Bilateral Contract Essay

Every commercial enterprise in the US has to deal with contracts. A contract is legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates an obligation to do or not do particular things. The term party can mean an individual person, a company, or corporation. Contracts are usually controlled and enforced by laws that vary depending upon the state it originates in. Many people will state its a contract or an agreement, but technically they are not the same thing.
As a contract is a legally enforceable agreement in writing an agreement is what is consider to be a mutual understanding. A verbal contract can still have the legal force, but many have to be in the form of a written contract like long term contracts and contracts
A bilateral contract is the types of agreement most people think of as a traditional contract. It is a mutual exchange of promises among parties. In a bilateral contract, each party may be considered as both making a promise, and being the beneficiary of a promise. A unilateral contract is one in which the offer requests performance rather then a promise from the person accepting the offer. A unilateral contract is formed when the requested act is complete. An example of this would be an advertisement for a reward, offering a discount of payment of money in exchange for something of value. An express contract is formed by explicit written or spoken language, expressing the agreement and its terms. The last form is an implied contract. This type is formed by behavior of the parties that clearly shows an intent to enter into an agreement, even if no obvious offer and/or acceptance were clearly stated in words or writing. Failure to perform under any of these types of contracts would be considered a “Breach” of
Damages can fall under several different categories. Compensatory damage is directed to put the non-breaching party in the position that they had been if the breach had not occurred. Punitive damages are payments that the breaching party must submit for above and beyond the point that would fully compensate the non-breaching party. Punitive damages are meant to punish a wrongful party for particularly wrongful acts, and are rarely awarded in the business contracts environment. Nominal damages are token damages awarded when a breach occurred, but no money loss to the non-breaching party was proven. Liquidated damages are specific damages that were previously identified by the parties in the contract itself, in the event that the contract is breached. Liquidated damages should be a reasonable estimate of actual damages that might result from a