Commercial Law Assignment: Contractual Obligations and Remedies

This commercial law assignment analyzes a case involving a student, Alan, who attempts to sell a textbook to his classmates. The report examines the formation of a contract between Alan and potential buyers, including Bernard, Charleen, and Damien, considering elements such as offer, acceptance, and intent. It explores the legal positions of each party, particularly focusing on whether valid contracts were formed and the remedies available to them, considering misrepresentation and the lack of free consent. The assignment further investigates the availability of alternative dispute resolution options, such as mediation, arbitration, conciliation, and negotiation, to resolve the conflicts arising from the situation. The conclusion emphasizes the significance of commercial law in business and contract enforcement.

Commercial
Law

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1 The contract has been formed and who were contracting parties?......................................1
2 Bernard legal position and remedies...................................................................................2
3 Charleen Legal position and remedies................................................................................3
4 Damien's legal position and remedies.................................................................................3
5 The various alternative dispute resolution options available..............................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Business law encompasses with all legislation and laws which have been developed by
the government in order to protect the property, individual and business. With assistance of
business law various rules and regulation has been imposed within the country which provides
proper rights and precise to the business and individual. In addition to this commercial law deals
with the sale and distribution of goods, the financing of credit transaction and negotiable
instrument. In the present assignment, legal position and remedies has been defined for the
different situations. Furthermore, significance of commercial law in the different situation has
been clearly addressed in this assignment.
MAIN BODY
1 The contract has been formed and who were contracting parties?
As per the given case scenario, Alan is the student of the Kaplan higher education and he
decided to sale his text book “ Introduction to business law in Singapore”It was compulsory text
books used in the commercial law. Alan has been posted the advertisement for sale his text book
on the Facebook as he has various school friends on the Facebook. On the 1 Nov 2015, Alan has
posted on the Facebook that“ To all my friends who is the student in the Kaplan higher
education I wanted to sale my text book of “ Introduction to business law in Singapore”.In this
book, notes are written by me which is very useful to get the distinction. The selling prices is
$200 and also posted Alan that if anybody wanted to buy this book kindly pay the amount by 5
Nov 2015.
The contract has been formed on the 1 November 2015 by the Alan with help of
Facebook. There are various friends of the Kaplan higher education who have involved in this
contract such as Bernard, Charleen, Damien (Akintoye, Renukappa and Lal, 2012). They all are
student in the Kaplan higher education. While Alan posted his offer for sale book then various
friends was interested to purchase that book such as Bernard, Charleen, Damien.
As per the rules and regulation of the business law, a valid contract is that which can
enforceable by law. All the agreement are a contract but all contract are not agreement. In order
to made a valid contract and agreement between the parties there must required some elements
such as proper acceptance, proper offer, intension to create a legal relationship, capacity to enter
into the contract, free consent etc (Bekkers, Duysters and Verspagen, 2002). In the context of
proper offer and acceptance mean while two or more than two people involve in the valid
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contract then there must be proper offer and acceptance. An offer is an expression under which
all term and condition are included. On the other hand acceptance may be in the form of written
and oral. In this given case scenario, Alan has developed the proper offer because he made the
offer on the Facebook along with full consideration to sale the book of “ Introduction of business
law in the Singapore”
Another significant element of valid contract is intension to create a legal relationship. It
means while any party develop in valid contract then there must be intension to create legal
relationship. In this given case scenario, Alan has no intension to create a legal relationship with
any friend in the Kaplan higher education school. Another significant element of valid contract is
free consent (Bowyer, 2000). As per this element, a valid contract must be developed by free
consent as there should not any misrepresentation, fraud, coercion, undue influence and mistake.
While in the contract, these all terms are included then there is not any kind of valid contract. In
the given case scenario, Alan have made offer on the Facebook to sale his text book by the
$200.At the last on the 23 Nov 2015 Bernard and Damien realised that this said text book “
introduction to business law in Singapore was issued free of charge by Kaplan higher education.
Thus, it can be said that Alan have not followed the element of free consent while he made the
consent by offer the text book of Introduction of business law in Singapore on the Facebook. He
has actually misrepresented this text book in front of his school friends because this text book
has already sold at the Kaplan higher education school by free of charge (Campbell and
Boothby, 2016). Thus, it can be said that Alan has not considered the free consent element while
developing the offer of sale the book.
2 Bernard legal position and remedies
There was not any kind of contract has been formed between Alan and Bernard because
Alan has already informed Bernard that his offer of the $150 has cancelled because selling prices
of book is $ 200 (Collis, 2012). As per the given case, Bernard is unable to take legal action
against Alan because Bernard made his counter offer of $150 as it cancelled the original offer of
the $ 200 from Alan. On the 3 Nov 2015, Alan has replied on the Bernard post on the Facebook
was that I am sorry because I am selling this book about “ introduction of business law in
Singapore” at $ 200 only. In fact there is an offer already. Thus, from this discussion it can be
said that as Alan have offered in the public so Bernard have no right to claim against the Alan. In
the evening IN the night ion 3 Nov 2015 Bernard has decided to buy Alan's material. He was
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put cash c in the envelope and posted to Alan in the morning of 4 Nov 2015.While at the end ,
Bernard has known that text book of introduction to business law in Singapore was issued free of
charge by Kaplan higher education then Bernard has not able to claim against the Alan because
Alan has not signed any contracted for selling his text book (Cornish, 2012). In addition to this,
Alan has rejected Bernard offer and there is not any agreement and promise made by the Alan
