Legal Research and Analysis

This assignment requires in-depth research and analysis of diverse legal concepts drawn from a comprehensive list of provided academic sources. Students are expected to demonstrate their understanding of the subjects by synthesizing information from various materials, including case studies, legislation, and scholarly articles.

Aspects of Contract and
Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Importance of elements to form a valid contract..................................................................1
1.2 Impact of different types of contract.....................................................................................2
1.3 Terms in contract with reference to their meaning and effect...............................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Applying the elements of contract........................................................................................5
2.2 Applying the law on terms in different contracts..................................................................6
2.3 Evaluating the affect of different terms................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
3.1 Contrasting liability in tort and contractual liability.............................................................8
3.2 Nature of liability in negligence............................................................................................9
3.3 Explaining how business can be a vicariously liable .........................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
4.1 Elements of tort of negligence ...........................................................................................11
4.2 Elements of vicarious liability ...........................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
A contract is basically called as a legally enforced document by law with some valid and
lawful consideration of binding the involving parties into it. It is thereby with a mutual set of
consent among both the parties where there are several predefined clauses of an agreement
between them. However, the stated clauses are being defined with a mutual deliberation of both
the parties with a sole discretion of determining the actual format of their contract (Andrews,
2015). It herby defines the assorted stipulations of an agreement with certainly dissimilar
constituents for each. The below report is with a similar demonstration of articulating a
prerequisite format of a contract with a prior existence of their varied sort of elements, terms and
their distinction formations. Negligence is yet another major constraint of a contract with an
equivalently countering effect on the parties. Therefore, the present report together concludes
some crucial requisition of duly eliminating this peculiar factor of neglecting a contract with
fewer case studies to briefly comprehend its essentialist role.
TASK 1
1.1 Importance of elements to form a valid contract
A legal contract attains a valid formation only after a prior inclusion of certain mandate
elements in it. Such components comprise with some definite specifications of their own that
primarily initiates the constitution of an agreement, as described below:
 Offer and Acceptance- An offer is however considered as a foremost element of initiating
the valid formation of a contract into which an offer enacts as a primary element of an
agreement. An offerer here makes a considerable offer to some interested parties with a
specific time period of accepting it (Iacobucci and Trebilcock, 2016). An offer can
however be dissolved at some major circumstances where-
1. Either an offerer dies before the acceptance of the offer.
2. The specified time of accepting an offer gets over.
3. The accepting party duly rejects the offer.
For example, one can duly refer to the case of Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking [1971]
where their was a prior inclusion of an “offer” made by the machine which was duly “accepted”
by the person who then inserted the money into it.
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 Invitation- It is generally seen as an offer of sale by the vendors into shops where their
offer is duly opened for the entire public. It is thereby with a slight distinguished
condition as compared to an offer. An invitation hereby has another facet where a
merchant has some prior right of negotiating the offer made by an interested party.
 Consideration- A consideration is yet another crucial element which plays a major role of
exhibiting the mutual consent of its involved parties. It can however be concluded either
as some dealing of monetary funds or an exchange of thoughts, etc. It thereby depends
upon the offerer to set a prior consideration of his offer with its illustrated
acknowledgement to the agreed party (Tan, 2015). An agreed party is thence assumed to
accept their inclusion into the contract. One can duly refer to the case of Re McArdle
[1951] to acquire a precise comprehension of consideration. A consideration together
comprises with its five major rules, as specified below-
◦ A consideration made in past does not hold any present validity.
◦ A consideration should possess a real and legitimate value.
◦ A consideration should not be imposed on the promiser where they acquire a judicial
restraint of executing it. Such sort of consideration is not assumed to be a valid
consideration into the eyes of law.
◦ A consideration should not conflict with any legal deliberations where they are in turn
supposed to hold an illegal reflection.
◦ A valid consideration is not required to be competent in nature. Capacity- Capacity is referred to the competent ability of both the involved parties to take
part into a contract with a prior mutual consent among them. It is due to a major cause of
having some other sort of obligations to handle the mentally incompetent participants for
involving them into a valid contract. Intention to create legal term- It is regarded to be the most essential determination of
both the involved parties where they should priorly possess an optimistic intention of
involving into a contract with its all predefined specifications (Wills and Napier-Munn,
2015). The case of Balfour v Balfour [1919] can be remarked to clearly acknowledge
about this foremost element of legal intention among the solicitous parties of an
agreement.
