Agreement between Lewis & Co and Whizz - Essay Example

BUSINESS LAW List all the requirements that must be met for a contract to exist between Taite, Lewis & co and Whizz plc. A contract is a "promise" or an "agreement" that is enforced or recognised by the law. In the civil law, contracts are considered to be part of the general law of obligations. The requirements that must be met for a contract to exist between Taite, Lewis & co and Whizz plc are as follows: -> Offer and Acceptance: - In this case, the primary requirement would be a properly constituted offer to be made by the partners of Taite, Lewis & co to Whizz PC Ltd. The offer made should be in written and should clearly state all the necessary details like pricing list, time duration and so on. Acceptance would be the agreed consent of Whizz PC Ltd on the offer being laid down by Taite, Lewis & co. -> Intention to create legal relationship: - When these two parties agrees to enter into an agreement, they must be an intention on part of the parties, to create a legal relationship, in the absence of such an intention, the agreement does not become a contract. -> Lawful Consideration: Consideration means something in return, it is an advantage or benefit moving from one party to other. In this case it would be the promise or the consent to pay £545 for each PC to be purchased from Whizz PC Ltd. -> Capacities and Competence of the parties to contract: Both the parties involved must be competent to contract. It is highly essential to see that both the parties are qualified under the legal considerations. -> Certainty and Possibility of Performance: The contract between the partners of Taite, Lewis & co to Whizz PC Ltd must consist the features of certainty, clarity and possibility to perform. Besides these requirements all the legal formalities like registration, stamp, witness, signatures etc are also needed. Generally speaking, as most of the requirements were not being considered and met between the two involved parties it could not be considered as a proper or a good contract. 2. Explain, with reference to legal principles and decided cases, the legal effect of the brochure and price list sent to Taite, Lewis & co on 22 January and the firm’s order on 27 January. On 22 January Whizz PC Ltd sent the firm its brochure, which gave information about each of its models, including the specifications, together with a price list. The contractual price or the procedure of its establishment is set forth in the contract; if it has not been established and the parties have not agreed otherwise, it could have been a different case. Moreover, on 27 January the partners of Taite, Lewis & Co have placed an order in written but it should be noted this order had a further inquiry and could not be considered as a complete purchase order. As a matter of fact there could be no legal effect of the brochure and price list being sent to Taite, Lewis & Co and this price list and brochure could be simply considered as the general purchase information about the products being offered by Whizz PC Ltd. And the order which was being sent by the partners of Taite, Lewis & Co could be considered as a further inquiry proposal. 3. Analyze and explain, with reference to legal principles and decided cases, the legal effect of the events that occur after the firm’s order on 27 January. On the purchased order being sent on 27 January, a further inquiry about the product specifications were being made. But the actions and events which occurred after the firm’s order on 27 January implies few legal considerations. After receiving the purchase order Whizz PC Ltd replied using one of its standard form briefing few specific things – such as terms and conditions, payment date etc. Again a revised form was sent by Whizz PC Ltd agreeing to the conditions laid by the partners of Taite, Lewis & Co. and clearly mentioning that if the firm wishes Whizz PC Ltd to be the supplier then a confirmation of the order has to be sent within seven days of the date on the form. These events clearly gives the implications of legal considerations which could be laid down by Whizz PC Ltd on the partners of Taite, Lewis & Co in case if the later breaches the contract. But on considering further activities which have taken place, certain legal obligations come into picture. Here in this case “time” factors play an important role. It is quite evident that Whizz PC have received cancellation order prior to purchase order i.e., they have received the cancellation order on February 9 whereas the purchase order from the partners on February 10. This could be the reason of postal delay and if Taite, Lewis & Co have mentioned that they are not responsible for any postal delay on their purchase order then as such there could be no legal issues for them and if nothing is mention about the postal delay still this would be considered in their favor as per the legal principles. 4. Explain, with reference to legal principles and decided cases, what the terms of the contract are in relation to the payment of the purchase price. Price, pricing, payment terms, payment date all these plays pivotal role in any contract formed between different parties. There are few instances when the price is not mentioned and at such time the price is fixed at the mutual understandings and consent of the involved parties. It is highly advisable to mention all these specifications when entering into a contract so that further any legal obligations can be solved with much ease. In this case we could see a good deal of activities which have taken place over the pricing factor. These activities were based on the negotiation whereby the offerer is seen negotiating the price and the services to be provided and later the offeree putting forward their conditions and finally there is a mutual agreement between both the parties related to the price and the extra services being provided. The primary thing which should be considered in this case is that the contact formed could not be termed as a contract; it was more or less like an agreement upon which both of the parties agreed to proceed. But later they could not proceed as one of the party accepted a good and more advantageous proposal of a third party which is very much acceptable when we consider few cases and the legal principles. Thus, as such there could be no specific considerations for the terms of the contract in relation to the payment of the purchase price. 5. Explain, with reference to legal principles and decided cases, the impact, if any, of the following events on the existence of a contract between Whizz PC Ltd and the firm. The major impact which these circumstances have on the existence of a contract between Whizz PC Ltd and the firm is that due to the later contract the former becomes null or void. In this case the first party was still in the process of making agreement with the second party during which it gets a good offer from the third party and finding this offer as more profitable it accepts it. Thus the agreement which was supposed to be form between the first and the second party becomes null or void. Here the first party is the partners of Taites, Lewis & Co who were in need of few computers and were willing to make purchase of computers from Whizz PC. An agreement based on mutual understandings was formed after few negotiations about the extra specifications and services. The purchase order was released but due to postal delay it reached Whizz PC late and during this tenure the partners got a good proposal from Bang Plc and considering it more profitable than the proposal of Whizz PC Ltd, the partners opted for this and sent the cancellation order to Whizz PC Ltd. It could not be even considered as a cancellation order, as the agreement was not yet finalized. It so happened that Lewis & co received information about a special promotional offer for the supply of PCs by Bang plc, which represents better value in terms of specification and price than the terms of Whizz PC Ltd. The partners wrote immediately to Whizz PC Ltd withdrawing their offer and thus the agreement between the partners and Whizz PC gets terminated. REFERENCES: -> Emerson Robert W, (2003) - Business Law Read More