http://www.contractlawtoday.com The latest on contract world affecting you and me Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:30:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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 ... http://www.contractlawtoday.com/contract-law-conditions/ 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 ... http://www.contractlawtoday.com/contract-law-jurisdicton/ •    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 ... http://www.contractlawtoday.com/contract-law-agreement/ 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 ... http://www.contractlawtoday.com/contract-law-lessons/ 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 ... http://www.contractlawtoday.com/contract-law-seminars/ 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 ... http://www.contractlawtoday.com/contract-law-past-consideration/ 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 ... http://www.contractlawtoday.com/contract-law-basics/ 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 ... http://www.contractlawtoday.com/contract-law-cases/ 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 ... http://www.contractlawtoday.com/contract-law-frustration/ 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, ... http://www.contractlawtoday.com/contract-law-entitlement/