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 Privity- It is referred to the basic right of the participants of an agreement where only the
involved parties have a prior right of claiming the suspected party on breaching any
predefined stipulations of their contract. It is therefore with no such existence of any third
party into it is crucially defined as another essential element of privity.
1.2 Impact of different types of contract
A contract can be formed in assorted structures with their distinct roles and obligations,
as described below:
 Written contract- A written contract is the most recommended form into which all the
conditions and clauses are priorly mentioned into the contract. It is therefore considered
to be the most effectual format of an agreement which largely comes at the retrieval
period to sough out any raised concern or conflicts among the involved parties of a
contract. An employment letter is the best example of a written contract with all its
prerequisite clauses for the employees. For example, one can consider a case of ESSO
PETROLEUM V MARDON (1976) where their was a written formation of agreement
among the involved parties that was later evoked at the time of resolving the raised
concern of the parties in court (Tennant, Garmory and Winsch, 2015).
 Face to face contract- The oral or verbal formation of a contract is yet another facet of a
valid contract into which the involved parties are duly liable to consider each other's
mandate presence at the time of structuring the essential clauses of their agreement. A
face to face contract is however taken into consideration when at times their arise some
sort of urgency in constructing a contract. Therefore, it is important for both parties to
mutually acknowledge about the mandate clauses of one other's in such formation of an
agreement. A face to face contract therefore represents an oral formation of the contract
into which the involved parties are equivalently responsible for precisely declaring their
major stipulations to each other.
 Unilateral and Bilateral contract-- A unilateral contract is basically a single sided
contract with a prior involvement of an offerer into it. An offerer here addresses a
considerable and open offer to the entire public and on whose acceptance, there exists a
unilateral contract among them (Kaveny, 2015). A bilateral contract on other hand is a
two sided contract with an equivalent involvement of two or more interested parties in it.
It therefore consists of an offer by one party which is intentionally made to address some
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known interest of another party. For example, one can duly consider the case of Carlill v
Carbolic Smoke Ball co [1893] where their was a prior inclusion of a unilateral offer. It
was primarily made by the carbolic smoke ball company to the entire public which was
subsequently accepted by an individual named Carlill.
 Distance sale contract- A distance sale contract is largely seen into the online booking of
railway or flight tickets or a pre-booking for hotel rooms where a there is a major
involvement of telephonic sales or purchase. However, it is with a due consideration for
the accepting parties to exists with a prior evidence of their booking. Distance sale
contract is day by day rising with a huge commencement of online activities. It however
consists of another counter approach by the trader where they can terminate the entire
booking. It is prior to a period of 15 days on non arrival of any valid evidence by the
client.
1.3 Terms in contract with reference to their meaning and effect
A contract is made up of some assorted terms and conditions of it along with a mandate
recommendation of adherence to both its involved parties. These terms are thereby based upon
certain prerequisite clauses which are strictly needed to be followed by the parties. However, a
genuine party has some lawful rights to file a charge-sheet against the destructive party on
breach of these terms (Martin and Van Linden, 2015). This section thus elaborates the varied
deliberation of some stated terms, as described below:
 Conditions- It is the foremost term of a contract which directly signifies the validity of an
agreement with a major reflection of its do and don't s for the involved parties. It thence
consists of some fundamentally laid down principles of an agreement with a strict
recommendation of adhering to those. A breach in the condition terms of a contract can
directly terminate the overall agreement between the parties with a rigorous action
against the destructive party. For example, one can consider the case of Poussard v
Spiers (1876) where the opera singer Madame Poussard has breached the condition terms
of their contract (Voinarevich, 2015). It was however due to some uncertain health issues
of her for which she couldn't perform at the opening night of the concert. This later
resulted into the dis-solvency of the entire contract where the owner named Spiers duly
appointed another singer at her place.
