Contract Law and Court System: A Case Study Analysis

This document provides an analysis of a case study involving contract law and the court system. It discusses the definition and blueprints of a contract, court procedures in the English legal system, the existence of binding contracts, and available remedies. Additionally, it explores the case of Enron Corporation in relation to ethical corporate governance and the Sabane-Oxley Act of 2002.

Individual Essay
Individual Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
PROJECT 1....................................................................................................................................................3
Define contract law and describe all the blue prints of a contract..........................................................3
Explain the court system in relation to the English legal system and advise the parties above which
court(s) action to pursue.........................................................................................................................4
Advise Hilary as to whether binding contracts exist between herself and each of the following people:
Eleanor, Amy and Olivia...........................................................................................................................5
Explain and discuss the various remedies available to the parties..........................................................6
PROJECT 2....................................................................................................................................................6
Discuss the case in relation to ethical corporate governance and the Sabane-Oxley Act of 2002...........6
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Corporate sector is the fastest growing sector in current scenario which is helping any of
the nation to improve their economic condition. In order to obtain much effective result, it is
essential that government must be able to focus towards Business law which is the backbone of
commercial sector. As per the legislation of English Legal system, it is necessary for the each of
the commercial sector to work according to the guidelines and rules mentioned under business
law. At the same time, it is equally important that ethics must be considered which means that
person or entity should not take any of those decision which may create issue for other person
who are involved with respective decision. In this particular assignment, there are number of
aspects which will be analysed. While analysing different concept major focus will towards
contract law through which given case study will be solved. Along with it, one of the scandal of
Enron Corporation of year 2001 will be analysed by considering the corporate governance and
Sabane-Oxley Act, 2002.
PROJECT 1
Define contract law and describe all the blue prints of a contract.
In present scenario, forming agreement has been must crucial at the time of performing
any of specific task but while performing any of the task. Any of the promise which has been
made by the two person is a agreement. On the other side, contract law is there which is less-
wider concept as compared to agreement as only valid form of terms can be included in it where
work must be performed as per the terms and condition included in it. In detail, contract law is
something which form valid agreement between two parties where consideration should be there.
This are legal in nature which means that if party agrees to enter in contract, they do not have
any option of revocation. If in case contract terms and condition needs to be changed then there
must be mutual consent of involved parties (Mea and Sims, 2019). The breach of contract arises
in the circumstances where one of the involved parties fails in meeting out their responsibility of
the work.
Blue Prints of Contract says that there are number of criteria which must be met by the
involved party so that legal contract can be formed. Talking about the primary thing in contract,
it is always known as offer. Any of the contract related work can be started if offer is made to

another party. In basic terms, it is just a invitation to work together for performing any of the
specific task. The offer always includes acceptance, it means that if any of the work is needed to
be perform of contract is to be formed that acceptance should by shown to the offer which has
been made by the party. Even there is a requirement of consideration, that means that whenever
any of the contract is formed, it is necessary that those contracts must be consideration among
the involved party. The legal intention is also required which clarifies that while performing any
of the part of contract, family relation must not be included as both of the involved party must be
able to complete their part of work within given time period (Moretti, 2019). Generally, giving
importance to all of these blue prints for the contract can be effective in obtaining the favourable
result in any of the contract.
Explain the court system in relation to the English legal system and advise the parties above
which court(s) action to pursue.
Every nation requires court system as to ensure that laws are being followed by each of
the person. It is means judiciary system do not permit any of the person to breach the terms and
condition of the law and if it happens then defaulter is liability for penalty. In the same manner,
English legal system also gives major importance to court procedure because it do not permit any
one to take their decision of own which can create problem for other people. In the premises of
UK, basically two procedure is followed for resolving the case matter. It is civil procedure and
criminal procedure. In criminal procedure, all of the crime related matter are tackled and at the
same time, civil procedure deals with simple case such as family issues, agreement problems,
property dispute and many more. Further information about the court procedure is discussed
below:
Civil Procedure: In order to resolve any of the civil matter in UK specific types of court
has been formed. The types of court are county court, magistrate court, high court, court of
appeal and supreme court. In county court or other any of the civil court case related to disputes
are majorly solved. In primary stage, it is necessary to resolve the case through the process of
county court and if it is not solved through this court process then cases need to taken to higher
level of court (Madden, 2019).
Criminal Procedure: These types of procedure requires higher level of information in
case. It means that whenever any of the criminal cases are to be solved that it is mainly analysed

