1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910151600903321

Autore

Halson Roger

Titolo

Contract law / / Roger Halson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Harlow, England : , : Pearson Education, , [2013]

©2013

ISBN

1-4479-2287-5

Edizione

[Second edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (600 pages) : illustrations

Collana

Longman law series

Disciplina

346.4202

Soggetti

Contracts - England

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Table of cases -- Table of statutes -- Table of statutory instruments -- Table of treaties -- Table of EU directives -- 1 Introduction -- Why another book on contract law? -- The history of contract law -- The basis of contract -- The law of contract or contracts -- The law of obligations -- The real world -- Human rights and contract law -- Europe . . . -- . . . and Beyond -- Additional reading -- Part I: The negotiation stage -- 2 Negotiating the contract -- Introduction -- Estoppel by convention -- The objective test of agreement and the 'snapping up'of mistaken offers -- Mistake of identity -- Misrepresentation -- General principles -- Representations of fact -- Silence as misrepresentation -- Change of circumstances -- Half-truths -- Inducement -- The actions for misrepresentation -- Rescission -- The requirement of communication to the representor -- The bars to rescission -- The intervention of third-party rights -- Restitution is impossible -- Affirmation -- Lapse of time -- Misrepresentation Act 1967, s 2(2) -- Indemnity -- The recovery of damages -- The tort of deceit -- Misrepresentation Act, s 2(1) -- The tort of negligent misrepresentation -- Misrepresentation in overview -- Proprietary estoppel -- Restitution: failed contract cases -- Advantages and disadvantages of a restitutionary analysis -- Collateral contracts -- A duty to disclose? -- Disclosure of terms -- Contracts uberrimae fidei -- Undue influence -- Fiduciary relationships -- Inequality of bargaining power -- Statutory disclosure requirements -- Quasi exceptions: conduct, half-truths and With v O'Flanagan -- Other



encouragements to disclosure: Sale of Goods Act 1979 -- A wider duty to disclose -- A duty to negotiate in good faith -- What is it? -- Do we have it? -- Do we need it? -- Conclusion -- Additional reading.

Part II: The birth of the contract -- A. Formation of a contract: the positive requirements -- 3 Agreement: offer and acceptance -- Introduction -- Whose agreement? -- Offers and invitations to treat -- Two cautions -- Advertisements -- Displays of goods -- Websites -- Auctions -- Tenders -- Standing offers -- Tickets and machines -- 'Shrink wrap' and 'click wrap' agreements -- The termination of an offer -- Revocation - bilateral contracts -- Revocation - unilateral contracts -- Rejection -- Lapse of time -- Death of offeror and offeree -- Acceptance -- Acceptance in bilateral contracts -- The postal rule of acceptance -- The rationale of the postal rule -- When does the postal rule apply? -- The consequences of the postal rule -- Silence as acceptance -- Acceptance in unilateral contracts -- Conclusion -- Additional reading -- 4 The enforceability of agreements: consideration and its alternatives -- The traditional definition -- Consideration and gift -- Consideration and request -- Consideration need not be adequate -- Past consideration -- Moral and economic consideration -- Compromise agreements -- Pre-existing duties -- The pre-existing duty arises from a contract with a third party -- The pre-existing duty arises from the law generally -- The alternatives to consideration -- Deeds -- Estoppel -- Additional reading -- 5 Form, intention and certainty -- Form -- Cautionary formal requirements -- Informational formal requirements -- Transferable formal requirements -- Intention -- Domestic and social arrangements -- Business agreements between strangers -- Certainty -- Vagueness -- Incompleteness -- Additional reading -- B. Formation: negative factors -- 6 Illegality in formation -- Introduction -- Policy objectives -- Statutory illegality -- Illegality at common law -- Contracts to commit a crime or tort -- Contracts promoting sexual immorality.

