ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the fundamental question of whether there is a contract at all. It helps explain what a contract is. Under Acts of Parliament, contracts can be set aside in a few, limited, circumstances. These include contracts made for inadequate consideration by the maker of a promise that becomes insolvent shortly after making its deal. An offer is, as any plain English reading of the word would anticipate, a statement of what one party is willing to do, or pay or promise, in exchange for some act, payment, or promise of the person to whom the statement is made. The chapter concentrates on the less clear-cut situations that frequently arise. It states that to be an enforceable contract, the agreement must contain the four key requirements of offer, acceptance, consideration and intention to create legal relations, and that the absence of any of those requirements means that there is no contract.
