contract

[sakina1000]

whats the law of contract about

[bernardo]

A contract is an agreement between two or more parties committing each of them to certain courses of action when certain conditions are met, and setting out penalties or escape clauses for non-compliance. The law of contract is the body of laws governing such arrangements.

[jaffacakes]

The law of contract is a branch of the law of obligations(the other two branches being the law of tort and the law of restitution). It is the means by which contracts are governed in England and Wales. Scotland has its own law of contract, therefore some of the terminology and case law is different. It is an area of the law that is governed by cases, therefore judges have considerable input into the direction of the law. There have been some statutory provisions passed, such as the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, which regulates the use of exclusion of liability clauses, and more recently, the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, and there are proposals from the Law Commission to consolidate these two enactments. The law of contract essentially governs the relationship between the parties through each stage of the contract; formation (offer and acceptance), consideration, performance, breach (if any) and finally remedies for any breach. The case law stretches back for centuries, and many judges decisions conflict with each other, so it is a bit of a minefield!!