Basic Elements Of Contract

A contract is an agreement between two parties. In order for the agreement to be valid in law it should have the basic elements of a contract. These elements are offer, acceptance intention to create legal relations and consideration. If any of these elements is missing in an agreement, the agreement cannot be treated as a valid contract. The first element off a valid contract is an offer. An offer is an expression of the willingness of a party to enter into a contract and intends to be bound if the offer is accepted. An offer should include a terms which are certain, be communicated to the offeree (Bayern, n.d.). Without these elements an offer cannot exist. An offer should be distinguished from an invitation to treat. In contrast to an offer,

The main terms of a contract are the price, and the description of the subject matter. The law requires that some types of contracts should be written in order to be enforceable. Contracts that are required to be in writing include contracts for the sal of land or any other interests associated with land, mortgages and power of attorney. The parole evidence rule provides that where a contract is written, the courts will not go beyond the contract including the meaning of words in the contract. According to the rule, words cannot be added to a written contract. A standard form contract also requires privity of contract. This doctrine provides that only the parties to the contract can sue or be sued on the contract. An individual who is not a party to the contract cannot enforce the terms of the contract. Privity of contract provides that even if the contract is for the benefit of an individual the individual cannot enforce the contract unless they are party to the contract. The terms of a standard form contract can be expressly agreed to be the parties at the time of forming the contract or can be implied by law or statute. Terms that are implied are terms which the parties intend to be included into the contract but for some reason are not included in the contract. There are some terms that are generally implied in all consumer contracts. These terms include fitness for purpose, merchantability, and correspondence to description or sample (Schwartz and Scott,