Contract Law and Partnership Agreement: Essential Elements and Consumer Protection Act

This report discusses the essential elements of Contract Law, including offer, acceptance, consideration, and legal intention. It also elaborates on the different types of partnerships and their advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, the report explains the protection provided to consumers against product defects under the Consumer Protection Act.

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Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
PART 2............................................................................................................................................5
PART 3............................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERNCES...................................................................................................................................9
INTRODUCTION
Business law is a commercial practise which outlines all the general legal regulations and
rules through which the company can manage their systematic working with the compliance and
the rules provided by government. In UK there is common law system which have partly written
and not wholly codified laws. Some of the main legal regulations which are applied in the
organisational working are Employment law, Contract Act, Companies act and many more. This
act incorporates and deal with all the agreements, working and the statutory compliance.
Employment law 1996 is made in order to promotes the rights to be given to all the employees
working in the company and also to all the general regulation which are like wages, time hours,

leaves, health and safety and so on(Clarkson and Miller, 2020). In contrast, the contract law in
UK accompanied with all the agreements which are being enforceable by law and also helps in
protection all the legal rights of the person in performing any task. There comprise of so many
remedies available in aw through which the protection is given to the parties from breach. This
report will showcase about the contract law and their essential elements in relation to offer and
acceptance. Further it will also elaborate about the provision which can be applied for the faulty
and defective goods and the rights and the duties which are drawn to all the partners in relation to
partnership agreement of the company.
MAIN BODY
PART 1
In UK there implies the Common law system in which they have all the rules and the
regulation with which the contract in the parties are framed through the rules which are made by
the government or the higher authorities. In Contract Law the main areas and the aspects with
which the agreements are drawn in the parties are thorough the contractual obligation made
between them. contract law can be accomplishing when all the essential elements of it is
covered. They are like, offer this is generally an invitation top treat in which the person generally
invites the other to complete the task which required to be performed. This is needed to be
communicated to the other party to whom the offer is being drawn. Another is acceptance it
complies with all the communication which are drawn between the parties and this can be made
through the agreeing on the offer or the invite which is made in the parties(Davidson and
Forsythe, 2020). This can be express or implied in which the consent of the party on agreeing on
general term is given. When the offer is given to the offerer then it complies to be the agreement
drawn in between them. another important element is consideration this is the monetary value
which is applied and is decided between the parties. It is mainly the amount which is applied and
discussed in the party for completing the contract. Lastly, there is legal intention to complete a
contract all the parties will have to be faithful towards framing the contract. And all the material
facts are required to be disclosed with proper legal intentions.

Furthermore, under old English common law, a distinction was made between an offer and
an invitation to make an offer. In general, an invitation to offer, also known as an invitation to
treat, is an offer that is up to negotiation, whereas the conditions of an offer are specific, full, and
capable of being accepted. Advertisements, the presentation of items in stores, or the
announcement of the price of any good, for example, are some of the key ways in which this
might be considered as an example. Carlil v. Carbolic Smoke Balls Co. is one of the most
important case laws that clarifies the invitation to offer notion. According to the facts of the case,
the company issued an advertisement suggesting that anyone who contracts influenza after
swallowing the balls will be eligible for a £100 reward from the company(CONTRACT and
NEED, 2018). The court decided that the defendant is entitled to the specified reward from the
corporation because the offer was made as a result of the advertisement through a unilateral
contract. Furthermore, the corporation's deposit of £1000 demonstrates that the company has a
legal desire to enter into a legally enforceable contract.
Aside from that, the Auction can be considered one such example that distinguishes between
the two notions in terms of how they should be treated. An auction with reserve, for example, is
regarded as an invitation to treat because the auctioneer has the possibility of rejecting the
already put bid. The auction without reserve, on the other hand, is deemed an offer because the
auctioneer is obligated to accept the highest bid. Acceptance is another variable idea that plays
an important part in contract determination. As a general rule, the acceptance must be properly
disclosed to the offeree, and if it is not, it has no binding effect. Aside from that, the acceptance
becomes official as soon as the offeree posts the letter, according to postal rules. However, there
are no exceptions to the rules in the event that the letter is destroyed or lost in transit.
Furthermore, with regard to the aforementioned case study, there is a situation that includes
characteristics of an invitation to treat, as here the invitation is made by Bob, the van's owner, via
an advertisement announcing the interested prices of £1,000. For the first individual, Gemma,
there is no possibility of forming a legally binding contract because, rather than accepting the
stated prices, Gemma suggested a new price of £800, which cannot be deemed an acceptance but
rather a counter offer(Casey and Niblett, 2021). In addition, for the voice mail she left when she
received the prize, the general rule of accepting email does not apply to modern communication
formats such as email, so no reason to accept it. In addition, the nominated parties Dennis and

