Institutional Affiliation Elements of a Contract - Essay Sample

Introduction

There are several important elements of a contract that must exist and be considered if any contract signed between two or more parties is to be valid. The elements prove and act as evidence that the parties came into an agreement with each other after a clear analysis of the contract terms by each party and an understanding of all the provisions of the contract and those of the law.

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In the case where a Chef who has been working for Fabulous Hotel under the terms of a contract whereby they signed that they would not work for any other hotel within the same metropolitan area two years after leaving the employment at Fabulous Hotel would only be applicable if the basic five elements of a contract are in place and considered. The five basic elements of a contract that would make it possible to enforce the initial agreement on the chef would be;

Offer

Offer is the basic element and actually the beginning point for any contract. This is the element that shows that Fabulous Hotel initially promised to take the Chef and have him as their employee in exchange for his performance. The offer will show that the Fabulous Hotel was so much willing to take this Chef and work well with him as long as he performed well meeting all the conditions of the offer (Sherwin, 2015). This offer would be altered under various conditions to create counter-offers or even be terminated if the existing conditions violated the required and put in place requirements are violated. The agreement for the Chef not to work for any other hotel in the same area within two years after the termination of the contract with Fabulous Hotel would work if an offer of the contract was available.

Acceptance

The other element that would determine whether the agreement would be enforced on the Chef is the acceptance element. Acceptance is for the side of the chef. He should prove that with all these conditions put in place for the contract, he agreed to abide by all of them and work with the Fabulous Hotel offering them his services and maximum performance in exchange for the wages they give to him (Miceli, 2013). There should be a clear understanding that this chef accepted the offer of the Fabulous Hotel willingly and not bribed to do so or even forced to agree. If the acceptance of the chef to the offer is proved to be valid, then it would affect and contribute to the enforcing of the agreement that the chef would not work for another hotel for two years.

Consideration

The element number three that would determine the legality of enforcing the agreement that the chef will not work for another hotel after leaving Fabulous Hotel is the consideration. Both Fabulous Hotel and the Chef should have agreed long before they signed the contract. The terms of the contract right from the initial phase through cooperation and lastly the termination of the contract must have been analyzed clearly by the two groups and eliminated any requirement that would not work (Sherwin, 2015). If the consideration proves to have been done well by the two parties entering into a contract and a common conclusion reached, then enforcing this agreement between the Fabulous Hotel and the chef would have no problem. This is in the case where all the aspects of the contract have been put into deep consideration.

Mutuality of Obligation

Another powerful element that would determine how the contract of Fabulous Hotel and the chef would look like is that element of mutual obligation. Mutuality of obligation between the Fabulous Hotel and this chef means that they should have talked, agreed that they would collaborate and employ efforts together in all the obligations that leaned on their side. No one side should have expected the other to do everything but instead, both the Fabulous Hotel and the chef must have shown willingness and readiness to share the responsibilities in pursuit for the success of the contract (Duru, 2012). With the evidence that there was the mutual obligation agreement, then the chef can by all ways possible be denied the chance to work for any other hotel within the same metropolitan jurisdiction with Fabulous Hotel.

Written Document/Requirement

Apart from all the above, the most important element and or thing in this contract would be the written document. The reason as to why it is the most important of all is because it will as physical and visible evidence that everything was agreed upon correctly by the two terms. It should bear the signs of both the Fabulous Hotel staff and those of the chef where necessary (Miceli, 2013)... It should show all the requirements of the contract and the conditions proving that they were read, analyzed, understood and signed by all these parties without bias. Now with this document and all the other elements in it, the chef would be barred from getting to work in another hotel within that geographical location as Fabulous Hotel for the reasons agreed on.

This contract is governed by the common law and or the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) which works to make sure that what is agreed upon by the parties entering the agreement is agreed upon within the confines of the law and that no single party of the contract is free to violate the agreement at any given time(Duru, 2012).. So basically, this agreement should be formed under the UCC to ensure that both the Fabulous Hotel and the chef observe all the conditions that come with the agreement.

However, there are circumstances under which it will be impossible to enforce this agreement to prevent the chef from getting by another hotel within the same location. One of these circumstances is whereby one of the parties was forced or threatened to sign the agreement. For example in this case, if it happens that as a matter of fact the chef had been forced by the hotel to sign this contract, then he will be granted the permission to seek employment elsewhere. Secondly, if the contract violates and or goes against the rights of the chef, the agreement would not be imposed on him (Duru, 2012). For example in the assumption that the agreement goes against the personal rights of the chef in that he cannot get employment in another hotel yet, he is not working for Fabulous Hotel, the agreement would not be upheld. It is under all these conditions that the contractor the signed agreement becomes invalid and of no application. Therefore, it would not be enforced to deny the chef to search for a job and work in another hotel.

References

Duru, O. (2012). Vitiating Elements of Contract as a Source of Contractual Validity. SSRN Electronic Journal. Doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2156749

Miceli, M. (2013). Elementi di Teoria dei Contratti (Elements of Contract Theory). SSRN Electronic Journal. Doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2238340

Sherwin, E. (2015). Formal Elements of Contract and Fiduciary Law. SSRN Electronic Journal. Doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2634109