Business Law Essay: Contracts

Contracts are agreements that two parties make obliging to carry out a particular duty. Contracts can be enforceable meaning that the two parties have agreed to fulfil their contract terms. These types of contract bear the force of law.

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For a contract to be enforceable, it has to have an offer, an acceptance, and a consideration. An offer is what defines the contract's relevant issue. For an offer to be considered as legally valid, it has to be communicated well to give the receiving party an opportunity to either take the offer or to reject it. A valid offer should also bear specific and definite terms. The receiving party should understand the terms of the contracts. Also, the receiving party has to accept the offer's terms. For an offer to be considered approved, it has to be accepted as requested by the other party. One can change or reject these terms thus creating what is termed as a counteroffer. The two parties involved have to be legally allowed to enter into a contract by being eighteen years and above and also having a sound mind. Also, the contracts subject matter has to be legal, and there has to be a mutual obligation on the contract terms. An example of an enforceable contract is an agreement between Arsenal football team and Albashir printing and branding company where the company will offer the team players shoes to be allowed to print their name in the team's T-shirts as a way of marketing itself. It is enforceable since it includes all the elements of an enforceable contract.

On the other hand, a contract that was enforceable can turn out to be unenforceable. In cases one party involved in a contract is not able to understand the terms of the agreement they are entering into, the contract can be termed as unenforceable. Secondly, if someone was coerced or threatened into agreeing, the contract is no longer enforceable. In the same context, if a particular individual forces another party to get into a contract by exploiting a special relationship between them, such a contract is unenforceable. Moreover, in case misrepresentation or fraud happens during the process of negotiation, the resulting contract should not be held enforceable. Also in case of failure to disclose any material fact by a party, the contract is unenforceable if the details the party failed to disclose are not accessible by the other party. Finally, a court can hold a contract unenforceable if there is unconscionability whereby the contract terms or some important aspects about the contract or contained in the agreement was very unfair, for example when there is unequal bargaining power between the parties. A good example of an unenforceable contract is when Transglobe Shipping Company agrees to ship some construction materials for Graltra Building and Construction Company which are to be used in the construction of an urgent project. After the Graltra building and Construction Company started the project, Transglobe Shipping Company begins the journey to bringing the materials. However, Transglobe claims that they will not deliver the materials unless Graltra adds some amount of money. Graltra had no otherwise since they urgently need the material and failure to pay that money will incur them losses, so the companies add the funds dictated by Transglobe. It is unenforceable because it entails duress whereby Transglobe even threatens Graltra.

A non-contractual promise is whereby a party responsible for the loss suffered by another party is required to pay the victim in cases not connected to a contract. An enforceable non- contractual promise can be enforceable if there, was a promise made, if the promise had the intent and if the promise was definite enough to obligations and rights of both parties. An example of is when Mrs Smith promises to sell Mrs Edgar his Toyota car at the cost of 50 dollars. After Mrs Edgar has shown interest in buying the car, Mrs Smith refuses to sell it for 50 dollars because her competitor sells at 55 dollars. Mrs Edgar has already found another car to buy at 65 dollars but has not turned up for that deal since he thought Mrs Smith's deal was smart. The court can rule this as enforceable since this failure to comply resulted in Mrs Edgar losing a deal with the other distributor. The agreement was valid, the object involved was lawful since it is a car and both parties are legally competent. On the other hand, a non-contractual promise can be held unenforceable when the terms of an enforceable contract are not evident in the promise. On this note an example of a non-contractual promise is when Mr Patrick had made a promise to her wife to be giving her 50 dollars per month when he was away from home. Later, he stops sending the money. This case is unenforceable since the agreement made was not valid, and the promise did fail to respect her wife's human rights. Also, there was no consent involved.