United Kingdom is one of the oldest unions in the world that have transformed most countries in the world. UK’s administrative system has helped transform many countries and regions around the world. This concept is the reason UK has been under pressure to implement some laws and legislation to help it deal with certain issues. UK’s contract law is an example of such like laws that were meant to tackle some unending legal issues. The history of this piece of legislation is traced centuries ago, and this makes this initiative on of the oldest legislation in the UK (Allen and Overy, nd).
The law, as mentioned, was meant to settle some of tougher disputes the union was struggling during the early period. The major issue the law was meant to deal with was the issue of bargain between two parties (Peel and Treitel, 2008). And just to specify this law, contact is an agreement between two parties to transact business and to make contracts legal, the UK government wanted to make contracts legal. And the only way to ensure the agreements were trustworthy and legal, it has to pass through a process. The process, therefore, to follow the due process the government set. The setting of the law happened after the government realized it was dealing with cases of dispute in agreed contracts (Goode and McKendrick, 2002 and Treitel, 2003). This paper is going to analyze the contact law by looking onto how Kim and Kanye are entering into an agreement with the UK Company, Choc Delux to supply them with a chocolate wedding cake. The paper is going to look into the requirements and content of a legally binding contract under English Law. Again, the consequences if both parties breach their agreement.
A legal contract or any contract is supposed to harbor three important pillars that bind the parties involved together, and these pillars are not exceptional in the UK Contract Law (McKendrick, 2009, and 2003). The three contents include formation of the contract, the content of the contract, and the end of the contract. The mentioned three pillars will form the most important aspect of the contract and will be used as guideline. Contract, according to the UK definition or a general definition, is an agreement giving rise to obligations that are enforced or recognized by law (Normington, 2013 and British Law). Under this definition, contract has three essential basics that are used mostly to form a contract, and as mentioned, used to guide in making the contract workable (Burrows and Cartwright, 2010). The basic principles include agreement, contractual intention; and consideration. In the initial stages of the contract formation, these principles and guidelines have to be considered and given priority. This close look into the principles and guidelines are necessary to make everything workable. It is again advisable to ensure that the guidelines are adhered to for they will be used in case of any disagreement. In this case of Kim and Choc Delux the mentioned principles and guidelines should be put into consideration and respected by both parties. The principles and guidelines will very helpful in the contract.
The main content in the law is to allow the parties reach an agreement that is workable. It is a common sense that a legal contract has to be agreed by both the parties. As mentioned in the above paragraph, it is important to ensure that the parties agree to the three parts. Under the contract law, it is required that both the parties meet the standard set by the agreement (Atiyah, 2000). The law, in its most parts, sets the standard in which both parties work together. The first part of the law requires that one side of the party makes an offer that will be agreed upon by the other party (Burrows and Cartwright, 2010). This part of the law will ensure the agreement is binding. After the offer and agreement are signed, the court will enter deal and make the necessary demands, which are mostly considered objective to the contract. In this case of Kim and the cake company, Choc Delux, it is the buyer in this case who will make an offer. Here, it is Kim and Kanye which are in need of a cake who will make an offer and the company will either deny or accept the offer. It is notable that both the parties have to agree on a workable formula in which they will operate, and this is what the contract law call acceptance. Overall, after offer the other party has to accept the offer, and this is what the law term as acceptance (Allen and Overy, nd). Acceptance is also as crucial in the contract law just like offer. Once the other party has accepted what the other party offer, an agreement already reached. In some quarter, this offer and acceptance are referred to as an agreement.
In trying to build a strong contract form, it is recommended that the agreement on the contract should contain consideration. As mentioned in the above paragraphs, consideration is a valuable in this concept. This is the concept why a contract should be bound with consideration to ensure its authenticity is secure (Hughes, 1959). In ensuring that the contract is well secure and other legal procedures are well taken into account, consideration plays a very important concept. It builds the trust between the two potential contract individual in ensuring that the details in the contract are upheld to the end.
Another concept that UK Contract Law looks into is the contractual intention, which bind the contract to the legal process of the country (Goode and McKendrick, 2002). This important part of the law is defined a process of legalizing the whole process. Contractual intention, as noted, is the most crucial part of the whole process if it is intended to bind (Beatson, 2002). It is upon the parties to enter into this concept because it will be carter for everything in case the agreement is not honored in the later dates. There is no way the court is going to be involved into a dispute when the two parties did not enter into the contractual intention. It is notable that this is the binding factor between the parties and the legal fraternity.
After all the above elements are put into consideration with some clearly formed, the importance of the concept is that the two parties look into other legalities as well (Atiyah, 2000). The form of the agreement is put into consideration. For example, if the parties decide the contract is a verbal or written agreement. Another important aspect is the content of the agreement that will be relied onto in case of a dispute. Also, important is the express terms the parties have set to control everything in the contract (MacMillan and Stone, 2012. These terms will help counter any form of dispute that might arise after signing the contract.
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