Essential elements of a valid contract Essay

In this part of my assignment I will be detailing what the different elements of a valid contract are whilst also linking it in with my own contract. The contract I have decided to use is my mobile phone contract from Vodafone. The offer: In contract law the offer is where a person will accept the invitation, for example in my contract the offer would be when I offer to bind into their contract and purchase a mobile phone deal, and this is because they created an invitation for me to purchase a deal as they advertise their deals in various place so when I go in I offer to bind into a contract with them. Invitation to treat: An invitation to treat is usually used to get the parties started with some negotiations to result in a fair agreement for both parties involved. For example in my case with my contract it was negotiated for me to get more minutes instead of the amount of data they were offering as I would use the minutes more instead of the data so Vodafone agreed and created a contract stating what was agreed to ensure that they could not go back on their agreement. An invitation to treat does not bind someone into a contract as they are only inviting people to make an offer so if somebody was looking at something but didn’t not agree or make the owner a offer then therefore there is no agreement and no legal binding. The Acceptance: In contract law once a legal acceptance is formed a contract gets developed in which case both parties cannot back out of the agreement after the contract has been signed. There are three rules that need to be followed when creating an acceptance to ensure it is legally bound. The three rules are: The acceptance must be known and discussed with the offeree. The acceptances’ terms must match the terms of the offer exactly. The agreement needs to be certain. In the case of my phone contract it was legally bound as it follows all three  of the rules of acceptance as when I purchased the contract we discussed all aspects of the contract terms and we both knew exactly what the agreement was after the negotiations. Consideration: The consideration in contract law must be something of value by the eyes of the law this doesn’t not include things like a promise of love. A consideration is also known as the bargain of the contract where each party must receive a benefit to the contract or a disadvantage for it to be a consideration. With my contract the consideration is I get a certain amount of data, texts and minutes in exchange for money that will be paid each month. Intention to create legal relationships: The main aim of indenting to create legal relationships is to try and push out the cases that don’t necessarily need a court to help take action. This is usually the case when two friends agree to meet up somewhere or if a family member agrees to help clean the car as there is no legal agreement it is just made between the two or more parties that are involved which means that therefore there is no legal binding contract in place so the courts are unable to take any action against any of the parties. With my contract it is a legally bound contract so if for example I decided I was no longer happy and I was going to stop paying the payment that we agreed then they are entitled to take me to the courts as the contract is legally bound. Capacity: The capacity in contract law is where a person has to either be over a specific age or they have to be mentally fit and not under the influence of alcohol as if one of the parties are then the contract will become void as they will be classed as a minor or unstable to bind into a contract as they need to have a full understanding of what they are signing for. If a contract becomes void then it means there is no legal binding of that contract and therefore if something went wrong and they backed out of it the courts could not take action. With my Vodafone contract they have a capacity that nobody under the age of 18 is allowed to take out a contract as they are known as a minor but any payments can be taken out of the minors account after three payments have been made, this is to ensure that they have an  adult who is responsible for making sure all payments are going to get paid and if not it is them that will be taken to court as the contract will be in their name.