Contracts prejudicial to the administration of justice -- Contracts injurious to the institution of marriage or prejudicial to family life -- Contracts liable to affect adversely the state's relations with other states -- Contracts inconsistent with good government -- Contracts in restraint of trade -- Employment contracts -- Contracts for the sale of a business -- Other anti-competitive practices -- Statutory control of anti-competitive practices -- Gambling contracts -- The consequences of illegality -- Enforcement of the contract -- The recovery of money and property -- Withdrawal from the illegal enterprise -- Where the parties are not equally guilty (in pari delicto) -- Recovery without reliance upon the illegal contract -- Transferor can recover because the transferee did not thereby obtain any interest -- Transferor can recover because the transferee's interest in the property was subsequently terminated -- Transferee may recover because the illegal contract was effective to transfer property to him -- The non-reliance principle and the law of trusts -- Critique of the non-reliance exception -- Severance -- Reform of the law -- Additional reading -- 7 Non-agreement mistakes -- Common mistake as to the existence of the subject matter of the contract -- Common mistake as to quality -- Mistake as to ownership of property -- Conclusion -- Additional reading -- C. Personnel -- 8 Capacity -- Minors -- Contracts for necessaries -- Beneficial employment contracts -- Ratification -- Voidable contracts -- Restitution by a minor -- Mental incapacity -- Companies -- Conclusion -- 9 Third parties -- Introduction -- The first rule: strangers cannot enforce contracts -- Exceptions to non-enforceability -- Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 -- Further limits upon the new third-party right -- Other statutory exceptions -- The trusts



exception.

Agency -- Collateral contracts -- Assignment -- The law of tort -- Action by the promisee -- Specific performance -- Stay of action -- Damages -- The second rule: contracts cannot impose obligations upon strangers -- Land law -- The tort of interference with contractual rights -- Bailment -- Additional reading -- Part III: The life of the contract -- 10 The content of the contract: express and implied terms -- Express terms -- Term or representation? -- Verification -- Importance -- Time -- The relative skill and knowledge of the parties -- Parol evidence rule -- Collateral contract -- Implied terms -- Statute -- Implied term as to title -- Implied term as to description -- Satisfactory quality -- Fitness for a particular purpose -- Sale by sample -- Other legislation -- Custom -- The common law -- Implication in fact -- Implication in law -- Interpretation -- Additional reading -- 11 The content of the contract: exclusion clauses -- Exemption clauses -- Incorporation -- Construction -- The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 -- Reform, scope, concepts and definitions -- Liability for negligence -- Contractual liability -- Statutory implied terms -- The Misrepresentation Act 1967, s 3 -- The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 -- Overview -- Additional reading -- 12 The modification of contracts -- Introduction -- Contractual flexibility -- Opportunism -- Where a rule of non-enforcement works -- Where a rule of non-enforcement fails -- The pre-existing duty doctrine -- Rescission and new contract -- A finding of new consideration -- Duress -- Introduction -- The present approach -- The legitimacy of the threat -- A threat to refuse future business -- A threat to breach a pre-existing contract -- A threat to commit a tort -- The requirement of 'compulsion' -- Vitiation of consent -- Protest -- The existence of an adequate alternative.

The law provides a remedy for the damage which would result if the threat were carried out -- The law provides a remedy for the damage which would result if the threat were carried out which in all the circumstances of the case is an adequate one -- Either the law provides a remedy for the damage which would result if the threat were carried out which in all the circumstances is an adequate one, or there exists an extra-legal alternative which in all the circumstances of the case is an adequate one -- Independent advice -- Subsequent affirmation -- The ability to pass on costs -- The non-enforcement rule -- Waiver -- Introduction -- Waiver as forbearance -- At common law -- In equity -- Promissory estoppel -- Introduction -- Unambiguous representation -- Relliance -- Promisee must have acted equitably -- Is promissory estoppel suspensory or extinctive? -- The offensive limits of promissory estoppel -- Introduction -- (a) Estoppel can be only used as a defence -- (b) Estoppel can be used by a party seeking to enforce a claim based upon a recognised cause of action to defeat the defence or counter-claim of the other party -- (c) Estoppel can be used by a party seeking to enforce a claim to prove one element of a recognised cause of action -- (d) Etoppel can be used by a party seeking to enforce a claim to prove all the elements of a recognised cause of action -- (e) Estoppel has created a new cause of action -- The estoppel spectrum operationalised -- Should promissory estoppel create a new cause of action? -- Frustration -- Introduction -- Frustration and the allocation of risk -- Increases in performance costs -- Imposed modifications -- Mitigation -- Conclusion -- Additional reading -- 13 Performance -- Withholding performance -- Incomplete performance -- Illegality in performance -- Part IV: The death of the contract -- 14 Frustration.

Introduction.

Sommario/riassunto

Fully updated with the latest legal developments, Contract Law is your



essential guide to the life of a contract. It covers all stages of the process, from negotiation and formation, through its possible modification to the ending of a contract including a thorough examination of available remedies. Offering a modern, engaging account of all aspects of contract law, this new edition will give you a clear understanding of the legal principles which underpin the contractual process.