ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF CONTRACT LAW

Essential Elements Of Contract Law

Essential Elements Of Contract Law

Introduction

With regards to the case of Pat, whether he may successfully sue Chris or not, there is no precise answer. It depends if the contract is effective or not. For a contract to be valid, there are four key elements, which are "offer", "acceptance", "consideration" and "legal intention". Without any one of them, there is no contract at all and the agreement cannot be legally enforceable and this is the main area where this case concentrates on. (Scott 2009)

Case Analysis

In this case, Chris placed an advert to sell him bike, which was an invitation to treat. When Pat asked him about the price, Chris invited Pat to make an offer of no less than $15,000. Before long, Pat replied by making an offer of $15,000 to buy Chris's bike. Up to this point, it is crystal clear that there is no contract between them, since there is an offer but no acceptance of the offer. After knowing the offer, Chris spoke to John that he would like to sell the bike to Pat at $15,000, yet he had never told Pat about this. John then notified Pat about it. Under this circumstance, this raised a question, "Does acceptance exist?" Shortly, Chris changed him mind and decided to raise the price to £150 under the influence of him mother. She then left this message on Pat's answering machine. At this moment, another question arose, "Does counter offer exist?" Pat read the message; still, he brought $15,000 for the bike. A new question appeared, "Does consideration change?" Pat's reason for doing so was that he believed they had an agreement of $15,000. Finally, there is one last question, "Does legal intention exist?" (Randy 2003)

As a matter of fact, only if the four key elements really there, the contract is valid and hence Pat can win the case. However, these four questions can be argued on both sides, that is why there is no precise answer. Hereafter, a number of cases concerning these questions shall be discussed as a reference in support of the case of Pat. (Jason Peters 2008 Pp. 45.)

Essential Elements of Contract Law

Acceptance

An acceptance is the unconditional assent to all the terms of the offer; it is deemed to be effective only when it is communicated. In Pat's case, John had learned that Chris would like to sell the bike to Pat and he told Pat about this. At that time, acceptance of the offer by Chris was communicated to Pat. Apparently, it was likely that a contract is completed at this point.

One notable case shall be mentioned is Powell v Lee (1908) 99 LT 284. The plaintiff gave an offer to the school. One of the managers, without authority, told him that his offer was being accepted. Subsequently, the school changed the mind and rejected the offer. The Court held that there was the manager was not authorized by the school, hence there was no valid acceptance, and ...