ABSTRACT

This chapter explains the offer and acceptance process by setting out the rules and then applying them to a practical example. It then looks at the law of agency, which decides who can act on behalf of the organisation. A contract is a set of promises between the parties that the law will enforce. In English law the contract is a bargain. In a bargain each party gives something to the other and gets something in return. The parties to the contract must have the power/ability, to make that contract. The law presumes that the commercial company intends its promises to be contractually binding, unless it is absolutely clear that no contract was intended. In a commercial situation until the parties have agreed all the terms of the contract in reasonable detail, there is no contract. Consideration is lawyer's jargon for the bargain element necessary for contracts under English law.