Electronic Contracts

Electronic Contracts
ELECTRONIC CONTRACTS
Author
Class (Course)
Professor (Tutor)
The school (University)
City and State
Date

Electronic Contracts 1
Introduction
With increased reliance on the internet as the main interactive medium, lots of contracts
are now being created online. The contracts are generally referred to as the electronic contracts
or E-contracts. The law has maintained that all these electronic contracts must meet the basic
requirements of a contract. These elements are a valid agreement, intention to create legal
relation, and valid consideration. However, as all these contracts are negotiated and executed
online, issues of their formation have risen creating complexities in the judicial systems. Most of
the disputes are centered on contractual terms, the intention of the parties, where and when the
contract was formed. This paper will be an illustration of these concepts.
The basic principles in the law of contract have been transferred to online contracts. That
is, in order to have enforceable contract, (i) there must be a valid offer coming from one of the
parties; (ii) the other party must then provide its acceptance; (iii) both parties must make the
arrangements with intention to be legally bound (iv) and the promises must be supported by
sufficient consideration (Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company, [1892]).
As it was stated in Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company, an invitation to treat does not
act as an offer, but a mere invitation to negotiate. However, some circumstances may depict that
an advertiser has extended to providing an offer. In such circumstances, the courts consider the
language of the contract as opposed to what the parties assert in their claims. Another
controversial issue in modern contracts regards acceptance by email. Most commentators
propose that the court should be viewing emails acceptance as a spontaneous method. This has,
however, be taken as the next principles that courts would be upholding following a recent
decision in (Bieber and others v Teachers Limited (in liquidation) [2014]). In the case, the court
resolved that exchange of emails between the contracting parties constituted a binding