this ppt is intended to be used in a Legal English Lesson. It relates to Contract Law. Elements of a contract. It could be used to prepare TOLES exam

1. The
Language of
Contract Law
Seminario Inglés Jurídico 2020
Dra. Daniela Zabala
Universidad Católica de Cuyo sede San Luis-
Equipo de Trabajo en Ingles jurídico.

2. CONTRACT
It is a legal agreement
between two or more parties

3. The elements
of a contract
It is a general principle of English
and American contract law that all
of the necessary elements must be
present to make a binding contract
3

4. “Maria is Charles's girlfriend. The
relationship started eight months ago.
Charles asks Maria if she would like to go
to Italy with him for a skiing holiday.
Maria agrees.
Charles pays for the holiday on his credit
card. The cost is £2500 in total. However,
a week before the holiday Maria meets
Will.4

5. “…Maria calls Charles and explains that she is now
Will’s girlfriend and she doesn’t want the holiday.
Charles is very angry. He demands £1250 from Maria
and says she has to pay. She says she thinks the
holiday was a present from him. Charles says the
holiday was not a present because Maria has a great
job and makes more money tan him. …Do the have a
contract?5

6. The elements of an English
contract are:
▸ Offer
▸ Acceptance
▸ Consideration
▸ Intention
6

7. OFFER
The first element of a
contract where one of the
parties makes a proposal to
the other party. The proposal
is on absolutely certain
terms.
7

8. ACCEPTANCE
It is an unconditional agreement
to what is proposed by the other
party.
It is absolutely necessary that a
person accepting an offer does
not change the terms of the
original offer.
8

9. CONSIDERATION
▸In order to make the contract valid, the
parties must exchange something. Each
of them must give something to the
other, such us money, goods or
services. It must be reciprocal.
▸The parties must gain some benefits
from what is exchanged or detriment
some loss.
Motive: personal reason for entering
into a contract9

10. INTENTION
▸ Intention to create a legal
relationship
▸ The court look at the
relationship between the
parties and decide if they really
want to make things legally
binding in this particular
situation10

11. 11
OFFER
CONSIDERATION
ACCEPTANCE
INTENTION

12. 12
THE PARTIES

13. THE END OF AN OFFER
▸ LAPSED: to much time has passed.
▸ COUNTER OFFER: cancel the original
offer by making a new offer.
▸ REJECTED: cancel the original offer by
not accepting it.
▸ REVOKED: the offer is withdrawn.
13

14. HOW MUST ACCEPTANCE BE
COMMUNICATED?
▸ Must be made to the offeror and not
to anyone else.
▸ Must be communicated, cannot be by
silence
▸ Must be actually heard or received.
▸ If the offer specifies a method of
acceptance it must be used.
14

15. YOUR TURN! LET’S PRACTISE
1) “I´ll give you £85 instead of £100 for
each ticket”
2) “You say that you accepted my offer by
email. It never arrived.”
3) “No thank you, the price is too high…
Forget it.”
1) “I’ve changed my mind. The offer is no
longer open.”
15

16. YOUR TURN! LET’S PRACTISE
1) “As well as an offer, acceptance and
consideration, the parties to a
contract need to have ….. to create a
legal relationship.”
2) Both parties to the contract must
provide consideration, in other words
it must be ….”
16

17. FAMOUOS
LANDMARK
CASES…

18. ▸ It is a 1892 decision from the U.K. Court of Appeal.
▸ The Court of Appeal held that an advertisement
containing particular terms to get a reward is considered
a binding unilateral offer that is accepted by anyone who
completes its terms.
▸ In this case, the company created a flu remedy called
the ‘carbolic smoke ball’. As part of its advertising
campaign, the manufacturer stated that customers
would be awarded £100 if they found it did not work.
18
CARLILL V. CARBOLIC SMOKE BALL CO.

19. ▸ Mrs Louisa Elizabeth Carlill bought the product, used it
for months, but still caught the flu. When the company
refused the pay out, Mrs Carlill sued. The Court of Appeal
found that the advertisement constituted a binding
agreement as the essential elements of a contract –
including offer and acceptance, consideration and an
intention to create legal relations – were all present.
▸ The Carlill case played a large role in developing the law
of unilateral offers, and laid the foundation for the
modern practice of outlawing misleading advertising.
19
CARLILL V. CARBOLIC SMOKE BALL CO.

20. ▸ 1932. It relates to negligence in Contract Law. It is a
House of Lords decision.
▸ It sets out the principle whereby one person would owe
a duty of care to another due to a Contract.
▸ Mrs Donoghue went on holiday. In Paisley, she entered a
café, and drank a bottle of ginger beer. The bottle
contained a dead snail. When she fell ill, she sued the
manufacturer, Mr Stevenson.
20
Donoghue v Stevenson

21. ▸ The case proceeded all the way from the Court of
Session to the House of Lords. The H.of L. held that the
manufacturer was liable as he owed a duty of care to the
customer.
▸ This duty of care was breached, because it was
reasonable to foresee that a failure to ensure product
safety could harm the consumer.
▸ The ”neighbour principle” was born: the idea that “one
must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions
that could reasonably be foreseen as likely to injure
one's neighbor”. (1932)21
Donoghue v Stevenson

22. THANK YOU!
Hope you enjoyed it!
Source: Mason Catherine.“The Lawyers English Language
Coursebook”, Second Edition, Global Legal English LTD,
2014, England.
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d6bc0d06-609c-
4a50-9dd6-8ebbe0e998f3