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Introduction to Business Law and Ethics

   

Added on  2019-10-30

8 Pages2006 Words253 Views
1Introduction to Business Law and EthicsCommon Law Assignment Student’s Name Student’s Number
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2IntroductionThe facts of this case scenario relate to the law of contract principles. Brief facts of the case are that Peter who has been a Physical Education teacher for a very long time has developeda back problem and is not capable of handling strain. His doctor advises him to consider a career change. He decides to take an early retirement and publish a book. To write comfortably, he needed comfortable office furniture and approached Furniture Forever after seeing their advert on television. He goes ahead and purchases the chair which turns out not to be as comfortable as was promised.Question 1: whether it is a term of contract that the OFFICE PRO X9 is an amazing chairA term of a contract refers to those statements that are made either before or during contract negotiations (Chitty & Beale, 2012, p. 14). The statements do not automatically qualify as terms. Others are representations whose aim is to influence a party to enter into a contract and therefore, they do not form part of the terms of a contract. The pre-contract statements are usually puffs, mere representations or opinions which are not contractual and therefore do not bind the parties.The test applied to categorize statements into representations or terms is the knowledge and expertise of either party to the contract (Beale et al., 2010, p. 22). If one or all the parties have expertise related to the type of contract, then the statement is likely to be a term of the contract. In the case of Oscar Chess Ltd v Williams (1957), William's mother was the owner of a second-hand car which she believed to be a 1948 model. In the year 1955, William took the said car to Oscar to trade in it. The documents that William showed Oscar showed that the car was a 1948 model, but it was a 1939 model. Oscar claimed that the statement about the age of
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3the car was a term and therefore binding. The court held that it was a mere representation and could not be a term of the contract (Latimer, 2011, p. 49). Additionally, Oscar as a dealer ought to know that the car was not a 1948 model as claimed by William.Relating the facts and the holding in Oscar v Williams to this present scenario, the statements made to Peter by Samantha that the OFFICE PRO X9 is amazing and the best in the world were mere representations whose intention was to lure Peter into contracting and were never meant to be a term of the contract.Question 2: whether it is a term that the OFFICE PRO X9 provides sufficient lower-backsupportThe main reason why Peter was interested in the chair was because of the condition he had developed after teaching Physical Education for a very long time. He made it clear to Samantha the use of the chair and Samantha herself even confirmed that she suffers from a similar illness. For a statement to qualify as a contractual term the following should be put into consideration; the language used, the context of the statement, the intention of the person, any special skill or knowledge and the importance of the statement (Parker, 2015, p. 34). The statement that the chair provides a sufficient lower-back support is a contractual term the breach of attracts payment of damages to the innocent party.Peter contracted because he wanted to use the chair in his study for long period. The use to which the chair was to be put was well brought to the attention of the seller who in addition to dealing in furniture had a similar condition as that of Peter. The statement, therefore, qualifies as a term of the contract because it is integral to the making of the contract. It is the main reason that induced Peter to enter into the contract. It is said that the statement goes to the root of the
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