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 Warranty- A warranty is referred as another term of a contract with a less significant role
and obligation as compared to the primary term of condition. Therefore, the destructive
party on breaking the warranty term of a contract is only liable to make a valid payment
for the occurred devastation. However, it is also among a pre-specified terms of a
contract where both the parties are assumed to be familiar about the same clause of
payment. For example, one can duly consider the case of Bettini v Gye (1876) where
Bettini as an opera singer has only breached the warranty terms of their contract by not
participating into the practice sessions of their performance. It was however with a
similar cause of sudden health issues with a wrongful act of the owner named Gye who
incorrectly replaced him with another singer for the actual night of the performance.
 Expressed terms- These are the terms which are either specified into a written or an oral
formation of a contract with a sole discretion of the involved parties to participate into it.
However, the expressed terms together represents the above specified terms of conditions
and warranties with some other inclusion or exclusion of their major clauses (Rajapakse,
2015). It therefore depends upon the concerned parties to ultimately decide its fate of
reflection.
 Implied terms- An implied term is a binary formulation of a contract with a dual
existence of two assorted terms. The primary implied term is specified by the statutory
consideration and another are the terms evoked by the general impost of public. These are
thereby referred to some common yet requisite terms that are strictly advised to be
followed by the concerned parties. However, an implied term can be mostly observed
into the procedure of selling goods where there is a mandate consideration of
merchandising an apt level of products to the consumer.
 Exclusion clause- An exclusion clause is also known as an exemption clause where the
offerer or a manufacturer duly limits their obligation towards any uncertain occurrence of
their offerings (Hills, 2015). However, a lawful consideration together states the offerer
to primarily acknowledge the agreed party about their peculiar clause of any exemption.
 In nominate terms- An in nominate term mainly evolves at the time when there is a prior
existence of court to legally resolve the raised disputes among the concerned parties.
Therefore, in such situations, the court priorly dissolves the above specified terms of
condition and warranty among the parties with some new inclusion of clauses in it. For
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example, one can refer to the case of Hong Kong Fir Shipping v Kawasaki Kisen
Kaisha (1962) where there was a prior inclusion of in nominate terms by law at the court
premises yo resolve the raised conflict among the parties.
TASK 2
2.1 Applying the elements of contract
Case A: Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co (1893)
Facts and legal grounds:
As per law, Mrs Carlill was duly eligible to receive the reward of 100 pounds where the
company hereby made a “unilateral offer” which is usually opened for the entire world with no
prior requisition of notifying the offerer about it (Chamberlain, 2015). Along with that, a prior
inclusion of 1000 pounds as a depository amount into the bank has clearly shown the real
intentions of the company to reward a beneficiary rather than just creating a sales puff by them.
Case B: Hyde v Wrench (1840)
Facts and legal grounds:
On ascertaining the above case, their was no such formation of a valid contract among
both the parties. It was however due to a prior destruction of the original offer made by the
defendant to sell his farm at 1000 pounds (Jones, 2015). To which, the claimant duly asked the
defendant to sell it for 950 pounds which was later rejected by the defendant. This hereby
exhibited no “legal intentions” of the offerer to sell his farm to the claimant party.
Case C: Lampleigh v Braithwaite (1615)
Facts and legal grounds:
On considering the above case, the claimant was duly liable to attain the “consideration
amount” of 100 pounds by the defendant. However, the promise of making such payment by the
defendant was done after the performance by the claimant and thence reasoned to be a past
consideration (Mason, 2016). A past consideration is not always valid as in the present case,
where it was duly followed by a request made by the defendant.
Case D: Tweddle v Atkinson (1861)
Facts and legal grounds:
In the above case, both the fathers of the bride and groom respectively indulged into a
contract by consequently died without the completion of their stated consideration into it.
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However, the groom later claimed for it as another party who was not entitled to participate into
the stated agreement between the fathers (Owen, 2007). This resulted in the dis-solvency of their
overall contract due to no such movement of the consideration from the indulged parties to some
other party.
