The Law of Contracts - Assignment Example

? Case Study Problem Case Study Problem Introduction The modern day business environment is compounded by a host of technicalities that stem from the relations that individuals and corporations establish and maintain. In order to operate effectively and benefit optimally from their business endeavors, both individuals and corporations have been forced to establish and maintain legally binding relationships. These are presented as contracts and underscore various provisions that contractual parties need to put into consideration. This has gone a long way in addressing the wide ranging legal concerns that emanate from the failure to adhere to the relative provisions. Put differently, business relations are governed by a set of legally binding rules and regulations that seek to ensure that all parties involved operate within the confines of the legal provisions. To a great extent, this has helped in maintaining sanity, ethics and morality within this sphere of specification. It is against this background that this paper provides an in depth review of the Faye’s case study. To enhance coherence and objectivity, this is done in light of the legal issues that arise from the case study. The type of law that the case study relates to is the law of contract. It is widely agreed that the law of contracts is at the center stage of most business dealings. Essentially, a contract refers to an agreement that is characterized by distinct terms between either two or more individuals or two or more entities. In this, one party promises to undertake a certain task for another party in return for a certain valuable benefit that is legally referred to as consideration (Atiyah, 1979, p. 67). For a contract to have a legal standing, there are certain factual elements that it has to contain. These include; an offer, the acceptance of the respective offer that culminates in meeting of the involved minds, a definite promise by the accepting party to perform the respective task, an invaluable consideration, an event or time that allows the particular parties to meet their commitments, performance of the respective task and the terms as well as conditions that govern the respective performance. There are different types of contracts that are suitable for particular scenarios. One type of contract that is apparent in the case under review includes the publishing contract. In this respect, there is a contract between Faye, who is the writer and Merrymac & Co., the publisher. Faye requires Merrymac & Co. to publish a book for her. Another type of contract from the case scenario pertains to the author of the book contract. According to Barnett (2003, p. 72), this is offered by the publisher in instances where the writer or client is the author of the book as opposed to being the illustrator or artist. Relative conditions in this regard would refer to Faye as the actual author of the entire book, inclusive of the illustrations presented therein. As aforementioned, an offer is one of the critical and factual elements of a contract. From a legal point of view, an offer constitutes a demonstration of the willingness of a party to enter into a certain bargain that has already been made in a bid to justify another party and make it understand that the former’s assent to the respective bargain is accepted and would be concluded accordingly (Atiyah, 1979, p. 83). In other words, an offer refers to a clear expression of willingness of one party to contract under specific terms that are presented by the other party with the view that if the respective offer is accepted, the former party would be bound by the contract. In this regard, there is dire need for acceptance of the offer as it is. For instance, A offers to publish and market a book for B. B on the other hand accepts the publishing and declines the marketing aspect. In the preceding scenario, B has not accepted the offer as it is; rather, he has offered a counter offer to what was initially offered. In light of the problem case study, an offer has actually been made. In this regard, Merrymac & Co. offered to publish the book for Faye and pay her a thousand pounds for each chapter that was completed. In addition, Merrymac & Co. promises to organize for marketing of this book as well as helping Faye to sell the book. Faye considers this a lucrative publication offer and agrees to sign the contract with the company. In this case, it is certain that she is comfortable with the offer and does not give any counter offers; rather she accepts it precisely as it is. Equally important to this case study is the acceptance aspect of the contract. According to Adrian (2009, p. 53), acceptance occurs when both parties agree unconditionally on the terms and provisions of the offer. Usually, the acceptance can either be oral or written and needs to be reflective of the conditions provided for in the original offer. In essence, the parties must agree to the conditions provided in the offer without any of them proposing any changes. With reference to the case study, acceptance has indeed occurred in the case. In this respect, Faye accepts the offer presented by the company without proposing any changes to the contract. After going through the offer, she is comfortable with the conditions and feels she does not have anything to lose. For this reason, she proceeds to sign the contract without proposing any amendments to the initial offer. In this case, the acceptance is presented in written form. The element of consideration is another aspect that characterizes the contract between Merrymac & Co. and Faye. Barnett (2003, p. 61) defines consideration as the price usually paid as a value of the promise made by the other. Although the respective price need not be money, it is widely agreed that it should be something invaluable. This may be a certain right, benefit or interest that is accorded to one party for detriment, forbearance, responsibility or loss that is incurred or pursued by its counterpart. In other words, the concept of consideration allows every party in the contract to benefit in a particular way from the contract. For instance, supposing one party promises to give another a wrist watch and along the way breaks the promise. The promised party would not claim the wrist