Contract Law and Binding Contracts: An Evaluation

This essay evaluates contract law and the nature of binding contracts, including the remedies available in case of breach. It discusses the elements of a valid contract, the court system in the English legal system, and specific cases of binding and non-binding contracts. The essay concludes with an overview of the remedies available for breach of contract.

INDIVIDUAL ESSAY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Contract Law and blue prints of contract....................................................................................3
Court system in English Legal System........................................................................................3
Evaluation of Binding Contract...................................................................................................4
Remedies available......................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
English legal system is a comprehensive body that regulates all the legal activities and
decisions making in England and Wales (Thomas and McGourlay, 2017). The current report will
evaluate contract law and the nature of binding contracts as well as the remedies that are
available in case of breach of contracts.
MAIN BODY
Contract Law and blue prints of contract
Contract law basically governs the nature and legality if the contracts that is being entered
into and further evaluates that whether they are valid or not (Beale and et.al., 2019). English
contract law takes into purview the contracts being developed in England and Wales and the key
is to ensure that all these contracts are legally binding in a court. There are certain elements that
a contract needs to possess in order to become legal and viable and which binds two or more
contractual parties together. These are:
 An offer depicting clear requirements must be made by one party to another party.
 There must be acceptance by the other party regarding the offer which has been made to
them.
 Consideration is the key aspect in forming a valid contract where something of value must
be exchanged between both the parties (Knapp, Crystal and Prince, 2019).
 The parties of contract must be in capacity to enter into contract legally i.e. in terms of both
mental ability and age factor.
 Both parties must have the common intent of fulfilling the promise made in the contract.
 The terms and conditions of the contract must render it legally enforceable in the court.
These collectively indicate the terms that make a contract legally enforceable and valid
under the English contract law.
Court system in English Legal System
The English legal system basically has two different categorisations of the court i.e. the
civil law and the criminal law. The civil law dictates the rights and obligations of every
individual and when those rights or duties are compromised with, they in return claim a remedy
from the individuals (Finch and Fafinski, 2018). The criminal law on the other punishes a person
if their actions are found to be offensive or undesirable in the eyes of the State. The High Court
of Justice and the County courts are the lowest level coming under Court of Appeal which
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further comes under the Supreme Court and the relevant parties can pursue these courts for their
cases.
In the current case, the different parties can pursue different courts and their actions in
order to gain justice (Murphy and Burton, 2020). For instance, parties above can pursue the civil
court if any of them finds the other to default in the work that they were performing. For instance
if Hilary finds herself wronged by the revocation of breach of the contract by any of the three
parties i.e. Amy, Eleanor or Olivia; then she can seek justice by fining her case in the county
court where the court is liable to resolve any civil matters that are faced by the public. Similarly,
if there are any issues that are faced by the other three parties as well against the completion of
the contractual requirement by Hilary as well, they too can pursue the County Court for the
resolution of their queries (Sachdeva, Butler-Cole and Lee, 2018). County court despite as he
name suggests does not holds or govern any particular jurisdiction i.e. it is not limited to one
particular area of operation only and the aggrieved parties can put forwards their claims in any of
the county courts spread throughout England and Wales.
Therefore, their cases would be first heard in the county courts and if the results does not
seem satisfactory to the other party, then they can move upwards towards the High Court of
Justice in the Queen’s Branch of Division or in the Chancery division. If the claimant is not
satisfied with the decision of that court as well, they can move further upwards in the civil
division of the Court of Appeal and the last resort is ultimately the Supreme Court of United
Kingdom (Partington, 2019). The relevant parties can seek court actions in the above manner for
their own respective concerns.
Evaluation of Binding Contract
Eleanor
The first case is between Hilary and Eleanor. In this case, it can be illustrated that offer is
different from an invitation to treat where the person to whom invitation has been made can
make offer in return (Przepiorka and Diekmann, 2020). Case law of Partridge v Crittenden
(1968) states that advertisements are simply an invitation to treat and not offers (Kuhnel-Fitchen
and Hough, 2017). Further, case of Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co (1893) clarified that
advertisements do not propose any scope for further negotiations (Suri, 2020). In the case of
Eleanor, Hilary’s advertisement was simply a treat and Eleanor’s reply for the purchase for £
10000 is simply as offer. In return Hilary made a counter offer for £ 13000 thus rendering the
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offer of Eleanor for £ 10000 non- existing. The fresh offer made by Hilary for £ 13000 is
rejected by Eleanor and hence there was no binding contract that existed between both the
parties.
Amy
In the case of Amy, Hilary makes an offer to Amy in the first letter for £ 1000 and Amy
replied with the acceptance to buy. Once both offer and acceptance comes into existence, the
contract becomes binding in nature (Elena and Lisciandra, 2018). The consequent revocation of
the contract signifies a breach of the contract. The case of Entores v Miles Far East Corporation
(1955) signified that the acceptance to an offer becomes binding after it has been communicated
and has been received by the offeror (Ceil, 2018). In case of postal acceptance however, this rule
has been modified stating that acceptance is assumed to be binding as soon as the letter has been
posted rather than at the point of receiving by the offeror.
