consumer law

Consumer Law . A contract is an agreement between two or more people which creates an obligation to do or not do something. The agreement creates a legal relationship of rights and duties. There are three elements necessary to create a contract: offer and acceptance, consideration and intention to create legal relations. One person makes an offer, the second person must accept the offer and there must be consideration exchanged. For a contract to be legally binding not only do the people to the contract have to get something in return but they must also give something in exchange e.g. selling a car and receiving money. Implied terms are incorporated into the contract and the parties are not aware of their existence. These terms are that the goods are satisfactory quality, fit for the purpose and as described (sale of goods act 1979). Problems only arise when these terms are broken. Theses terms are implied to the intension of the parties by statute, custom or common law. In the case of Julie she has made an offer by conduct to buy the shirt from the shop. There has become a legal binding agreement with her and the shop. She has taken consideration by giving money in exchange for the shirt and also intension to create legal relations. As to this purchase there is a contract between Julie and the shop. This situation is similar to case Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co 1893

  • Word count: 907
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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Consumer Law.

Consumer Law. When you can sue If you buy something which is not of satisfactory quality or not as described, or not fit for the purpose you bought it for then you can sue the seller for breach of contract. If the seller told you something about the goods and you believed the seller and decided to buy the goods, you can sue the seller if what he or she has told you later turns out to be untrue. This is called "misrepresentation". If you pay for a service and it is not carried out with reasonable care and skill in a reasonable time and for a reasonable price you can also sue for breach of contract. If you have entered into a credit agreement which has been broken you can sue under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for breach of contract. This Act allows you to sue not just the seller, but also the person / organisation that granted you credits through the seller. Consumer Beware . "Freedom of contract" is dead. The new maxim is "let the Seller beware". 2. If your terms and conditions of business do not respect the interests of Consumers, they are likely not to be binding, and you may be forced to change them by the Office of Fair-Trading (OFT). 3. Any investigations by the OFT are likely to reflect badly on your business and may involve much management time and legal costs. 4. A Seller must ensure that any written term is expressed in plain intelligible language.

  • Word count: 1129
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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Contract essay.

ANNA LONG (T23) GERRY REGAN CONTRACT ESSAY In advising Lou of her rights and liabilities, we must firstly establish where Lou has contractual obligations and where any breaches of these contracts may lead to Lou incurring liability. Firstly, there exists a contract between Lou and her crew members, containing specifically terms concerning wages and method of payment. Secondly, Lou has a contract with a monthly magazine, Tall Ships, to write a 100 000 word account of her voyage, within two months of the voyage end. Lou's contractual obligations are as follows: (i) to pay her crew members £300 per month in arrears, and (ii) to write an account of the voyage, for which she has already received £30 000 in advance from Tall Ships magazine. One week before the end of the voyage a crew member is said to have "clumsily" dropped an anchor onto the deck, smashing the laptop which Lou had bought to write her account on. Lou has not saved her work and she loses 4 months worth of notes. The damage which this crew member caused has the effect of putting Lou into breach of her contract with Tall Ships, for failure to fulfil the contractual obligation to write an account for the magazine. In advising Lou which damages she should claim from the crew member, I would not look at damages arising from a breach of contract because it is unlikely that by negligently or "clumsily" damaging the

  • Word count: 2068
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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Company law

Healthy Eating Ltd is a company with two shareholders and a director called Robert and Marcia, there after Robert was now appointed managing director. The business of a company is managed by board of directors which has authority to represent the company, and in this case Robert is been appointed as managing director he controls and carry the company as well also represent the company, the articles usually provide that the directors may exercise all powers of the company which are not by statue or by the articles. Directors act as agents of the company their acts bind the company and with few exceptions, Robert will also have a fiduciary relationship to company and must exercise their powers for the benefit to the company, the director are not employee of the company as such a director may however in addition to his directorship hold a salary employment in the company. Ferguson v Wilson (1866) LR 2 Ch App 77 in the case the plaintiff who took the case to court of chancery against a company, seeking to know the directors specific performance, to allot particular shares to him. However, in this case the plaintiff also claimed damages in the different ways as a second alternative "if, as in this case, specific performance could not be had for the reason being that the particular shares had already been allotted to a 3rd party" Lord Cairns held the company itself cannot act in

  • Word count: 2559
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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Common law

ASSIGNMENT 2 ISSUE: Under the principles of common law is the Exclusion Clause part of the contract. LAW: A party will be bound by the terms of contract they have signed. APPLICATION: A contract may have a clause inserted into it that seeks to exclude or limit the liability of one party for breach of contract or negligence. Such a clause is known as an Exclusion Clause. If a party wishes to rely on such a clause this party must show that this clause formed part of the contract. The incorporation of this term can occur by signature, reasonable notice being given, or through the previous dealings of the parties, On 3rd August Paul signed a document headed "Transport Contract" and returned it to Lott. In L'Estrange v Graucob1 the court found that it did not matter that the signing party had not read the entire document2, as occurred with Paul here. A similar decision was made by the High Court in Toll v Alphapharm3. As a consequence of this action a contract could be seen as being created at this point, especially since there appears to be no evidence of fraud or misrepresentation. This document contained details including the names of the parties, cargo to be carried and the carriage cost. As such the contract may be seen as one which is entirely written, with the terms and conditions contained within it now being binding on Paul since he has signed it. The document had on

  • Word count: 1123
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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Contract Law Essay

