Discussion on Contract Law

Contract law
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Contract law
In the world, today people are surrounded by all sorts of contracts. For instance when agreeing to the terms and conditions before downloading an application or software, ordering meals at restaurants and even when hiring a handyman to fix something in the house. Knowing the principles in contracts is not only for the lawyers but is important for people to understand what they are getting into. The terms of a contract are protected by law and those found breaching a contract can be prosecuted in a court of law. People often take contracts for granted when signing them either without knowing that they are bound by the contract or simply pure ignorance. For instance, according to a recently concluded research majority of the people do not read the terms and conditions before downloading a software and at times the contract can be malicious one can give away access to their private information without their knowledge. This paper will look at a case of two people who are discussing the conditions of buying a car.
In this case, there is Ashley who is the owner of a car and decides to look for space in her local newspaper and advertise the sale of her car. She sets the price at $5,000 as she believes the car is in good condition and leaves her number for potential buyers to call. On the other side of town is Jack who is a delivery guy and happens to be Ashley’s brother. He gets interested and decides to give his sister a call, and they agreed to meet on a Tuesday morning. Upon inspecting the car, Jack was pleased with what he saw, and a conversation ensued where Jack seemed to be bargaining. He is offering $4,500, and after a while, the price that Ashley agrees on is $4,600. However, Jack does not have the money at hand and tells his sister he needs the weekend to think about it. The following Monday Jack calls Ashley who does not pick up so he decides to send her a message that he would be going to collect the car. He had managed to get the money by selling his old delivery car. Ashley did not see the message until late in the evening and decided to call Jack and explain. She tells Jack that she had received another offer for $4,900 and she could not refuse. Now Jack does not have a car to make deliveries essentially leaving him jobless. In this case, it is important to note that even if they did not sign any formal contracts, they entered into a contract. However, jack did not give a direct answer he just said he would think about. Had he paid a certain amount or agreed to but the car then he would be protected by contract law.
To understand this, it is essential to look at the characteristics of a contract. It should contain an offer that provides specific details about what will be provided. In this case, it is clear that Ashley was selling the car and that Jack contacted him and he saw the car. Therefore it is clear that the car is on sale. A contract should also have an acceptance which is the other party agreeing to the offer presented (Chongseok Shim, 2015). In the...