The Legal Environment of Business and Employment - Assignment Example

The Legal Environment of Business and Employment A contract is an agreement that is enforceable in a court of law between two people or more or between businesses. The contract is formed based on a promise to do something. The main parties to the contact include the offeror, offeree, and the government. According to Cross and Miller (2009, p.12). The government acts as an agent to see the fulfillment of a contact. The offeror agrees to deliver the promise in terms of goods or services. The offeree agrees to accept the goods at the agreed consideration. The specifications should be enough and clear to enable the offeree to understand and accept the offer. In this case, Huddersford Electronics Ltd (HE Ltd) is the offeror and Gem Computer Stores is the offeree. The main primary sources of contract law include the legislation via orders in council, regulations and statues, and case laws from the administrative tribunals and decisions of courts (Cross and Miller, 2009, p.11). Basic elements of a Valid Contract The parties in contract must reach a consensus to be fulfilled in the contract. The agreement constitutes of offer and acceptance. A contact must ensure that a party offers to enter in a legal contract and the other party agrees to accept the offer terms and regulations. Secondly, both parties in a contract must agree on the consideration, a consideration is a sufficient and legally reached bargain for the value of goods or services offered. The third consideration is contractual capacity. The law must establish that both parties are competent enough to perform the agreement. The purpose of a contract is to achieve a goal that is legally binding. For a binding contract, parties must act with free will devoid of undue influence or coercion. The final element of a contract is that the contact must be in form that is recognizable by the law. The contract can be in writing or by the word of mouth. However, the contents in the contract also affect the validity of contract as the terms specified by the offeror must imply the thoughts of the courts and statute. Valid, Void, Voidable, and Enforceable Contracts A valid contact is a contact that meets all the elements of a legal contract. A voidable is a contract that has the option of being avoided .A voidable contract does not contain all the elements or requirements. The agreements included in a voidable contact may be those of people with no capacity to carry out a contact such as children or it may be a case of misrepresentation, undue influence, or duress. If the voidable contact is not rejected or terminated within a specified period, it becomes valid. For example if the buyer decides to sell the goods in a voidable contract before it is terminated, the buyer who buys the goods will be the new owner and is allowed to keep retain the goods provided the goods sold to him were in good terms. A void contract is an illegal contract. The law does not give effect to a contact that that is void because there is a mistake in the agreement of the offer and acceptance (Beatty and Samuelson, 2007, p.122). According to Beatty and Samuelson (2007, p.137-138), unenforceable contract is a contract that cannot be enforced by a court of law because the contract does not meet the specific laid down requirements of a valid contract by the law. An unenforceable contract is a contract that is valid but any money or goods transferred to a seller or a buyer respectively cannot be recovered. If one party refuses to do an activity or an act written or promised in the beginning of a contract the other party cannot compel the party to perform in a court of law. Essential Elements of a Valid Offer An offer can only be made to a specific person. Looking at the case of Carlill v Smoke Ball Company, we can understand what the specific person for the offer means. The defendant had made tablets for curing influenza and had made an advertisement to the public saying that they would compensate anybody suffered from influenza after taking. The plaintiff took the tablets but did not heal. The plaintiff claimed compensation, which the defendant refused to pay claiming that it was just a mere invitation to treat. The court held that the offer was made to specific people in the public through the advertisement. When the advertisement was made, a contract was created between the public and the company. The court further stated that when an offer is made only the specific people intended for the offer could accept it. An offer can be made by an oral message, by conduct or by writing (cited in Miller& Jentz, 2009, p.200). An offer has to be communicated in clear and concise terms. Communication of the acceptance can be via email, post verbal communication. Communication made by email or post is accepted on the day the post or email is sent. The offer must reach the offeree for the offeree to act on knowledge of the offer terms and conditions. Termination of an offer An offer can be terminated by the offeree. An offer can also be terminated by the offeror via revocation. For an offer to be terminated, the offeree must not have accepted the offer and the revocation must have been brought to the offeree. An offer can also be terminated due to lapse of time. In the case of Financings v Simmons, the defendant visited the plaintiff’s showroom and selected a car but he decided to buy the car through hire purchase terms for lack of cash. The defendant paid deposit and waited for the hire purchase process to be completed. In the process, the car was stolen and got into an accident. The offeree refused the car since it was in a poor condition and was sued for breach. The court held that the there was no contract because the vehicle was not in the intended condition and that there was no acceptance of the consideration offered (cited in Miller& Jentz, 2009, p.210). In Huddersford Electronics Ltd (HE Ltd) and Gem Computer Stores, there was no contract because Gem Computers had not accepted the offer to sell. The contract had been bargained by two parties when Gemma, phoned HE Ltd to enquire whether she could have 2 months credit but HE Ltd's manager, Bertie, replied that the terms of the sale were cash on delivery. There was no contract between the two parties because an acceptance from Gem Computers was sent on 23rd, after the computers were sold on 22 November. In this case, there was a revocation of offer by the offeror rendering the contract invalid. The law governs the activities conducted in the society in order to ensure order. For example laws on restricted trade have been modified in many countries to accommodate free trade amongst countries in the world. The primary sources of law are the common law and civil law with lessons from cases brought6 forward in the court of law (Schaffer, Agusti, &Earle, 2006, p.43). Bibliography Cross, B. F., and Miller, L 2009, The Legal Environment of Business: Text and Cases: Ethical, Regulatory, Global and Corporate Issues.8th edn, mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Schaffer, R, Agusti, F, and Earle, B (Ed) 2006, International Business Law and Its Environment, Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate publishing Limited.  Miller, L, R and Jentz, G. A 2009, Business Law Today: The Essentials Mason, OH: south Western Cengage.  Beatty, F.J., and Samuelson, S 2007, Introduction to Business Law. Mason, OH: South Western Cengage. Read More