Contract Law Essay The law of contract achieves a fair and reasonable balance in resolving disputes between those who break their contractual promises and those injured by those breaches. Contracts occur in our day-to-day life activities. It is very important, both in the business world and our everyday life. Businesses make multi-million pound deals, buying and selling. Our every day life also involves making a contract in one-way or the other. Maybe for example buying a car or even buying your travel card. In this essay, I am going to look at how the balance is; resolving disputes between those who break their contractual promises and those injured by these breaches. A contract is said to be breached one party performs defectively, differently from the agreement, or not at all. The basic legal means of enforcement of contractual obligations is by compensation for the loss caused, in other words, by the payment of damages for breach of contract. The general principle is that the victim should be placed in the position he would have occupied if the contract had been properly performed. This I think is a good balance, which is beneficial to both parties. However there are three limitations, which will be considered; causation, where a person will only be liable for losses caused by their breach of contract; remoteness, where the loss is considered too remote from the

  • Word count: 1261
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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Contract third parties. Many exceptions have been created by common law to prevent the doctrine of privity application rendering injustice and inconvenience.

SRN: 229113 The rule that is being referred to by Lord Scarman, is that of the doctrine of privity. Treital stated that the most basic understanding of the doctrine is that a contract cannot as ‘a general rule confer rights or impose obligations arising under it on any person except the parties to it.’ In the 17th century, third parties to a contract could enforce the terms of a contract, as illustrated by Provender V Wood and Bourne v Mason. However this notion was brought to an end in 1861, by the case of Tweddle V Attkinson, this established that only persons, who are party to a contract, can enforce and benefit from the terms of the contract. A third party cannot benefit from the contract; even where the contract was made for the sole purpose of conferring a benefit onto the third part: the express statement by Mr Atkinson was insufficient. This approach was confirmed in Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v Selfridge & Co Ltd by the House of Lords. An important issue is to determine whether a relationship lies between argued by privity and consideration is intertwined. According to doctrine of consideration, contract only exists it a benefit or detriment flows from the direction of the promiser to the promisee. Flannigan suggests that both consideration and privity are analogous: you can only provide consideration if you are party to the contract2. Evidence in support

  • Word count: 1624
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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The will theory of contract is essentially self imposed. are the parties to contracts genuinely free to impose obligations on themselves?

The law of contract has always been a controversy area where there have been numerous debates on whether there is really a freedom of choice in the contract or if the courts themselves are sometimes involved in its process. Fundamentally, there are many principles which seek to clarify such a situation, one of which is the will theory. The will theory is closely associated with the laissez-faire philosophy in economics which means “leave to do”, an idea which suggests a belief in the virtues of allowing individuals to pursue their interests through market transactions with minimal government interference. [1] Similarly, the will theory accents on the point that the starting point of contract law should be the freedom of contract where the parties should be given the liberty to create their own bargains according to the terms they want. Therefore, supporters of this theory argue that parties should be as free as possible to make agreements on their own terms without the interference of the courts or Parliament and their agreements should be respected, upheld and enforced by the courts. [2] An example of this could be found in the case of Chappell & Co v Nestle Co Ltd [3] where the court was not really concern about whether the consideration involved was sufficient and largely allowed the contracting parties to decide the amount of the consideration on their own terms.

  • Word count: 1102
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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Explain the importance of George Mitchell (Chesterhall) Ltd v Finney Lock Seeds in the development in contract law, How does Section 55 of the Act relate to Schedule 2 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act [

Contract Law. Background & Objectives The objectives of this week’s Discussion Question are as follows; Explain the importance of George Mitchell (Chesterhall) Ltd v Finney Lock Seeds in the development in contract law, How does Section 55 of the Act relate to Schedule 2 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act [1] Instalments Importance of Section 55 of the Sale of Goods Act. In the case between George Mitchell v Finney Lock Seeds [2] the fundamental issues to the case is the limitation of liability to the cost of the goods (seeds) by replacing defective goods (seeds) or alternatively refunding the customers for the total invoice value of the goods purchased. Essentially any further liability that the farmers (respondents) may suffer from the defective goods (loss of crop, which includes profits) they will have no claim on the Merchants (Appellants). History is made in this case as the House of Lords had to consider a modern statutory provision which gives the court the power to override contractual terms based on the merchant (Appellants) limited liability. Of additional importance is that this ruling set precedence for future interference by the courts. The further importance of this case is that it over –ruled the doctrine of law whereby parties are free to contract without interference of the courts. It is also interesting to note that the contract was entered into

  • Word count: 725
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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Consideration is therefore historically a fundamental doctrine of English law and has equally been the subject of much criticism owing to its rigidity and lack of coherence.

The classic model of English Contract law is a bargain and a bargain postulates an exchange. In his much respected work[1], Sir Frederick Pollock rightfully explained that "[a]n act or forbearance of one party, or the promise thereof, is the price for which the promise of the other is bought, and the promise thus given for value is enforceable."[2] Consideration is therefore historically a fundamental doctrine of English law and has equally been the subject of much criticism owing to its rigidity and lack of coherence. Lord Steyn[3] raised an important question as to why should the law refuse to sanction a transaction for want of consideration where parties seriously intend to enter into legal relations and arrive at a concluded agreement? A major failing of the bargain theory, it is said, is that it excludes detrimental reliance as a basis for enforcing a promise but allows for an executory promise to constitute consideration. One good example is the controversial case of Stilk and Myrick[4]. Accordingly, attempts have been made to circumvent the rigors of the doctrine using equitable principles which shifts the conceptual focus away from the notion of exchange to that of reliance to give effect to the reasonable expectations of parties or by taking into account whether the parties intended to be bound in the first place. The stage is now set for an analysis of the sweeping

  • Word count: 2755
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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