Case E: Chapple V Cooper (1844)
Facts and legal grounds:
The above case comprises with a contract with a definite age of the participants into it
with a non competence factor for the minor parties. Therefore, the case duly shows the
“capacity” of the concerned parties to get involved into the agreement where in case of breaching
any predefined terms of their contract, the adult party will be promptly liable to pay for the
considerate causation of impairment (Warren, 2012).
2.2 Applying the law on terms in different contracts
Case Study:
Present case is based upon a sales advertisement made by the company named Slick Car
Sales Ltd where they formulated a unilateral offer where the mainly dealt for a hundred used or
second hand cars. This particular advertisement also communicated about a one month offering
to the prospected parties into which the cars will duly regard some exclusive insertions of a radio
or a stereo with a full tank of petrol in it. As a result to which, Paul as a customer duly visited the
saleroom and chose a car with a consideration amount of 3495 sterling pounds with an inclusive
amount of road tax in it (Zamore, 2015). The assistance thereby addresses the car with its model
number of 2014 VW Polo with a single owner who droved it only for 25, 000 miles. Paul thence
signed an agreement with some similar specifications of that car that included its existent colour
of platinum grey and registration number as L784 NLP.
Applicability:
The above case thereby consists of certain lawful considerations of sales puff, conditions,
warranty and implied terms into the agreement signed by Paul, as described below:
 Sales puff- The company's foremost aspect was to make a sales puff by using the
specified statement of selling the cars into reasonable cost in entire Britain. However,
Paul cannot claim the company on such basis of inculcating a mere sales puff.
 Conditions- Car's model number of 2014 and its overall coverage of 25, 000 miles with a
single owner comes under the warranty terms of their agreement. However, Paul as an
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accepting party can hereby claim the offerer for an incorrect imposition of these terms
and he can thence terminate the overall contract by denying the purchase of car. Case:
Poussard v Spiers [1876] can be referred to precisely understand the accurate
consideration of a condition term where into this peculiar case, Madame Poussard was
rightly replaced by the owner named Spiers. It was basically due to her breach of
conditions terms of their contract into which Poussard as an opera singer was unable to
attend and perform at the crucial night of the event.
 Warranty- The condition terms of the above stated agreement was a prior inclusion of
certain attributes of road tax and radio or stereo with a full tank of petrol in it (Henry,
2016). However, Paul can either deny to purchase the car or he can ask for a liable
compensation by the seller in regard to breach the warranty terms of their contract. Case:
Bettini v Gye [1876] can be referred for the breach of warranty terms into which the
opera singer Bettini has only missed the rehearsal session of their event. However, he was
subsequently terminated from his allotted position with a wrong interpretation of
breaching terms.
 Implied terms- The implied term in this particular case states the existence of a statutory
implied term by law with some specified clauses under sale of goods. Into which, there
are some predefined conditions of selling a certified product to the users. The car should
therefore be with a valid registration number and model with its specified colour and a
liable date of manufacturing (Monaghan, 2015). The seller will be otherwise on a faulty
description of the product where the customer Paul can take some legal actions against
them. Case: Hong Kong Fir Shipping v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha [1962] can be duly
considered comprehending the inclusion of an in nominate terms where the court has
enclosed certain new terms of conditions and warranty into their existent contract by
changing the preceding one's. It was basically done to resolve the raised conflict and
dispute among the involved parties.
2.3 Evaluating the affect of different terms
Case study:
The recent case about Jim is in regard to demonstrate a holiday experience with his
family where he decides to visit a fun park with them which was owned by the Leisure Ltd. On
reaching to the park, he pays a parking amount of 1 pound to park his car which was basically
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operated by the local authorities of strand council. There was a prior existent of a notice board
with a statement for the parking visitors to situate the car at their own risk. However, it was
covered with some major obstacles of covered bushes (Allen, P and et. al., 2016.). Later, Jim
also pays for the tickets to visit the park at 7 pounds with his entire family members. The ticket
also included a clause by the park authorities for not being liable for any caused damages and
any sort of decease event to the visitors. However, Jim and his wife suddenly met an accident by
the hit of a metal bar on them and duly gets admitted to the hospital for the purpose of treatment.
Soon after arriving at the park to obtain their parked car, they found that the car has been
damaged by the toeing van of strand council.
