Business Law: Contract and Tort of Negligence Report, T1 2019

This report, prepared for a Business Law course (HA2022), delves into two key areas: contract law and the tort of negligence. Part A examines the essentials of contract law, including the definition of a contract, the concept of breach of contract, and the requirements for a valid agreement. It analyzes a case study involving a potential breach of contract, exploring issues of offer, acceptance, and the clarity of terms. Part B focuses on the law of torts and negligence, specifically addressing the duty of care. It examines a scenario where an officer-in-charge's actions lead to an accident, assessing whether a breach of duty of care occurred. The report employs the IRAC method (Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion) to analyze the case studies, supported by relevant case law and legal principles. The conclusion summarizes the findings, highlighting the absence of a valid contract in the first scenario due to unclear terms and the potential breach of duty of care in the second. The report also includes references to relevant legal sources.

Written Report and
Presentation

Executive Summary
The file is all about law where major topic which are covered in it is related with
Contract law and Tort of Negligence law. Contract law has a discussion about how important
contract is and why anyone is required to enter into a valid contract. Even there is detail
description about breach of contract because it has helped a lot to solve the case study which is
given in part A. When it comes to Part B, discussion was all about who have the duty of care.
Also, there was detail discussion about tort of negligence through which given case has been
solved.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART A : Contract Law..................................................................................................................1
12. What is contract and whether contract has been breached in the given scenario or not.......1
PART B: The Law of Torts and Negligence...................................................................................3
6. Did the officer-in-charge breach his duty of care in placing the jack in a vehicle not
specially built to carry it? Explain your reasoning......................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Law is defined as set pattern of rules and regulations which need to be followed by each
and every individual. The guidelines of law is always set by the supreme authority of the
country. Laws are always commenced on the basis of requirement so that additional safety and
protection can be provided to the general public. Law is of different types such ans criminal law,
business law, civil law and many more. In context of the file, focus will be on business law were
major area which need to be covered is contract law and torts and negligence law. Different case
studies will be solved which is given in the question with the help of relevant case law so that
answers can be understood more easily and clearly.
PART A : Contract Law
12. What is contract and whether contract has been breached in the given scenario or not.
Contract: It is defined as the set of legal documents where every detail information are
mention as that need to follow once involved party is agree to enter into the contract. It is one of
the most important law that need to be considered because it supports to do most of the work
through which chances of breaching the contract reduces automatically. Contract can be of two
types either Voluntary or Written where preference is always given to the written agreement
because it helps for proving if anything wrong happens. To enter into any of the agreement, it is
necessary that contract should be valid because void-ab-initio types of contract are not
entertained in the court. Once party enter into the contract they are not allowed to terminate in
between as legal actions can be taken in that particular scene. Whenever breach of contract takes
place and if it is proved that there is no valid reason for default, then legal action can be taken at
any period of time on that person were he/she might have to pay the damages which has occurred
just because of there fault (Mason, 2013).
Breach of Contract: It is the situation where any one of the party fails to perform their
work given specific period of time. The main purpose to form the contract is to avoid maximum
number of breach of contract. When breach of contract occurs, innocent party do get the option
where they can sue to the defaulter. Once, the case is filed judges of the court need to find the
actual reason behind the breach of contract so that appropriate judgement can be given.
Voidable, void ab initio types of contract do not falls under the category of breach of contract.
Heavy penalty can be imposed upon the person if they are found guilty.
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Given Case Scenario: Greta wants to sell her but she was not clear that on what amount
she should sell it. It was important for her to decide the find the right person with whom she can
enter into the contract so she decided to advertise the car which is on sale. Here, Sam responded
to the advertisement and asked the price of car as he was willing to purchase it. Greta told him
that “I think fair price of the car would be around couple of thousand dollars”. So, by
understanding this Sam came with $2000 for the car and in that moment Greta told him that she
meant $2500. Whether, contract exist in this situation.
ISSUE: The main issue which arises in this case was whether there was a contract?
Intention of the party was clear or not and if not what were the problem? Does, Contract still
exist between the parties. What is the main reason due to which question is being raised that does
contract exist between Greta and Sam as there was offer and acceptance in sort sort of situation.
RULE OF LAW: The rule of contract law and agreement says that contact should be
valid. Each and every terms should be expresses freely so that contract can be concluded in a
standard format prescribed by the law. Contract deed is required to prepared where price of the
particular things should be mention for the purpose of consideration. Contract should not be void
or voidable. Section 17 of Second hand Vehicle Dealer Act 1995 should be considered whenever
there is the contract to sale the vehicle (Does a contract have to be in writing? 2019). Also,
Schedule 2 section 78, 79 should be considered during unsolicited consumer agreement. In
addition contract can be formed, if there is offer plus acceptance so that contract contract can be
understood as a valid contract.
ANALYSIS: In the above given case it can be seen that, there was offer and acceptance
but terms and condition of the contract were not clear up to the mark. Non of the sections were
considered into the case. As, verbal contracts are also allowed but it is necessary that contract
should be written because it helps to write each and every single terms in detail under which
involved parties can work easily. In this, it was necessary to fix the amount of vehicle because
around couple of thousand doesn't make any of the sense and even Sam also decided himself that
couple of thousand means to $2000 but this doesn't make any sense. The material facts in this
