Business Law and Ethics: Breach of Contract and Remedies
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This report discusses the breach of contract in business law and the remedies available to the aggrieved party. It also explores the application of the doctrine of promissory estoppel in a case scenario.
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BUSINESS LAW AND ETHICS
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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................3 MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3 CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................6 REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION Businesses are mainly engaged in the commercial activity which helps in uplifting the economy.These are governed by the business law which includes vast field which involves company Act, contract Act, employment law, data protection Act and many other. These play an important role in smooth functioning of the organisation as it involves laws and regulation which aretobecompliedwithbytheownerortheemployerinordertopreventanylegal consequences. These laws states the rights and duties of the employee and employer so that they are protected from the exploitation(Haidt and Trevino, 2017). Contract law deals with the relation, conduct, rights and obligations of the parties who have entered into a valid contract with each other. To constitute a legal binding contract the necessary requirements is firstly an offer then an acceptance, a consideration and an intention to create legal relationship. This report shall cover the breach of contractual relationship through a case scenario. MAIN BODY The contract law is a branch of business law which deals with the business transactions involved through valid contracts. The blueprint of a valid contract includes an offer by one party then the acceptance by the other party, consideration is involved between the parties and an intention to create legal relations. The fourth requirement was initially not a part of legal valid contract but it has been developed through the common law in the case ofBalfour v. Balfour, where the court was of the opinion that it is very important to have an intention to create legal relations between the parties otherwise the contract shall be a domestic contract between the parties which have no relevance as of the commercial contract so this essential requirement is the most necessary one which party must have in order to create a valid contract. The court will consider the facts and circumstances of the case in order to see whether there was an intention to create legal relationship or not(Greenwood and McGill, 2017). In this case, Raymond works on a part-time basis in a accountancy firm which specialises in taxation and on the other side he has opened a sole proprietorship firm where he provides legal advice based on tax. One day Raymond and Samantha enter into a contract that Raymond will prepare some draft business accounts for Samantha for the past three years and in return of that she will pay €800 consideration. When the contractual obligation were fulfilled, Samantha
offered to pay only €200 in place of €800 and Raymond reluctantly accepted it. One day when Samantha‘s painting was sold for €20,000 Raymond wishes to claim the balance of €600. In this case study, Samantha and Raymond entered into a valid contract which had an offer by Raymond, the acceptance by the Samantha and a consideration of €800. The intention to create the legal relationship is also present in this contract so it is a valid contract between the parties. Raymond has been subject to breach of contract by Samantha as she had not paid the fixed consideration which is of the amount of €800 rather she paid only €200 so Raymond is entitled to claim the remedies which this law offers. The contract law offers various remedies to the aggrieved party which includes damages, specific performance of contract, repudiation, injunction order and many other. In this case Raymond can claim damages and specific performance of the contract. Damages are the award of money which is given to the aggrieved party in order to bring the party to the position which could have been if the contract was performed. In order to claim damages, court will look into the remoteness of the damages caused to the party, the duty of the claimant to reduce the loss and the loss caused to the claimant. Specific performance of contract is awarded to the aggrieved party at the discretion of the court if it thinks that it is necessary for the party to perform the obligations of the contract(Park, 2020). In case, court is of the view that damages can compensate for the loss to the party then it shall not order to specific performance of the contract. In case Samantha had offered to pay €200 before the obligations of the contract were fulfilled the situation would have been different. In case Samantha had offered for the payment of €200, it would be a counter offer rather than the acceptance to the original offer which was made by Raymond. Counter offers are such offers which destroys the original offer and leaves no room for the party to accept it further. The case ofHyde v.Wrenchthe court was of the view that counter offers destroy the original offer and the promisee cannot be allowed to accept the original offer in case it has accepted the counter offer(Miller, 2016). So here in this case if Samantha had offered to pay €200 three weeks earlier, then it would be at the option of Raymond to accept it or reject it. For instance if he accepts the offer, it would constitute a valid contract with an offer of €200 and the acceptance by Raymond for the consideration of €200 only and parties shall have the legal intention to create legal relationships. But if he rejects the offer, there would not be any contract between the parties and no party shall be at loss as there is no performance of the contract obligation.
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In case Raymond request the sum of €400 as full and final settlement, then the situation would have been different as there was new offer by Raymond to which Samantha must accept it or reject it and in case Samantha accepts it, it would be fulfilment of the contractual obligation and no party shall be liable for the breach of contract. But in case, she rejects the offer then this will not constitute the valid contract and the scenario shall be different. In this case, Samantha had paid to Raymond only €200 and Raymond can claim the remaining balance and plead that the doctrine of promissory estoppel shall not be applied as Samantha had mislead her financial position to Raymond and he is entitled to the remaining balance of €600. In the case ofD & C Builders v. Rees, the court held that if the party takes advantage of the position of the other party and mislead the financial position of itself then the doctrine of promissory estoppel shall not be applied and the party have the right to claim the remaining balance(Gaitán, Herrera-Echeverri and Pablo, 2018). So here in this case Raymond can successfully claim his remaining balance of €600 which was not paid by Samantha at the time when she misleaded it her financial position. In this case study, from the point of view of Samantha, she has already offered Raymond to pay €200 as full and final settlement, so Raymond cannot claim the remaining balance of €600 as the doctrine of promissory estoppel shall apply and Raymond cannot bound Samantha to pay the remaining balance of €600. This doctrine was developed by Denning J in the case ofCentral London Trust Ltd v. High Trees Ltdwhere he was of the opinion that if a party accepts the smaller amount in place of larger amount then the doctrine of promissory estoppel shall apply where the party cannot go back in the past and claim the remaining balance(Macaulay, 2020). So in this case Samantha is not liable to pay the remaining balance as he had accepted her counter offer which includes €200 of consideration and the contractual obligation by both the parties have been fulfilled.
CONCLUSION It is concluded from this report that, business law is that branch of law which regulate the working of the businesses. The contract law is the most important legislation which regulate the rights and liabilities of the parties together with their conduct and relations. From this case scenario, it can be said that the valid contract requires the essential requirement which includes an offer, acceptance, consideration and the intention to create legal obligations. In this case study as Raymond has accepted the counter offer of Samantha as full and final settlement so he cannot the claim the remaining balance as their has been doctrine of promissory estoppel applied. From the point of view of Raymond, this doctrine cannot be applied as Samantha has misleaded her financial position in order to pay less consideration.
REFERENCES Books and Journals Haidt, J. and Trevino, L., 2017. Make business ethics a cumulative science.Nature Human Behaviour,1(2), pp.1-2. Greenwood, K. and McGill, D., 2017. Law and Ethics for Today’s Photocommunication. InPhotocommunication Across Media(pp. 149-171). Focal Press. Park, S., 2020.Ethics in Business(Vol. 2). Seohee Academy. Miller, R.L., 2016.Business Law Today, Comprehensive. Cengage learning. Gaitán, S., Herrera-Echeverri, H. and Pablo, E., 2018. How corporate governance affects productivity in civil-law business environments: Evidence from Latin America.Global Finance Journal,37, pp.173-185. Macaulay, S., 2020. The Impact of Contract Law on the Economy: Less Than Meets the Eye?. InStewart Macaulay: Selected Works(pp. 297-309). Springer, Cham.