Business Law

Business Law

Introduction

The legally binding agreement between two or more than two parties of doing or not doing certain thing is a business contract (Clarkson, 2009).For example, for the sale of goods or supply of services at a fixed price, a business contract could be signed. There are various types of contracts that include employment agreements, leases of business premises, the sale and purchase of a business agreement, partnership agreements and leases of plant and equipment (Emerson, 2004). Employee agreements, information exchange, negotiation and discussion are included in a process of creating a contract. Legal matters are needed to be a deal in every business. For small business operators, managing legal matters is the most daunting task (Bose, 2008).

A business must be engaged with a solicitor to help and associate in legal matters that may arise. By taking early preventive measures and considering the business legal obligations, the risk of business disputes, fines and prosecution can be avoided (Gillies, 2004).A solicitor with appropriate expertise helps with buying or selling a business, partnership, selection of the right business structure according to requirements, copyright and intellectual property, commercial leases, negotiating insurance claims and drafting agreements, contracts and terms and conditions (Mathur, 2010). Before entering into any contract where involvement of a substantial amount of money exists or the potential liability is substantial under the contract, it is strongly advised to consult a lawyer (Adamson, 2010). The lawyer can give a brief explanation of the factors included in the contract, like, the obligations and right, the terms, favorable terms for negotiation, preparation of the contract, consequences, and assist you in case of the breaching of contract.

Discussion

The Essential Elements of A Contract

A contract must contain four essential elements to be bind legally. These elements include consideration, acceptance, and intention of legal consequences and offer (Twomey& Jennings, 2010).The contract is formed when an offered is made and accepted by a party on the basis of exchange of some benefit or something of value by the parties. The exchanging element or the valuable thing is the consideration element in a contract (Marsh &Soulsby, 2002).Getting legally bounded by the contract is the intention of both parties. The agreement will not be legally bounded if any of the four elements are missing (Mann & Roberts, 2013).The elements of a contract include offeror, offeree, course of dealing, revocation, options, and merchant's firm offer, and counter offer, battle of the firms, acceptance, mailbox rule, consideration, charitable subscriptions and promissory estoppels.

The Offer

To do something, there must be a definite and clearly stated offer. For example, an offer to lease and a quotation by sub-contractor to the prime contractor (Miller & et.al, 2013).An offer is exclusive of letters of intent, ball park estimates, expressions of interest and requests for proposals (Miller & Miller, 2008).An offer can lapse under certain terms and conditions: withdrawn of the offer before acceptance, expiry time-period for acceptance and after a reasonable time in the circumstances, i.e. the life of an offer is longer, depends, on the ...