Stephanie are considered to have been accepted as soon as the letter was posted under the general
rules of acceptance of mail, so the nominated parties and Bob You can make a valid contract
between them. It is also in Partridge v. Crittenden's 1968 piano sale, advertised in the
newspaper, was considered an invitation to bid due to limited stock of pianos. Similarly, a person
named Michael saw the notice and put a note in Bob's mailbox that he wanted to buy a van with
the money he was given. Again, you can use general postal acceptance rules to claim the
enforceability of a contract.
PART 2
A partnership is a formation of a relationship between multiple individuals in order to
carry a business operation with a common objective to earn a desired amount of profit. In the
United Kingdom, partnership is governed under the Partnership Act 1890. Unlike the
incorporation of a company, a partnership between two or more persons need not to get
registered before any authority. They are only required to select a name for their partnership firm
and a partner who can be nominated. The partner who has been nominated will be responsible
for the administration of business activities, like filing tax returns. There must be an intention to
carry a business along with the other individual. The partners after constituting the partnership,
share the profit as well as the losses arising in the business. They both share equal accountability
for the business activities. For e.g.- they are liable to pay the cost which incur in buying any kind
of plant, machinery and land for the business, they are required to share the bills of water and
electricity, they need to pay the taxes in equal percentage (Kim and Shin, 2019).
A partnership does not possess any separate identity from its owners. It is like sole
trading, where owners have the right to share profits and liabilities earned from the partnership
business. If get compared with the companies, partnerships can be created easily and are proved
to be less costly. But being a part of any partnership firm, one needs to be careful in the
furtherance of business operations because the partners are jointly answerable for each and every

thing. Like, if you got sued by some creditor or debtor, then the partners will be collectively
bounded to settle the disputes between them and the other party. As their accounts and funds are
being unified and if the disputed amount will not get recovered from the finances of the partners,
then the court can extend its power to their private possessions to settle down the conflict.
Before reaching to any end result, it is required to know about the different types of partnerships
so that it would be crystal clear that what kind of partnership one must form or which suits them
more favourably. There are three types of partnerships -
i. General partnership- As the name itself suggests that it is the most basic form of a
partnership where an agreement is signed between the parties which is known as
partnership agreement. It does not require any sanctioning from the state authority. The
proprietorship of the partnership firm and the profits gained by it are equally divided
among the partners. The partners are personally liable for all the commercial debts and
lawful responsibilities that means they all are mutually accountable. Like, if there is a
partnership firm named as ABC Ltd. took a loan from any financial institution and now
the firm is unable to pay the instalments as well as the principal amount of the loan to the
bank then the partners will be held responsible severally for the repayment of the debt.
These types of partnership can be formed and dissolved easily. The dissolution can also
take place if any of the partner dies or becomes bankrupt. The advantages of this kind of
partnership can be that the ownership and the profits are equally managed by the partners.
They are free to take the decisions on their own. Disadvantages of this type of partnership
can be that the firm will be automatically dissolved if any of its partners dies or goes
bankrupt) (Bazhutkina, Kasatov and Naugolnova, 2018).
ii. Limited Liability Partnership- It basically functions similarly as general partnership
where all the partners equally enjoy the ownership of the business but their liability is
limited. They are not liable for the activities of the other partners. They all are
accountable for the repayment of loans and other lawful obligations but are not
answerable for the acts of their fellow partners. For e.g.- if a partner took a loan from a
bank in the name of the partnership firm and if he failed to repay it back, then he will be
held personally liable to clear the loan amount irrespective of the fact that the loan he has
taken in the name of the firm. One of the advantages in this type of partnership is that the
partners have limited liabilities and they cannot be held responsible for the act or