watch because it did not provide any consideration for the promise that was initially made. Apparently, consideration is an intrinsic aspect of the case study under review. There is a valid consideration in the case study. Initial contract conditions give each party a chance to benefit in some way from the contract. Faye is given a lucrative publishing offer and the company offers to even pay her one thousand dollars for every chapter that she completes. This is in addition to various other benefits including free marketing and arrangements for sale of the publication. Faye on the other hand writes the book consistently and provides the company with the chapters accordingly. From the case study, she writes a total of ten chapters that are published by the company. In this case, both parties benefit from the contract; Faye gets money while the company benefits with her knowledge regarding horsemanship. Intention for creating legal relations in a contract is vitally important. In his study, Lindsey (2003, p. 53), posits that business or commercial agreements need to be informed by an intention to establish a legally binding agreement by both parties. In most instances, the respective intention is not represented explicitly; but implied from the circumstances that surround the respective agreement. From an individual point of view, the agreement presented in the scenario was intended to be legally binding. This can be illustrated by the official signing of the contract by both parties. If the contrary was true, it was unlikely for both parties to sign a legal document aimed at accrediting the binding. Also worth appreciating is the component of capacity that is typical of contractual relationships. In this respect, all parties to the contract need to be competent as well as legally authorized to enter in the respective contract. Competence in this respect is defined by the ability to understand and make informed decisions about the contract. According to Atiyah (1979, p. 81), the law prohibits certain individuals that have limited capacities such as the mentally impaired, bankrupts, minors, prisoners and corporations from entering contracts. From the case study, both parties have a legal capacity to enter into the contract. Both Faye and Merrymac & Co. are competent and qualified to enter into the contract. A contract in most instances tends to be characterized by certain terms as well as conditions. Terms are aimed at defining the legal confines of a contract and ensuring that both parties understand the legal implications of the contract before entering the contract (McKendrik, 2005, p. 33). The terms that are suitable for this contract include conditions. Faye could have been provided with conditions governing the publication and measures of the company in case of failure to finish publication. These should also have underscored valid reasons for the same. In this scenario, Faye definitely has a claim because the company proceeded to publish the book even after withdrawing from the contract. In this regard, her intellectual property rights have been infringed against. In the scenario, the intellectual property rights that have been infringed against pertain to copyright. According to Raymond (2006, p. 53), copyright is automatically accorded to an individual upon the creation of a piece of work. Therefore, it does not require any form of registration. In the European Union, it is protected for a significant seventy years after the death of the creator of the respective piece. Currently, copyrights in the United Kingdom are protected by the Copyrights, Designs and patents Act of 1988 (Raymond, 2006, p. 53). Faye’s work qualifies to be protected by this law up to seventy years after her death. This is because of the fact that the knowledge generated was first hand and based on her experiences with the horses. Besides being the sole owner of the respective knowledge, Faye is a citizen of the United Kingdom and the respective work was created after June, 1957. According to the case study, Faye owns the copy rights and has a right to sue Merrimac & Co. for infringing on her rights. The most ideal option for her in this respect would be to sue the company in a court of law. According to Sorce (1997, p. 76), cases related to copyrights have increasingly been criminalized. For this reason, Merrymac & Co. is likely to be found criminally responsible for infringing upon the intellectual rights of Faye. Penalties for this offence are wide and varied and range from unlimited fine to ten years imprisonment. Conclusion In conclusion, the law of contracts provides legal conditions that govern the relationships between the parties that enter in businesses. This goes a long way in ensuring that all parties engage in fair play and benefit optimally from the contract. As it has come out from the study, all parties need to benefit in some way from the contract. Faye enters into a contract with Merrymac & Co. with a view of having her book published and sold to the market. The offer that the company presents is lucrative and as such, Faye accepts it. The contract meets the legal provisions and qualifies to be a valid contract as all elements are apparent. However, Merrimac withdraws from the contract along the way, claiming that the returns from the publications would not be rewarding. Regardless of this, it goes ahead to publish the book and even distributes it to the market. As indicated, the company infringes against the intellectual property rights of Faye. In particular, it contravenes the provisions of the copyright laws that accord Faye sole ownership of the book. For this reason, Faye has a legal right to sue the company in a court of law for the losses and damages that it has caused. List of References Adrian, J 2009, Piracy: The intellectual property wars from Gutenberg to Gates, Chicago, University Press. Atiyah, P 1979, Rise and fall of freedom of contract, USA, Clanderon Press. Barnett, R, 2003, Contracts, USA, Aspen Publishers. Lindsey, M, 2003, Copyright on campus, USA, Washington State University. McKendrik, E, 2005, Contract law- Text, cases and materials, Oxford, University Press. Raymond, D 2006, Copyright litigation handbook, UK, Thomson West. Sorce, K 2007, Originality, authenticity and copyright, Sonus, 1, 2, 77-85 Read More