In the present case, Amy posted a letter of acceptance and then before Hilary could
receive that letter, posted another letter revoking the contract. However, the acceptance of the
contract came into existence as soon as Amy posted first letter of acceptance and the contract
became binding in nature. The second letter is only a breach of the contract that was earlier
entered into. Hence contract between Amy and Hilary is binding in nature.
Olivia
Here, Amy put up an advertisement stating that she will be willing to sell a valuable
painting of Trumpeter just at £ 1 to the first customer that visits the gallery on the day of sale
along with another signed painting of Trumpeter.
As it can be illustrated from the case of Harris v Nickerson (1873), it is evident that the
advertisement for the sale of any particular product cannot be treated as an offer and is only an
invitation to treat in return to which the interested parties can make offer (Brown and Pawlowski,
2016). It was also illustrated earlier in case of Eleanor that an invitation to treat is not an offer
and the case law of Partridge v Crittenden (1968) was used to justify the point being made i.e.
the consequent transaction is an offer towards the invitation and not an acceptance.
In the present case as well, Hilary simply put up an advertisement to sell a painting for £
1 and Olivia was the person who made an offer by showing up at the exact time and fulfilling
other conditions as well. Now it is the wish of Hilary whether she gives an acceptance to the
contract and makes it binding or not (Magazzeni, McBurney and Nash, 2017). In the present
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case, her choosing not to give acceptance by stating that the offer is no longer applicable is
simply non- acceptance of the offer that Olivia made. Hence it can be said that there was no offer
between Hilary and Olivia thus indicating that there was no binding contract between the two.
Therefore, out of all the three cases, only in case of Amy, there is a binding contract that
Hilary and Amy hold together.
Remedies available
The remedies available to breach of contract can only be illustrated in case of Hilary
against Amy as this was the only case where breach occurred on behalf of Amy. The different
remedies available are:
 Damages: The party that has incurred losses can demand compensation from the party who
has caused the breach i.e. compensation can be demanded by Hilary from Amy (Zhang,
2019).
 Specific Performance: It is granted only when subject matter is unique where the party in
breach is given order to fulfil their part of the contract. Here Amy can be made to buy the
office computer for £ 1000 even after her breach.
 Injunction: This is also a kind f similar remedy where a person can be directed not to breach
the contract but s valid mostly in case of personal service (Cabrelli, 2016).
 Rescission: Under this, the contract is treated is voidable where the innocent party can
recover all the money that was being spent prior in the contract and treat as if the contract
had never been made.
CONCLUSION
The research done in the essay illustrates that the offer, acceptance and consideration are
three main elements of contract and the case of Hilary v Eleanor/ Amy/ Olivia was evaluated
where the binding nature of contracts was ascertained. Lastly the remedies available to Hilary
against the reach caused by Amy were also illustrated.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Beale, H., and et.al., 2019. Cases, materials and text on contract law. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Brown, J. and Pawlowski, M., 2016. How many contracts in an auction sale. Nottingham LJ, 25,
p.1.
Cabrelli, D., 2016. Liability and remedies for breach of the contract of employment at common
law: some recent developments. Industrial Law Journal, 45(2), pp.207-219.
Ceil, C., 2018. Business Analysis of'Conway Ltd'and Its Legal Case for Breach of
Contract. Available at SSRN 3521060.
Elena, D.A. and Lisciandra, M., 2018. Binding and Non-Binding Contracts: A Theoretical
Appraisal. Review of Law & Economics. 14(2).
Finch, E. and Fafinski, S., 2018. Law Express: English Legal System. Pearson UK.
Knapp, C.L., Crystal, N.M. and Prince, H.G., 2019. Problems in contract law: Cases and
materials. Aspen Publishers.
Kuhnel-Fitchen, K. and Hough, T., 2017. Optimize Contract Law. Taylor & Francis.
Magazzeni, D., McBurney, P. and Nash, W., 2017. Validation and verification of smart
contracts: A research agenda. Computer. 50(9). pp.50-57.
Murphy, R. and Burton, F., 2020. English Legal System. Routledge.
Partington, M., 2019. Introduction to the English Legal System 2019-2020. Oxford University
Press, USA.
Przepiorka, W. and Diekmann, A., 2020. Binding contracts, non-binding promises and social
feedback in the intertemporal common-pool resource game. Games. 11(1). p.5.
Sachdeva, V., Butler-Cole, V. and Lee, A., 2018. The English Legal System. A Medic's Guide to
Essential Legal Matters, p.1.
Suri, M., 2020. Law of contracts-1.
Thomas, M. and McGourlay, C., 2017. English Legal System Concentrate. Oxford University
Press.
Zhang, M., 2019. Breach of Contracts and Remedies. In Chinese Contract Law-Theory &
Practice (pp. 345-380). Brill Nijhoff.
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