omissions of other partners. The Disadvantage of this type of partnership business can be
that if a partner is unable to repay the debt he has taken on the name of the firm, then it
can harm the goodwill of the partnership firm.
iii. Limited Partnership- These types of partnerships are officially managed by the State.
In this kind of partnership there is a single general partner who stands accountable for the
business activities and limited partners whose main work is to provide finances to the
firm. There can be one or more limited partners in a firm. They only make investments in
the commercial activities so as to earn some kind of monetary returns. They are not
accountable for any financial obligation and liability. They only share the profits of the
firm. They act as a silent partner of the partnership firm. After observing all three types
of partnerships, limited partnership will be suitable for Jennifer and Emma as per their
requirements. By getting themselves involved in this kind of partnership they can
exercise their direct and full control over the business activities(Bragg, 2018).
PART 3
The Consumer Protection Act of 1987 protects consumer rights while providing
protection in the event of damage, injury or death due to product defects. With the help of this
law, an individual may claim such damages against the person who manufactured such a
defective product. In addition, the Consumer Protection Act also includes a rigorous liability
review of products incompletely manufactured in the UK by the manufacturers involved, making
them liable for any damages incurred by the consumer. In addition, regarding the question of
what kind of damages can be claimed under the law, it is said that damages will be decided at the
time of occurrence. Simply put, this means that anyone who suffers damages or damages as a
result of a defect is entitled to claim or claim compensation, as well as the person who provided
the product or service. However, there are also some types of damage, primarily property or
personal injury, which are explicitly excluded by the Consumer Protection Act of 1987. Some of
the exceptions mentioned are damage or loss to the product itself, damage of a nature that is not
normally intended for private use, or last damage to an asset where the value of the asset is le
than £ 275. According to of the law, claims for damages or injuries can be made within three
years from the date the consumer notices the damage or the date the damage is reported. Even if
the date of the product was put on the market for the last 10 years, that claim cannot be made to
the manufacturer either(Indradewi, 2021).

In addition, Section 3 (1) of the regulation specifies which flaws can be claimed under this law.
This section states that a product is considered defective if the safety of the product is not as
good as generally expected. Therefore, certain factors need to be considered in order to
determine what to expect in general. The very first is whether the product comes with a warning
sign, label, or other related instructions. The other is that you must comply with the product's
way of selling as a warning sign or the product's instruction manual. The other is that the
consumer intends to use the product reasonably, or it may reasonably expect that the product will
become less secure after a period of time.
In addition, section 2(1) of the said Act aids in determining the amount of compensation paid.
This section stipulates that in order to be able to claim compensation, all or part of the damage
must have been caused by a defect indicated by the consumer. Simply put, this means that the
defect or injury does not have to be the sole cause of the injury or wrong, but rather should
contribute to it(Gaganis, et.al., 2020). The above Act includes strict liability test, then also
organisations can have the possibilities any claims which are made against the product if one can
prove or establish any of the facts listed below.
 The producer didn't supply or sell the concerned product,
 The specified product was in good condition with no defects when supplied by the
manufacturer.
 At the time the product was manufactured, the scientific and technical knowledge to
recognize or identify defects in the product was not yet sufficiently advanced.
 The specified product was not the operational or sole cause of injury or personal injury.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that the business laws of the country
contribute to an great extent with respect to the acts of their governance as well as regulations.
Where the implication and the applicability of the said laws differs from one form to other. The
business laws being the broad head also comprises of the other laws as well such as the
company, contracts, etc. for the given case scenario, the report concluded the fact regarding the
existence of the valid contract between the parties. It also entails the most appropriate form of
partnership as per their requirements and concerns. Moreover, the last part of the report outlines
the various elements that stands essential for the purpose of making a claim under the Act of
Consumer protection of 1987 of the country.
REFERNCES
Clarkson, K.W. and Miller, R.L., 2020. Business law: Text and cases. Cengage Learning.
Davidson, D.V. and Forsythe, L.M., 2020. Business law: Principles and cases in the legal
environment. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
CONTRACT, P. and NEED, D.C.L., 2018. WILLIAM & MARY BUSINESS LAW REVIEW.
Casey, A.J. and Niblett, A., 2021. The Limits of Public Contract Law. Law and Contemporary
Problems, Forthcoming.
Kim, J.S. and Shin, N., 2019. The impact of blockchain technology application on supply chain
partnership and performance. Sustainability, 11(21), p.6181.
Bazhutkina, L.P., Kasatov, A.D. and Naugolnova, I.A., 2018. Role and importance of public-
private partnership in providing an innovative way of development of the Russian
economy. Modern Economy Success, (1), pp.51-57.
Bragg, R., 2018. Consumer Protection Act 1987—New Code of Practice on Pricing. In The
Yearbook of Consumer Law 2007 (pp. 345-347). Routledge.
Indradewi, A.A.S.N., 2021. PROTECTING CONSUMER. Journal on International Social
Science, 1(1), pp.7-12.
Gaganis, C.,et.al., 2020. Bank profit efficiency and financial consumer protection
policies. Journal of Business Research, 118, pp.98-116.