Applicability:
On concluding the above case, Jim has represented to be a customer where he duly agrees
to pay for the consideration amount of 1 pound and 7 pounds for two major purpose of parking
his car and purchasing the family admission tickets for visiting the park, respectively. However,
there was an existent clause of exemption by both the park authorities and their parking
assistants as well which was not previously mentioned to the client as per the legal consideration
of law (Coffey and Bernardi, 2015). Therefore, the maintenance bodies of strand council was
primarily at fault for their covered notice board due to which the visitors are not able to interpret
their specified terms. Similarly, the park authorities of Leisure Ltd are equivalently liable for not
specifying the prior existence of exclusion clause to Jim while he was buying the tickets. As a
result to which, Jim and his wife can take necessary legal actions against the respective
authorities.
For example, one can clearly link it to the case of Curtis v Chemical Cleaning Co
[1951] into which the existent exclusion clause was wrongly interpreted to the customer which
resulted into a destructive state of bridal dress.
TASK 3
3.1 Contrasting liability in tort and contractual liability
Negligence is priorly referred to be a major counter facet of a legal contract where the
negligent party can be legally admonished by a genuine party who has to bear certain sort of
losses due to an occurred carelessness. Therefore, it is a foremost recommendation to the
involved parties of a contract to duly eliminate the part of neglecting any predefined clauses of
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an agreement between them (Gregory, 2015). It is thence to avoid any negative outcome of their
negligence with an equivalent involvement of law to decide their subsequent fate. Contractual
liability and tort liability are some common positioning of negligence with some definite
similarities and dissimilarities among them. A contractual liability is defined to be a prior
responsibility of the concerned parties of a contract to strictly adhere by its stated clauses without
any breach of its specified terms. Therefore, the destructive party can be only charged by an
accompanied genuine party in case of breaching a contract between them.
A contractual liability is therefore with no intervention of any third party as a non related
body of a built in agreement. It is thence in contrary to tort liability where any observant o f a
torturous activity can claim the destructive party with no such compilation of a prevaling
contract among them. A tort liability is however with a slight distinguished aspects where every
individuals are promptly recommended protecting the fundamental rights of each other without
any breakage in it. Tort is thence considered to be an offensive activity with a legal involvement
for penalizing the destructive party by law. Thus, a ruptured person can be directly charged by
the bruised party in case of tort liability (Fried, 2015). However, their exists a respective
similarity of participation by the civil court to take prior decisions of penalty against the
devastating parties in both the cases of tort and contractual liability. For example, one can duly
consider the case of Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] into which there was a prior involvement of
contractual liability under the implied terms of statue in regard to an apt selling of goods. It is
basically as per the stated implied terms with a statutory intervention of an enactment defining
the “Sale and supply of goods act”. The lawful consideration of this peculiar term has clearly
specified a mandate testimonial for the traders and manufacturers to serve an apt quality of
products to their consumers. However, into the above specified case of Donoghue, the
manufacturer named Stevenon was duly liable for his contractual term and has exactly breached
its crucial specification.
3.2 Nature of liability in negligence
The liability of attempting a negligent approach is based upon certain sort of intentions
by the defendant. Such acts are thence specified to be negligent on some reconsidered facts of
the devastating party with a prior consent of the claimant about its occurrence. Nature of liability
is thereby considered to be an essential factor to clearly differentiate between the two facets of
intentions and carelessness (Hughes, Champion and Murdoch, 2015). Like on comparing the
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existence of tort and contractual liability, a tort can somehow be regarded as a cause of
negligence or carelessness whereas, on other hand, a contractual liability is a predefined
responsibility of the concerned parties who are mutually entering into a contract with a prior
acknowledgement of all its predefined clause. Therefore, in these cases, it duly becomes easy for
a person to judge between the actual occurrence of such event with its three major factors, as
described below:
 Duty of care- It is the primary consideration of negligence where the claimant has to
evidently prove his or her own genuineness. It is therefore where Mrs Donoghue has to
prove her own responsible behaviour towards making an applicable utilization of her
product without any negligent approach towards it. It is the foremost liability of the
involving parties to strictly adhere by the predefined clauses of their agreed contractual
term without any breach of its restricted statements. For example, after referring to the
case of Donoghue v Stevenson, it was a sole discretion of the manufacture to build an
apt product of ginger beer.
