Contract Law

Contract Law Conditions

admin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:30:45 +0000

Our first line of defence in this course (on reserve):
•    Waddems: Contract Law in Canada
•    Cheshire and Fifoot – designed for students and practitioners. Authoritative.
•    Attyah – Introduction to the Law of Contract. This one is designed for students, but is at times advanced (bold, unorthodox).
o    1x/week, should be reading material on reserve. Pick one of the cases we are doing in class, then look it up (index) in one of these books.

Electronic … [visit site to read more]

Contract Law Jurisdicton

admin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:29:30 +0000

Acceptance

Contrast between the ordinary rule of acceptance (that acceptance is acceptance when the acceptance is communicated to the offerer – deals with time, not place), and the Postal Rule of Acceptance (Acceptance occurs when the acceptance is mailed).

When does the Postal Rule of Acceptance apply? Obviously enough, when the post is involved. Just because the post has been used, however, does not mean that it does apply. The theoretical rule is that it applies when the … [visit site to read more]

Contract Law Agreement

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:28:21 +0000

•    Contracts are a creation – they are legally enforceable obligations that did not previously exist (prior to the contract) [self-imposed obligations]
•    Through the free exercise of our wills we impose these obligations on ourselves.
o    Hence the derivative idea that if our will isn’t free (ex: intoxication or subversion) we are not bound – this is because it was not, in such situations, an exercise of free wills.
•    The basis of contracts is the freely … [visit site to read more]

Contract Law Lessons

admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:27:05 +0000

Foakes v. Beer (missed last class – interviews)
•    Why doesn’t the ruling in this case come under pre-existing duty?
•    Why do we need a separate rationale?
o    We do not need the rule from Foakes v. Beer – equally analysable under pre-existing duty
o    Separate island of jurisprudence all to itself, very similar to pre-existing duty rule
o    Could be under Stilk v. Meryk
•    Is is a subset of a preexisting duty, but we treat it separately for … [visit site to read more]

Contract Law Seminars

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:25:36 +0000

5 Slogans: (find ‘em)

*The pl always sues in his/her capacity of promisee
*The consideration is that which the promisee must demonstrate to the court that he/she exchanged to the promisor for their promise
Must take this decision path initially to get one’s bearings in the actual case.
Identifying the promise and dispute will tell you who the parties are – will coincide.

Too often students do not know where to begin with a problem. Must orient oneself as per above.

*A … [visit site to read more]

Contract Law Past Consideration

admin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:24:14 +0000

Consideration:
•    Number of plausible ways to look at the different types of agreements that the law will enforce
o    In common law, we enforce almost none of these
o    Consideration: The type of promises that we enforce end up coinciding with what would be looked at if we said we would enforce “serious promises”, etc.
•    Requires evidence of an exchange. If an exchange occurs, it ought to be fairly conspicuous.
•    Has an elemet of formality.
•    … [visit site to read more]

Contract Law Basics

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:22:40 +0000

Consideration
•    Promises – the law does not enforce promises per se.
o    Promises of gifts are not enforceable.
o    The law considers the spirit of altruism rare.
•    What criteria should we use to categorize the subset of promises that attract legal enforceability?
o    What would be a sensible way to do this?
o    The promises which the law should be designed to enforce should be “serious promises”.
•    Non-trivial
•    Or … [visit site to read more]

Contract Law Cases

admin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:21:13 +0000

Agreements to agree cannot be enforced without a mechanism.
Silence (something left out of a contract) is not as bad as an agreement to agree. Blanks can be filled-in in various ways

Walford v. Miles
•    Addresses a question – whether an agreement to negotiate is enforceable
•    Is there such a thing as an enforceable agreement to negotiate?
•    An oral agreement is no less an agreement than a written one.
•    This case raises the collateral and no-less … [visit site to read more]

Contract Law Frustration

admin — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:19:47 +0000

Uncertainty:

•    When we say a contract is uncertain, we mean that there is not enough specificity for a judge to nail down anything to enforce.
•    True that judges do have rules that can be applied to find certainty.
•    Judges make difficult decisions. Though judges will try hard to find a determination to a contract.
•    There is a point at which the shell of an agreement is so lacking in detail that it is impossible to enforce.

The Agreement to … [visit site to read more]

Contract Law Entitlement

admin — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:18:42 +0000

Assignment #1
There are some agreements that seem to have the outwards signals of a contract – offer, etc. There are some agreements to look like contracts, but courts do not enforce.
For example, “I’ll make supper tonight if you make supper tomorrow night.” There we have offer, acceptance and consideration. However, if the person did not make supper the second night, and was sued, the court would likely find in favour of the defendant – not because either offer, acceptance of … [visit site to read more]