to refrain from doing, a particular thing in exchange for something in value. Contracts generally can be written, using formal or informal terms, or entirely verbal. Contracts are governed by “general principals” and are usually derived from the common law (or judge-made law). However on the other hand, Professor Atiyah (1968b) argues that, “there are no such things as a typical contract at all”. It was argues that “contracts” are a discrete, two-party, commercial, executory exchange, but notes that contracts can be found which depart from each feature of this classic model. Furthermore, Atiyah perceived the law of contract as a set of power-conferring rules that enable parties to enter into agreements of their own choice on their own agreed terms. The dominant ideology is that contractual parties should be as free as possible to make agreements on their own terms without the interference of the courts by way of statute and their agreements should be respected and upheld and enforced by the courts. However, Atiyah`s theory on the basis of the law of contract has been largely discredited (Zimmermann, 2005, pp.113-118). This last installment was short of the amount that Eric had paid earlier. This is a breach of contract. Eric had an obligation to pay the full amount yet he chooses to pay less. Eric was contractually binded to pay the full amount. A contract is an agreement which is backed by law. For there to be a contract, certain elements need to be present. They are (i) an agreement; (ii) an element of exchange; and (iii) an intention that the agreement shall be contractual. If a contract is breached, the wronged party may sue. Person (A) is negligent towards person (B) where (i) ...