that what are negative impact of the crime upon society and according to that judgement is given
in the case. In order to give judgement, it is necessary that proper law and regulation must be
applied. In addition, it is essential that whenever any of criminal case needed to be solved, help
from magistrate court, high court, court of appeal and house of lords are being considered.
In context of the case, the problem only shows that there is dispute of contract that
whether contract has been formed or not and if there is a contract who has breached the terms for
obtaining the compensation. It means that this particular case scenario and dispute in it can be
resolved with the help of civil procedure in county court. If in case problem gets more complex
then they can take the help of magistrate court.
Advise Hilary as to whether binding contracts exist between herself and each of the following
people: Eleanor, Amy and Olivia.
There are number of situation where it is assumed that contract has been formed but still
it is quite difficult to identify that whether contract really exist or not. If in case, it is not
identified then help from court can be taken easily. In the similar fashion, it will be analysed in
the case scenario that whether parties form the contract or not. The detail discussion is presented
below:
Hilary & Eleanor: The case scenario shows in this particular scenario that Hilary was
willing to enter into the contract with Eleanor so she made an offer to her but she was not interest
and made a counter offer (Ciulla, 2020). The issue increases because Hilary was not happy with
count offer in beginning so she didn’t accept at beginning. Later on, Hilary was satisfied with
counter offer but at the moment Eleanor has changed her mind so she rejected. This indicates
that contract was not accepted and party has not entered into any of the legal contract in this
respective situation.
Hilary & Amy: The scenario of the case shows that the offer has been made by Hilary in
which Amy has shown her acceptance. For drafting the acceptance, Amy had posted a written
consent for offer. Here, letter has not reached to Hilary still and in between this Amy changed
her mind and sent a fax to Hilary just to ignore any of post letter related to acceptance from her.
It is because she is no more interested to the contract.

Hilary & Olivia: The case is complex in nature between Hilary and Olivia because it is
was found that Hilary is not accepting that there is any contract between them as he just made
invitation to offer. But, Hilary had mentioned within the case they she is going to organise a sale
where first comer will get exciting offer. The same method has been followed by Olivia to enter
in the contact but at the time of starting the sale, Hilary denied to sale the painting, it means that
there is contact between them. As Hilary has revoked from her terms and condition, it means that
legal action can be taken by Olivia against Hilary.
Explain and discuss the various remedies available to the parties
The scenario of the case clearly indicates about the contract law which means only civil
proceeding is available in the case. It means that if in any of the situation case is filed in the court
for resolving the issues only certain remedies are available which is mentioned below:
Compensate for the damages: There are certain terms and condition in the contract law
which states that contract cannot be breached in any of the circumstances. If it happens that
compensation must be given by defaulter to innocent party (Arnold, Beauchamp and Bowie,
2019). But, the whole of this procedure requires the help of court procedure.
Specific performance of the task: In any of the case, there are certain circumstances
where it is not possible to compensate the innocent party through monetary terms. In this
respective circumstance, case can be resolved only through the process of performing remaining
part of work. The order of court has a huge role in it for performing in a systematic manner.
PROJECT 2
Discuss the case in relation to ethical corporate governance and the Sabane-Oxley Act of 2002.
CASE SCENARIO: Enron Corporation - At the end of 2001, it was revealed that
Enron's reported financial condition was sustained by an institutionalised, systemic and
creatively planned accounting fraud.
Ethical Corporate Governance: It is explained as the responsibility which is to be
performed by any of the organisation as it tells that how any of the entity needs to perform their
task without creating any of the problem for another person. Here, ethical corporate governance
discusses that company needs to prepare plans and policies which they use in the situation where
any of the problem arises (Benthall and Goldenfein, 2020). At the same time, ethical corporate

governance also discusses that any of the organisation have a primary duty to deliver product and
services in the market where those services will be provided in fair manner. In simple words, it is
essential that while delivering those product and services, companies need to ensure that they
will not create any of those situations due to which any of the existing gets affected. As per
ethical corporate Governance, it is essential for the companies to make those decision due to
which available resources do not get affected.
Sabane-Oxley Act, 2002: The act enforced in the year 2002 where purpose of
commencement of the law was to ensure that any of the organisation do not present any of the
false accounting statement. Before, the commencement of the law, there were number of entities
which were failing to present true and fair report in front of the stakeholders. It is essential to
understand that any of the organisation is not allow to perform any of such activity as their
stakeholders might get affected. In addition to this, this law is helpful for determining any of the
scandals which are conducted by the internal management of any company (Ferrell and et. al.,
2019). The law has enforced higher penalty for any of the defaulter because it is the only way
through which any of the scandals in the organisation can be ended. This law was enforced in the
United States for the first time as major scandal was done by Enron Corporation. There is other
essential area which is needed to be focused as per the guidelines of the law which forces the
entity to prepare accounting statement. The statement which has been prepared must be audit on
a regular basis because it will allow them to identify that whether company is fulfilling all of the
requirements or not.
Discussion on the Case Scenario of Enron Corporation
Enron Corporation was one of the organisations which conducting a huge level of scandal
where they were preparing false accounting statements. The whole of this scandal was conducted
internally in the organisation that even management and investor were unknown about the fraud.
The fraud has created a huge problem for the investor because the false information which has
prepared by the company forced the investor to invest huge amount of capital in the business.
The company had created huge scandal due to which losses to investor was equals to $74 billion.
It was one of the major issue due to which employees also had to lost their job because
organisation was declared as bankrupt and the CEO of the company was sentenced for 24 years
(Gallego‐Alvarez and et. al., 2020). In addition to this, pension of employees was not given as