with Bernard.
3 Charleen Legal position and remedies
In this given case scenario, Charleen is a small sister of the Alan who saw the post on the
Facebook about to sale the “ introduction of the business law in Singapore”.When she saw Alan
post then she saw very keen to read up on the business law. In the morning while Alan was still
on the bed then she told that saw is interested to buy this text book for $200.While charleen said
to pass the money to him on the 6 November then Alan thinking about the weekend match and
nodded. In this case, charleen can not claim against the Alan because Alan has not involved in
the specific contract as he made general offer in the public under which offer does not make for
the definite person but to made for the large public. This general offer can be accepted by any
person by fulfilling the terms and condition (DiMatteo, 2012). In the case of Charleen, she is not
able to calim against the Alan as he was founded to fraud under the sale of textbooks because
this text book has already available within the Kaplan higher education school by free of cost. In
addition to this, Alan have family relationship with charleen so he has not made this offer for
her sister. As she has seen this offer on the Facebook page. Thus, it can be said that there is not
any remedies available for the charleen because she is not involved in any kind of cheating
because Alan has not made this offer for her sister. Alan has developed this general offer for
only his friends who are student of Kalpan higher education school.
4 Damien's legal position and remedies
As per the given case scenario, Damien is the friend of Bernard and he is also a student
of Kaplan higher education school. Damien is not the friend of Alan on the Facebook but he
knew Alan by the Bernard. While Damien saw the post of Alan on the Facebook page of
Bernard then he thought to purchase that particular book. Damien is not the direct friend of the
Alan because he was not student in the Kaplan higher education school (Dimatteo, 2016). Thus,
it can be said that Alan has not intensionally made the agreement and contract for to cheat any
person so it can said that there is not any right have to Damien for claim against the Alan. Alan
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have not any intension to cheat damian related to sale of text book. But at the end while Bernard
and domien have founded that introduction of business law in Singapore was issued by Kaplan
higher education with free of charge then they felt that theya re cheated by the Alan so Bernard
have right to claim against the Alan so as Alan is liable to pay the amount of $ 200 to Bernard.
Alan have to pay the remedies to the Bernard due to his misrepresentation and fraud contract.
5 The various alternative dispute resolution options available
Alternative dispute resolution is a kind of procedure and technique which help in settle
disputes among the parties. In a simple word it can be said that it is a process under which
addressing and settling party's disputes outside of the court's tradition adversarial setting. There
are various method of alternative dispute resolution which can use in the given case of Alan,
Bernard, Damien. These alternative options are as follows-
 Mediation- In this method, third party are involved which is known as the mediator. With
help of mediator, two or more parties can resolve their conflicts and disputes related to
the agreement and contract (Klass, 2010). In this concern, the role of mediator is unique
who is responsible to give advice and transfer the information. Mediator is not supposed
to force any party and is not even permitted decide the outcome of a dispute. Mediation is
fully confidential as they can not disclose any personal information of the parties and
their contract and disputes to anyone. In the given case of Alan, his friend like Damien,
Bernard can also take the help of mediator in order to resolve the issue.
 Arbitration- In this method the parties who have involved in the dispute can take the help
of neutral third party (Lee, 2001). In this method arbitrator plays a very crucial role in the
contract who listen the grievances of parties and also he/she is liable to take the proper
decision after listening all grievance and discussion of both parties.
 Conciliation- This is another significant method to resolve the conflict and issues among
the parties in the contract. In this method conciliator plays a very crucial role in resolving
the issue and dispute among the parties (Goldman, 2013). A conciliator is a person who
is well professional expertise in the subject matter and who have effective knowledge and
idea about to resolve the issues. However, conciliator have not right to make the decision
and judgement about the dispute. Conciliation may be taken from the court order or
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either they may be part of voluntary. This process is generally conducted among the
parties by face to face discussion.
 Negotiation- Negotiation is one of the effective method to resolve the issue and conflicts
among the parties. This does not typically involve any go between neutral. With
assistance of the negotiation method two party can easily resolve the issue and conflict
related to the contract.
CONCLUSION
From this report it has been concluded that business and commercial law is very
significant in the business by which two or more parties can develop the contract about
something. While any parties involve in the valid contract then they required to consider the all
elements of valid contract like proper offer, acceptance, intension to create valid contract, free
consent etc.
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REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Akintoye, A., Renukappa, S. and Lal, H., (2012). The abolition of the “contracts in writing” rule
in the 2009 Construction Act: Potential implications for UK adjudication. International
Journal of Law in the Built Environment. 4(2). pp.140–156.
Bekkers, R., Duysters, G. and Verspagen, B., (2002). Intellectual property rights, strategic
technology agreements and market structure: The case of GSM. Research Policy. 31(7).pp.
1141-1161.
Bowyer, M. L., (2000). Insurance contract law and regulation and competition in the UK
insurance industry: The missing link. Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance. 8(2).
pp.140 – 150.
Campbell, E. and Boothby, C., (2016). University law clinics as alternative business structures:
more questions than answers? Edited by Francis King.The Law Teacher. 50(1). pp.132-137.
Collis, J., (2012). Determinants of voluntary audit and voluntary full accounts in micro-and non-
micro small companies in the UK. Accounting and Business Research. 42(4). pp.441-468.
Cornish, G., (2012). Dictionary of Intellectual Property Law. Reference Reviews. 26(2). pp.13 –
14.
DiMatteo, A. L., (2012). Common European Sales Law: A critique of its rationales, functions,
and unanswered questions. Journal of International Trade Law and Policy. 11(3). pp.222-
240.
Dimatteo, L.A., (2016). International Business Law and the Legal Environment. Routledge.
Goldman, A., (2013). Business law: Principles and Practices. Cengage.
Klass, G., (2010). Contract Law in the USA. Kluwer Law International.
Lee, R., (2001). Negligence. Property management. 19(5).
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