Elements of the Law of Contract - Assignment Example

Business Law Case Study Business Law Case Study Question one (a) Identity The legal issue in the question is whetherLeila can be sued by Julie for declining to pay or reward her for the playing her part in delivering the lost goods. The other issue here is whether it was mandatory for Julie to first call the Leila about her discovery. However, the requirements would be subject to the case in hand meeting contract specifications, the conditions governing offers. This would require identification of the nature of this offer and the necessary remedies. Premise The principle of the law is to find out if by putting the notice on one of the dailies amounted to an offer. If so, what was the condition of the offer and who was to claim it? It has always been assumed that a notice like that goes all the way to the world and anybody can claim it so long as the terms are met. Authority This is similar to the case of Carlill and Carbolic Smoke Ball Company (1893) 1 QB256. The claimant after meeting all the conditions put fore by Carbolic Smoke Ball Company was being denied the claim by the company. This attracted the intervention of the court which rewarded her claim. According to the law of contracts, an offer is simply an expression of willingness and ability to contract on given specific terms. It can be written oral or both. The offer can also be unilateral or bilateral, the latter mostly being in commercial businesses. Argument In the case of Leila vs. Julie, the offer was unilateral since the former had in one of the dailies, printed a notice of the same targeting the whole public (Bouvier, 1856). The clear message was that whoever came across and returned the gold locket and the chain previously lost was to be rewarded $ 50. In a unilateral contract, once the offeror makes a promise in exchange of an act by another person, if this other person acts on the offerer’s promise then the latter is obligated to fulfill the promise (Austen-Baker, 2002). The ideal condition is that the information about the reward must have been in the knowledge of the offferee before presenting his actions. In this case, Julie was knowledgeable of the information about the reward for the return made by Leila. Whichever form of communication/ notification she chose, it was within the context. According to the notice, the offerer gave her address as well as her number meaning you could choose any to communicate and Julie happened to choose the physical contact. In my opinion, she qualified to be rewarded as the contract was binding. (b) Counter Argument However, it should be noted that just like the case of (Household fire and carriage accident Insurance company ltd v Grant, 1879), this would have not been the case should Julie had been exposed to the information regarding the reward. If she had presented the lost and found documents to Leila without knowledge of the previously posted notice but realized later after, then she would not qualify for the reward since there will be no proof of consensus ad idem (Ron Ghitter property consultants ltd v.Beaver Lumber Company, 2003). Before a contract of this nature is formed, there must be a common understanding between the parties involved. Conclusion In this case, the argument of Leila will not hold. She should proceed to reward Julie as this will save her the stress of the court battle. Even in her notice to the world, she never specified that she had to be contacted on phone first. Giving a physical address might as well mean you want to be contacted on the same. Julie had done no mistake. Question Two Legal Issue The issue between Edwin and Adam requires knowing if Edwin had acted illegally or not. And if so, what are the options that Adam is left with to explore. Again, the point will be, how/what to do next to get justice. It seems to be a case of breach of contract since they had already agreed about the price of the machine and what remained was the actual exchange to take place. This breach appears to be an anticipatory breach since the breach occurred before performance was due and Edwin repudiating the contract despite his ability to perform the contract (Hart, 1994). Premise The principle of the law is to find out if by declining the contract of Adam by Edwin amounted to breach of contract. If that was the case, then how was it supposed to have been handled in a manner not to attract legal case? There is also the case of appropriate remedies to claim should the contract be fully terminated by Adam and the process of going through the whole process. Authority In the case of Frost versus Knight in which the defendant had entered a contract to marry the accuser before death of his father but proceeded to marry someone else before the death of his father, it was held that the defendant was liable in damages for anticipatory breach of contract. The same may be applied here by filing action for damages and notifying Edwin of his intention. He can then choose to claim the damages promptly before performance as this will satisfy the substantial failure to perform (Rawls, 1999; Weber, 1992). If Edwin met this condition, then Adam should proceed to terminate and claim remedies for the loss he underwent. Argument Adam will need to prove that the loss incurred was because of the breach of the contract. Precisely, the monetary compensation will take the form of nominal or substantial where the former is when Adam will not be able to prove the damages caused by the breach while the latter is when he proves beyond doubts that the damage was due to the breach (Macmillan & Stone, 2012). Possible ways that Adam will be assessed for possible Compensation. Liquidated damages and penalties- this will require that both Adam and Edwin should agree on the amount payable to the defendant in the case of breach. This sum specified will be the liquidated damages. The court will assess the amount payable by applying the assessment for damages rule. The other remedy is the specific performance where the court will compel Edwin to sell the car to Adam because the car is unique and rare. This is similar to the case of Hasham Jiwa versus V. Zenab where parties signed a contract for the sale of a piece of land and the accused breached the contract before the completion date, the defendant applied for specific performance and was granted. Counter Argument On counter argument, the case would have been different should the contract had not been sealed before Saturday. If so, Edwin would have had the opportunity to sample the offers given including the one of Saudi gentle man have notified Adam himself of the change of mind or through a proxy. This would have been possible without any legal cases on him. (b) This same reasoning will also apply should the case be of a latest Mercedes car. This is because everything remains the same despite the fact that Mercedes will be accessible easily. Rarity will only affect the remedy of specific performance but everything else will remain. Edwin will only be liable to losses that are reasonably foreseeable in the normal routine of work (Kardian-Baumeyer, 2015). Conclusion Whatever, Edwin did was in breach of the contract. The appropriate way to deal with this case would be to follow the above process. The rest of the case will be a matter to be decided by the judges of the court. References Austen-Baker, R. (2002). Gilmore and the strange case of failure of a contract to die after all . Journal of contract law. Bouvier, J. (1856). A law dictionary: adapted in the constitution of America. Hart, H. L. (1994). The concept of law. London: Clarendon Press Oxford. Household fire and carriage accident Insurance company ltd v Grant, 4EX D216 (Thesigner LJ 1879). Kardian-Baumeyer, K. (2015). Contract Law Definations and contract types. Retrieved May 18th, 2015, from Study.com: http://study.com/academy/lesson/contract-types.html Macmillan, C., & Stone, R. (2012). Elements of the law of contract. London: University of London. Rawls, J. (1999). A theory of justice revised. London: Oxford university press. Ron Ghitter property consultants ltd v.Beaver Lumber Company, 221 (ABCA 2003). Weber. (1992). Economy and society: an outline of interpretive sociology. Barkeley: University of California press. Read More