company had also done fraud in it by preparing false accounting statement. It is essential to
understand that whenever any of the organisation any such activity, the major role is being
played by the accounts department. It states that accounting department was equally responsible
for the default performed by them.
Discussion of the case in terms of Corporate Governance and ethics
The corporate governance and ethics says that organisation should be able to perform
their work in a systematic manner without creating any of the stakeholders. But, the case
scenario of the Enron Corporation simply suggests the organisation was not performing their
duty as per the requirement. It is because they were presenting false information in front of their
investors. The management of the of the organisation were completely failed to meet out the
requirement of the ethical values (Miklian, Alluri and Katsos, 2019). They knowingly presented
the false information due to which investors has to suffer from huge losses. The Corporate
governance and ethics say that company will take only those decision due to which any of the
person who is connected with the organisation will not have to suffer in any of the situation.
But, at the same time, the management department never tried to notice about the business
activity which was being conducted in the organisation. The ethical value and corporate
governance make sure that the management should be active towards their work and they should
know that what are those activity and work which their subordinates are performing while
working in the office premises.
There are number of other terms were government always focus and looking at this they
form the law and polices in corporate governance where it states that employees should be given
different types of benefit. Even their payment must be made on every fix interval. But, the case
of Enron Corporation was completely different because management didn’t perform their work
and even, they used pension fund of employees for their personal benefit which was completely
against the policy of law.
Discussion of the case in terms of Sabane-Oxley Act, 2002.
The Sabane-Oxley Act, 2002 states that Enron Corporation was performing their work
exactly against the law and policy. As per the law, it was necessary that any of the organisation
should be able to present true and fair accounting statement but company was not doing so. Here,

management was preparing false statement so that they can allow a greater number of investors
towards the company for investing high capital. The law has ensured that proper accounting and
auditing is to be done by talking about the entity and their auditor and accounting department,
they jointed performed in the whole scandal because false statements were also being approved
by the management (Mayer, 2019). The audit in the firm should be done on a regular basis so that
any of the false information can be identified but looking at the working style of Enron
Corporation, it was clearly identified that company was not performing their duty and didn’t
conducted any of the audit. Even if audit was done, then also inappropriate information was
presented in front of their investors.
Effectiveness of the Sabane-Oxley Act, 2002
The commencement of the law is effective in nature because any of the organization now
onwards will not be allow to take any of the decision due to which their stakeholders has to
suffer. At the same time, it will be necessary for the audit team to perform their duty in the
required manner and if in any of the circumstances they fail to do so then case can be filed
against them (Mahmood, 2020). Legal action may create huge problem for auditors in future time
period.
CONCLUSION
The file has taught number of crucial things which indicates that corporate sector
performing their work in a systematic manner can contribute in a positive manner to the
organisation. The ethical process of conducting business always supports the stakeholders to
connect and take advantage from the business. There are different situation in the case related to
contract law, where major steps is to identify that whether valid contract has been formed or not.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Mea, W. J. and Sims, R. R., 2019. Human dignity-centered business ethics: A conceptual
framework for business leaders. Journal of Business Ethics, 160(1), pp.53-69.
Moretti, A., 2019. Navigating the grey areas of law and ethics in ethnography. Journal of
Organizational Ethnography.
Madden, T. M., 2019. Law and Strategy and Ethics. Geo. J. Legal Ethics, 32, p.181.
Ciulla, J. B., 2020. Casuistry and the case for business ethics. In The Search for Ethics in
Leadership, Business, and Beyond (pp. 137-152). Springer, Cham.
Arnold, D. G., Beauchamp, T. L. and Bowie, N. E., 2019. Ethical theory and business.
Cambridge University Press.
Benthall, S. and Goldenfein, J., 2020, June. Data Science and the Decline of Liberal Law and
Ethics. In Ethics of Data Science Conference-Sydney.
Ferrell, O. C. and et. al., 2019. Business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and brand
attitudes: An exploratory study. Journal of Business Research, 95, pp.491-501.
Gallego‐Alvarez, I. and et. al., 2020. An analysis of business ethics in the cultural contexts of
different religions. Business Ethics: A European Review.
Miklian, J., Alluri, R. M. and Katsos, J. E. eds., 2019. Business, peacebuilding and sustainable
development. Routledge.
Mayer, M., 2019. Tax Avoidance as a Sustainability Problem: R. Bird and K. Davis-Nozemack,
Journal of Business Ethics, 2018, 151 (4), pp. 1009–1025. Social and Environmental
Accountability Journal, 39(3), pp.205-207.
Mahmood, K. S., 2020. Need for legal reform to regulate business ethics.