Contract Law: Comparison of Balfour v. Balfour and Merritt v. Merritt

Contract Law
(Individual CW-2)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Part 1...........................................................................................................................................3
Part 2...........................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The contract law is a legislation which regulate the rights, liabilities, conduct and relation
of the parties who have entered into a valid contract. In order to create a valid contract, there are
few requirements which includes offer by one party, acceptance by the other, consideration and
intention to create legal relations. This law governs the transactions between the parties which is
made through a valid contract. This essay report shall deal with the comparison of two leading
cases, Balfour v. Balfour and Merritt v. Merritt within intention to create legal relations.
MAIN BODY
Part 1
The essentials of valid contract includes an offer by one party, acceptance by other party,
consideration and intention to create legal relations. In order determine the agreements which are
legally binding, it is important to have intention to create legal relations. The law makes a
distinction between the commercial and social agreements, where a presumption is raised that
parties do not intended to create legal relations. This presumption may be rebutted by the
evidence shown in contrary to it.
In the case of Balfour v. Balfour1, the facts of the case is that Mr Balfour, appellant in the
case lives in Sri Lanka with his wife and has gone on vacation in 1915 to England. She became
ill and urgently needed medical attention. The doctors advised her to stay in England. Mr Balfour
returned to Sri Lanka by making an agreement that he would pay £30 per month to Mrs Balfour
until he returns. After his return Mr Balfour wrote to to say that they should separate
permanently. Subsequently, the parties got divorced and the issue arose that whether the
agreement was enforceable.
The lower court held that Mr Balfour's consent is equivalent to the consideration and
hence the contract is enforceable. The appellant court three judges held that the contract is not
enforceable. Warrington LJ and Duke LJ was of the opinion that the contract is not enforceable
because they doubted the consideration of the wife and on the other hand, Atkin LJ invoked the
doctrine of Intention to create legal relations in order to decide on the case2. This doctrine is
based upon public policy, that is to say that the contract law does not intervene in domestic
1 [1919] 2 KB 571
2 Schwartz A, and Scott R, 'Contract Theory And The Limits Of Contract Law' (2017) 113
The Yale Law Journal