contract were not disclosed which can lead any of the contract towards the situation of voidable
(Voidable Contract, 2019).
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CONCLUSION: In this particular case, contract doesn't exist in this situation because
terms and condition were not clear between the parties. Firstly, their was the requirement to form
the written contract because that could have helped both the parties.
Similar Case
Case law: Jane Williamson v Mark Watson
Facts: In this case, both the party enters into the contract where they have not justified the terms
and condition in a systematic manner due to which Jane was unable to take the possession of a
car. Mark want to sale his car but he had not decided on what amount it should be sold. Now,
Jane wants to give only $1800 for the car which Mark is not willing to accept (Peden, 2011).
Judgement: The honourable judges of the case decided that this contract in not valid because
material facts in this particular case is not disclosed due to which it is not possible to find the
actual defaulter. So, by looking at the case judges didn't entertained this case.
PART B: The Law of Torts and Negligence
6. Did the officer-in-charge breach his duty of care in placing the jack in a vehicle not specially
built to carry it? Explain your reasoning
Tort of Negligence: It is the legal wrong where one person have to suffer from the
problem in which person do not have any kind of default. Here, default is done by any other
person but at the end of the day problem is faced by the innocent person. This type of default is
mainly found in some of the contractual relationship such as employer employee, doctor and
patient shopkeeper and customer. This type of negligence falls under the category of civil wrong.
It is necessary in to find the actual person due to whom this types of condition arises again and
again. It is important to find whose owns the duty of care so that best judgement can be given. In
context of Australia, Tort law consists of both common law and even legislation so that case can
be judged as per the situation which arises in front of the judges (Pandey, 2017).
Duty of care: It is defined as the situation under which it is necessary to find who has the
main duty to take responsibility in the condition where problem arises due to one person and any
other person has to suffer. In any of the case, it is necessary to find the actual person who have
breached the contract (Tan, 2018). If it can be found that who have breached the contract it can
be easy to declare the decision. People are assigned the roles and responsibility but they are
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unable to do in most of the cases. For example: it is the duty of police officer to provide protect
to each and every person who live within the area assigned to them (Rock and Weeks, 2018).
Given Case Scenario:In Australia, the bushfire brigade has designed the special vehicle
which is required to be used only in the emergency situation. The speciality of the vehicle was
that it was very easy to carry large jack so that situation can be handled very easily. The special
vehicle was being used in one of the minor accident as call came to use special jack because fire
took place near to the brigade headquarter. Here, officer-in-charged ordered that jack must be
placed in the back of other vehicle which are present at fire station. The driver braked suddenly
at an intersection due to which jack was shifted and one of the fire officer was injured.
ISSUE: Whether in the given case, officer who was in-charge has breached the duty of
care while placing the jack in a vehicle. What was the main reason that accident took place even
a minor accident. What was the main problem that special vehicle was required to use in one of
the minor accident.
RULE OF LAW: In context of the law, it was important to know what are rules which
can be implied in the given scenario. Firstly, Division 2 of Duty of care applies in the given case.
Section 2 says about the reasonable precautions which is required to be taken against the
situation where condition is risky and it can harm. Under other principles, it is written about the
liability for negligence because person might know about the situation in most of the case where
they have the option to avoid the harmful activity because alternate might be available. Duty of
warn of risk in which person can advice about the reasonable care required when condition are
worst in nature (Law of negligence and limitation of liability Act, 2008).
ANALYSIS: While analysing the case first thing which came into mind, does officer-in-
charged had given any of the warning before using the special bushfire brigade. As fire was
minor which took place near the headquarter why did they wanted to use special designed
bushfire. As, vehicle was not used previously, it was important to know about the vehicle that
when it should be used and what the problem which can occur while using this vehicle but no
body informed any of the thing in this case. As, officer-in-charge is the responsible person
among everyone it is necessary for him to have detail knowledge about the special jack and even
he should not have passed the order to use that particular vehicle in one of the minor accident.
CONCLUSION: In this particular case, it can be understood that office-in-charge has
breached the duty which has been assigned to him. As they have built special jack to provide
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better result but still they don't have the knowledge that whether it can carry that or not so it was
also one of the mistake of office-in-charge. Here, officer must compensate the officer who has
become injured in this particular case.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the file, that law is one of the most important field which provide
guidelines to each and every department that how decision need to be taken. Contract law is
plays the significant role where every single informations are written which need to be
considered while performing the task which are mentioned in agreement papers. No one is
authorised to breach a valid contract else legal charges can be imposed in this situation. Every
individual is required to know about the duty of care where they have to take responsibility.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Peden, E., 2011. Incorporating terms of good faith in contract law in Australia. Sydney L. Rev.
23. p.222.
Mason, A., 2013. Future directions in Australian law. Monash UL Rev. 13. p.149.
Pandey, R., 2017. Is the Commissioner immune from the tort of negligence?. Taxation in
Australia. 51(9). p.494.
Rock, E. and Weeks, G., 2018. Monetary awards for public law wrongs: Australia's resistant
legal landscape. UNSWLJ. 41. p.1159.
Tan, B., 2018. An Unwanted Child: Awards for Damages in the Tort of Negligence. Sing. Comp.
L. Rev. p.97.
Online
Does a contract have to be in writing? 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://lawhandbook.sa.gov.au/ch10s02s02.php>
Voidable Contract. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/voidable-contract.asp>
Law of negligence and limitation of liability Act. 2008. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016Q00058>
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