 Breach of duty- It is where the claimant has to together prove another crucial existence of
harm or damage due to a negligent and careless formulation by the defendant. The
present ascertained scenario thus proves the delinquent activity of the manufacturer
where he was reliably responsible for manufacturing an erroneous product. It therefore
refers to the breakage of the above stated responsibility of the involved parties where in
the present example, the manufacturer of ginger beer was rightly stipulated under a
negligent act (Yang, 2015). Due to which, Mrs Donoghue discovered an insect coming
out from the bottle of ginger beer while consuming the drink in it.
 Causation of damage- It is the yet another crucial consideration where the claimant
before charging the defendant should priorly consider about the exploitation of a caused
damage to them. Therefore, Mrs Donoghue into the present case has suffered from some
severe health issues for half consumption of the drink.
 Foreseeable- It is referred to a direct relationship of the consumer with the manufacturer
where the manufacturer as a defendant party is directly responsible for such atrocious
activity. As a result to which, Mrs Donoghue as a consumer has to suffer severe health
traumas as well.
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3.3 Explaining how business can be a vicariously liable
Vicarious liability can be defined as a situation where innocent party in the contract
should get compensation for the injuries or damages due to the false act of third party. This law
is also considered as an alternative liability which takes place within the doctrine of law. The
decision in this law is always made in the favour of claimant. This liability states that the
employer will be responsible for the wrongful acts of their employees if it is held within the
working hours of the business organization (Bagheri and Hassan, 2015). Moreover, there also
exist some conditions in this act and the employer will be responsible if all of these has fulfilled
efficiently. These are:
 There must exist a sound and legal relationship between the employer and employee-
employee. This refers to maintain an amiable work surrounding at the workplace where
the subordinates can precisely discuss their work related concerns with their superiors.
 Employer should have control over the working and action of their employees. However,
the above incorporated culture will automatically result into a controlled situation at the
workplace where the employees will avoid performing any irrelevant act.
 Incident which has taken place, should held within the course of employment.
Many employers are still unaware that they can be liable for different actions which are
committed by employees within the course of employment. This act also include for incidents
held like bullying, harassment, violent and discriminatory acts, etc. Further, the liability of
employers does not end once the employee left the venture. Employer can also be sued even
when the employee no longer works for them.
Case-
From a case, it is evaluated that a workshop does not get open after 11 am on weekend.
The day when then accident took place, workshop of this MotorRus was opened till 3pm and
there were number of individuals families who have come for the purchase of vehicle. The time
when the parent of Johnny were talking to the sales person of the company, little boy wandered
away (Watt, 2015). This incident panicked everyone and all were running here and there. The
little boy has fallen into inspection pit and due to this he has got some serious injuries. This has
happened because someone left the door open of the workshop. Moreover, the door was also not
labelled with 'NO ENTRY' mark or sign.
Application of provision
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As per occupier's liability act, employer is responsible to make proper health
arrangements in order to avoid the injuries. Moreover, by not placing sign board of No entry, it
has become liability for organization to pay the compensation for the damages so incurred to
claimant (Amin and Aziz, 2015). In this case, Salvatore will be liable for the injury suffered by
Johnny. Further, it is prior need of the organization to take care health and safety of their
employees and customers effectively. Thus, the owner of the workshop will be liable to pay the
damages for the injury so incurred.
TASK 4
4.1 Elements of tort of negligence
Negligence is a situation where contract is voided because of lack in the efforts between
the different parties of the contract. It can also consider as an action which cause injury to
another person. Cases relating to negligence has been increased since decade or so and
compensation is paid by the party if one commits the mistake (Zulhafiz, 2015). Further, there
exist different elements in law of negligence and some of them has been discussed down under:
 Duty of care: In this element, it is necessary that parties in the contract should have duty
of care for one another. Further, it also states that the torturer has neglected the duty of
care and the same has lead into damage to other person.
