Business Law and Ethics: Contractual Relationships and Remedies Essay

This essay provides an overview of business law and ethics, focusing on the principles of contract law in the UK. It defines key concepts such as offer, acceptance, and consideration, and their roles in forming valid contracts. The essay uses a case scenario involving Raymond and Samantha to i...Read More

Business Law and
Ethics INDIVIDUAL
ESSAY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The business law are the rules and regulations which regulate the working of the
organisations. There are different kind of business organisations which are distinguished on the
basis of their form and size. Each business organisation is governed by the business law. It is a
very vast field which covers many laws under it which includes the contract act, employment
law, data protection act, company law and many other (Cartwright, 2016). The contract law
regulate the business transactions which have been undertaken with the help of valid contracts.
This law regulate the rights, obligations, relation and conduct of the parties who have entered
into a valid contract. This essay report shall cover the law relating to contractual relationships
and the remedies in a given case scenario.
MAIN BODY
The contract law of UK is a legislation which govern the relationships of the parties who
have entered into a valid contract. It also regulate the rights and obligations of the parties and
provide adequate remedy to the aggrieved party in case of breach of contract. The general rule of
the contract is that it can be made informally and even oral contracts are valid. Sometimes, no
written or oral communication can also constitute a valid contract (Chen, 2017). Just an informal
promises can also bind the parties just as the valid contract can bind. The essentials of the valid
contract includes, firstly, the offer from one party, secondly the acceptance from the other,
thirdly the intention to create legal relationships and last the consideration. In order sue the party
for breach of contract, the essentials of the contract must be fulfilled.
An offer is the expression of the willingness on some specified terms to the contract
which is made only with the intention that the other party will accept it. On the other hand,
acceptance is the unqualified and final expression of the assent to terms of the offer. It may be
communicated through conduct also. Consideration can be said to be a value for something
which is given for the promise and is very essential to make the promise enforceable as the valid
contract. It must be sufficient and not adequate. The last essential of valid contract is contractual
intention. Without this, a contract cannot be made enforceable. The onus to prove that whether
their is intention or not is on that party which asserts that no intention is present (Gentili, 2020).
In the given case scenario, Raymond and Samantha have entered into a contract for
which he will prepare some draft business accounts for Samantha and she shall pay him £800.

when the work was completed, Samantha paid him only £200 to which Raymond accepted
reluctantly as full and final settlement. Afterwards, when Samantha's paintings began to sell at
high prices, Raymond wishes to claim the balance of £600.
Under this case scenario, there was an offer made by Raymond to draft business accounts
for Samantha at £800. Samantha did not responded to this offer and after completion of work
counter offered Raymond to only pay the consideration of £200. Raymond accepted this
reluctantly. Firstly, when the offer is made by one party, it must be accepted by other party either
expressly or impliedly. In this case, Samantha did not show her acceptance either expressly for
impliedly. Rather after the contractual obligation was fulfilled by Raymond, Samantha counter
offered to pay only consideration of £200.
Counter offers are new offers and not acceptance to original offer (Heidemann, 2018). In
Hyde v Wrench, the court held that counter offers destroy the original offers and are no longer
open for the offeree to accept it. So here in this case, Samantha made counter offer and Raymond
accepted it. So it was a valid contract as they also have intention to create legal relation and the
consideration.
There are various remedies available under the UK Contract law, which includes
damages, specific performance of contract and injunction order. In order to claim damages, the
injured party must show that an actual loss had caused the breach of contract, secondly loss is
recognised and it is not too remote. Specific performance can only be claimed if court thinks
that it is just and equitable to do so (Kuehnel-Fitchen, 2018).
As Raymond has accepted the counter offer of Samantha and the legal obligations of the
contracts have been fulfilled by both the parties, so Raymond cannot claim any remedy under
this. If he had not accepted the counter offer of Samantha, then it could have availed the remedy
under this Act.
If Samantha have paid £200 to Raymond before the contractual obligation was fulfilled,
the scenario could have been different. In case Samantha has made counter offer to pay £200
before completion of work, Raymond had a chance to accept or reject the offer. When the
acceptance was not communicated to Raymond from Samantha, Raymond assumed her silence
as acceptance and fulfilled its contractual obligation. In case of Entorres v. Miles Far East, the
court held that in order to give effect to acceptance, it must be communicated to the offeree.
Mere silence does not generally amount to acceptance (Kuitunen, 2020).

In this case, if Raymond had requested £400 from Samantha as full and final settlement,
the scenario could have been different. When Samantha offered to pay £200 to Raymond, he
could have made a another offer to ask the consideration of £400. This will amount to counter
offer and not the acceptance. Then Samantha could have the right to either accept it or reject. But
in this case, the obligation was fulfilled so it is important to determine the amount of
consideration. If Samantha had accepted to the counter offer of Raymond, it will give rise to new
contract with £400 consideration. If Samantha had rejected this counter offer, Raymond could
claim remedy under this Act by arguing that it has understood its silence as acceptance. As in
case of Brogden v. Metropolitan Railway, the court held that a contract was valid despite that no
acceptance was communicated. The party did not objected other party from performing their
obligation so court assumed its silence as acceptance and made the contract valid. So here, if
Samantha rejected the offer, Raymond could have come in different legal position and claimed
adequate remedy under the Act. The remedy may include damages or specific performance of
the contract. Another option which is available to Raymond is termination of contract (Loreta
and Vaidas, 2017).
Samantha could have communicated her acceptance or rejection regarding the offer
earlier. But when she counter offered Raymond, he accepted the offer and Samantha was saved
from any legal consequences. Now when the settlement is reached and Raymond has accepted
the counter offer of Samantha, the obligations of the contract have been fulfilled by both the
parties. Now if Raymond comes and claim the balance of £600, Samantha is not liable to pay
Raymond. So it is advised to Samantha that the contractual obligations are fulfilled earlier and no
obligation is left unsettled. The debts have been made clear by her so there is no obligation from
either side of the party.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that business law is an essential legislation which
regulate the working of the organisations. It covers various laws under it which includes contract
law, employment, company law and many other. The contract law regulated the rights,
obligations, conduct and relation of the parties who have entered into a valid contract (Siedel,
2016). The essentials of the valid contract are offer by one party, acceptance by the other party,
there must be intention to create legal relations by the parties and last there must be adequate
consideration. This law provides various remedies to the parties in case of breach of contract
which includes specific performance, damages or injunction. For this case scenario, Raymond
has accepted the counter offer of Samantha so this has given rise to valid contract. And now
Raymond cannot further claim his balance from Samantha.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cartwright, J., 2016. Contract law: An introduction to the English law of contract for the civil
lawyer. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Chen, J., 2017. Should English Contract Law Adopt a General Duty to Negotiate in Good
Faith. BLR, p.18.
Gentili, A., 2020. Fundamental Rights as a Part of Contract Law. European Business Law
Review. 31(3).
Heidemann, M., 2018. Editorial Article: The Future of the Commercial Contract in Scholarship
and Law Reform–A Work in Progress. European Business Law Review. 29(6).
Kuehnel-Fitchen, K., 2018. Implied Terms in English Contract Law. Edinburgh L. Rev., 22,
p.433.
Kuitunen, L., 2020. Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law Project: enhancing the value of
reinsurance cover—viewpoint of an industry practitioner. Uniform Law Review, 25(1).
pp.45-56.
Loreta, T. and Vaidas, J., 2017. Ethical and legal observations on contract cheating services as
an agreement. International Journal for Educational Integrity. 13(1).
Siedel, G.J., 2016. The three pillar model for business decisions: strategy, law and ethics. Van
Rye Publishing, LLC.\