Foundation Law 2013/14

Seminar 12 Contract Law (1)

Reading List:

Jacqueline Martin, “GCSE Law”, 5th edition, Chapter 30-Rights and responsibilities: contract law.

Cases:

Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co (1892)

Bryne v Van Tienhoven (1880)

Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists Ltd (1953)

Fisher v Bell (1961)

Partridge v Crittenden (1968)

Harris v Nickerson (1873)

Boulton v Jones (1857)

Felthouse v Bindley (1862)

Ramsgate Victoria Hotel v Montefiore (1866)

Seminar Questions: 1. Tom is negotiating the sale of his car with Jerry. The car was advertised on Gumtree for an

asking price of £5,000.

a) Identify which of the parties is the “offeror” and who is the “offeree”.

b) What would happen to the original offer of £5,000 if Jerry offers Tom £4,500 instead?

2. Advice Anna on whether she could refuse to perform the following arrangements with Jimmy and whether she could potentially be in breach of contract:

Turn Over

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Learning Outcomes: Explain what a contract is and how contracts are formed; Outline the key elements of a contract; Explain the difference between an offer and an invitation to treat; Become familiar with contract law terminology; Apply legal principles to given facts and demonstrate criticality & analysis when answering fact

based questions; and Analyse case law and be able to apply case law in a persuasive manner to hypothetical case studies.

Foundation Law 2013/14

a) Anna agrees to sell her car to Jimmy for £10,000 and stated that unless Jimmy informs her otherwise, she would assume Jimmy has accepted her offer to buy her car.

Jimmy has not been in contact with Anna but has contacted his bank manager and arranged a loan to purchase the car.

b) Anna enters into an agreement to sell a consignment of bricks to Jimmy, subject to her terms and conditions which stated that Jimmy would be responsible for collecting the bricks from her factory.

Jimmy accepted the offer on the understanding that Anna would be responsible for delivery of the bricks to his warehouse.

Anna still possesses the bricks.

c) Anna and Jimmy are negotiating the sale of Anna’s farm house, which was originally on the market for £30,000. Jimmy offered Anna £25,000 but this was rejected by Anna and instead she offered to sell the farm house for the final asking price of £28,000.

She told Jimmy that if he accepts to buy the house for £28,000 that he must inform her in writing and by letter as soon as possible, as there were other potential buyers.

The following day Jimmy accepts Anna’s offer and sends her a letter as requested, accepting the offer. However, unfortunately he sent the letter to the wrong address and the letter of acceptance never reached Anna.

Anna subsequently sold the farm house to Mary.

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