 Breach of duty: If any of the party within the contract is not able to fulfil their duty, then
the claimant can claim on the person for breaching the duty (Lewis and Barnes, 2015).
 Causation: Specific reason behind the injury of one person due to negligence of
defendant.
 Remote damages: Remote damages shows that the injury caused to one person is
foreseeable and the same is happened due to negligence of defendant.
Case
Topp VS London Country Bus (1993)
From the case, it is found that the defendant bus company have left a mini-bus in a lay-by
overnight. The driver forgot to lock the door and also the keys were left in the ignition.
Moreover, the driver who was expected to pick up the bus did not come for the shift. Further, the
thieves stole the bus and took it away (Rustad, 2016). Unfortunately, thieves knocked a woman
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with her bicycle and killed her. Husband of lady brought an action in order to sue company for
damages.
Issue
The issue in this case exist that whether the bus is liable to pay compensation to husband
of defendant.
Decision
Under this case, the court of law has given their decision that the bus company will not be
held liable for paying the compensation for the act of third party. However, the person who was
on shift dint turned up does not mean that it is the responsibility for the bus company to pay the
damages. It is foreseeable that the bus was stolen by thieves and knocked the woman with her
bicycle negligently.
4.2 Elements of vicarious liability
Vicarious liability can be defined as a situation where one person is held liable for the
actions or omissions of another person. In context of business, employer can be held liable for
the acts or omission of their employees. There are different actions which take place within the
venture like harassment, bullying, violent, breech and copyright. In this, it is possible to take the
action against the employer of the third party (Henry, 2016). Further, there exist some valid
conditions and employer-employee should fulfil this effectively. These are:
4. There need to be a legal relationship between the employer and employee
5. Incident should have happened within the course of employment
6. Employer should have control over the action of employee
Further, the above description shows that there need to be a legal sounding relationship
between the employer and employee. If it is not so, then the party cannot sue the organization for
paying the damages (Allen and et. al., 2016). Moreover, if any sort of third party incident also
comes into play, then also one is not able to business enterprise. Apart from it, it is necessary for
every organization to not let any instance happen because it can hamper their goodwill also
influence their productivity and sales. Further, if any claimant claims for any sort of damages
then it will reduce their profit and influence their turnover as well.
Case
Mersey Docks and Harbour Board VS Coggins & Griffiths (Liverpool) Ltd (1946)
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In this case, Mersey Dock is in charge of providing training and crane operators to the
organizations who are in crane business. Coggins and Griffiths has hired a crane operatior from
Mersey. Once operator of Mersey Docks was working in Stevedores company and there he got
sudden injuries because of the negligence operation of crane (Gregory, 2015). However, there
was a contract of work between crane Stevedores and Mersey Dock to provide a crane operator
for a small time period but he is the employee of Mersey Dock.
Decision
Therefore, it can be assessed that employment contract was inconclusive unless there is a
real transfer of employment. Thus, Mersey Dock remains the employer as the crane operator
works for him and with this the mentioned company will pay the damages to the employee. By
considering this, Stevedores will be not responsible for the damages because crane operator was
the employee of Mersey Docks. Mersey Docks is liable under the vicarious liability and here the
tort feasor is the one who pays salary to employee (Hughes, Champion and Murdoch, 2015). If
the contract would have not existed between the two firms, then there would be the liability of
Stevedores to pay the damages.
CONCLUSION
From this present report, it is evident that parties before getting into contract, should fulfil
all the prior elements so that they can have sound relationship with one another. Different terms
of contract like offer, acceptance, consideration, capacity, etc. has been discussed which will
give reader a clear idea that how contract is formed. This present document showcase the
different case scenario which has been clearly evaluated so that individual will have better idea
of the case and also the terms so used in order to describe the case with decision.
This report also showcase the elements like negligence, vicariously liability where the
deceased person can file the case against either organization or individual to get the
compensation for the damages so have incurred. This report document also evaluates the major
difference between the tort and contractual liability on the grounds of their meaning, limitations,
obligations and conclusion relating to the damages. At the last, discussion has bee made on
negligence aspect as well where party have to follow some elements specifically and these are
duty of care, breach of duty, causation and remote damages.
15

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