Term Paper on "Mistakes and Misrepresentations in Contracts"
Term Paper 5 pages (1636 words) Sources: 1+
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Misrepresentations in contractsAn Examination of the Implications of Mistakes and Misrepresentations in Contracts
Generally speaking, a contract is an agreement that is enforceable through the courts. Clearly, in order for all of the parties to any given contract to achieve the desired goals of the agreement, everyone involved must be informed of the circumstances and facts surrounding the agreement, and it is important to capture all of the elements required for its execution when crafting the instrument. People - even lawyers - are only human, though, and intentional and unintentional mistakes and misrepresentations are sometimes made in contracts that can have profound implications for all of the parties involved. To gain a better understanding of what these implications might be, this paper provides an overview of contract law, and what the authorities have to say about contracts containing mistakes and misrepresentations. A summary of the research is provided in the conclusion.
Review and Discussion
Background and Overview.
Black's Law Dictionary defines a contract as "An agreement between two or more parties which creates an obligation to do or not to do a particular thing. As defined in Restatement, Second, Contracts, Section 3, 'A contract is a promise or a set of promises for the breach of which the law gives a remedy, or the performance of which the law in some way recognizes as a duty'" (p. 322). Even if parties strongly desire to be bound by a contract, though, the law does not automatically give effect to such mutual assent. According to Beatson and Friedman, "Each system may impose additional
download full paper ⤓
Mistakes and Misrepresentations in Contracts. Black's defines "misrepresentations" as "Any manifestation by words or other conduct by one person to another that, under the circumstances, amounts to an assertion not in accordance with the facts. An untrue statement of fact. An incorrect or false representation"; by contrast, a "mistake" is "Some unintentional act, omission, or error arising from ignorance, surprise, imposition, or misplaced confidence" (emphasis added) (p. 1001). Clearly, then, if a party to a contract makes a mistake based on a misrepresentation of the facts by one or more other parties to the contract, the contract would likely not be enforceable in any court of law.
According to Avery Katz, "Courts and commentators who view contract formation law primarily as a coordination device spend most of their time on 'convention maintenance'; [these are] activities such as describing and promulgating the prevailing conventions; protecting the reliance investments of those who operate according to them; providing newcomers with incentives to learn them; and assisting everyone in applying them in ambiguous and novel situations -- all for the sake of averting misunderstandings" (emphasis added) (p. 1249). Because the legal implications of each contract are unique, it is clearly important for the parties to come to a "meeting of the minds" in arriving at the terms of their specific agreement; Katz points out that common law doctrine maintains that, absent special circumstances, an offeree's silence in the face of an offer does not constitute assent to a contract; the typical explanation provided for this rule is based on conventional understanding: "Ordinarily, silence does not warrant an inference of consent, since there are too many other reasons to remain silent" (emphasis added) (Katz, p. 1250). According to this author, one commonly offered justification for promissory estoppel is misrepresentation, in other words, that the promise made by one party either intentionally or unintentionally tended to mislead the promisee. In most cases, all of the parties to a contract will not have equally good information upon which to base their decision to proceed with the agreement; even if the offeree enjoys all the gains from the exchange and pays all the losses from such wasted reliance, Katz suggests that an offeree without accurate information about costs, benefits, and risks is unlikely to be the least-cost avoider, however.
Katz points out that, "If he [the offeree] mistakenly thinks that the probability of nonperformance is lower than it really is, he will rely earlier than he should from a social viewpoint. if, conversely, he thinks the probability is higher than it really is, he will rely too late" (p. 1250). The implications of this decision to proceed or not, again, devolve to the unique circumstances of each contract, but the primary impact would be to provide the misled party with grounds for canceling the contract without further legal obligations as to performance (Howell, Allison & Jentz, 1978). The various types of contracts, such as implied, express, quasi- and so forth, all have their own specific requirements and precedential case law; however, there are certain elements required for any type of contract to be enforceable in the courts and these are discussed further below.
Elements Required for a Contract to be Valid. According to Howell et al., "A contract is a special sort of agreement - one that the law will enforce in some manner in the event of a breach. Some agreements are not enforceable because their terms are too indefinite, or they are entered into in jest, or they involve obligations that are essentially social in nature" (p. 160). Even if a contract is seriously intended by all of the parties, though, most courts will not enforce such an agreement unless there are three key elements present:
1) consideration;
2) capacity; and 3) legality (Howell et al., 1978).
Therefore, even if the first two elements are satisfied, in order for any type of contract to be enforceable, the legality element must also be met. If one or more parties to a contract are determined to have misrepresented something that would have inordinately influenced the other party or parties to the contract, then the courts would likely determine that the contract did not exist since it did not meet the legality requirement. For example, according to Buckley, "The excuses which promisors may invoke to excuse performance [include] unconscionability, misrepresentation, duress, mistake, and breaches of promisee duties of good faith" (p. 9). If a mistake is suspected in a contract, it should be pointed out and addressed as soon as possible in… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Mistakes and Misrepresentations in Contracts" Assignment:
First of all please provide the ready work on time!
Concerning research proposal:
Consider the mistakes & misrepresentations in contract(treaties) itself.
Compare the kind of mistakes and misrepresentaions made in contracts.
Please don't study any judge's cases.
You can these books: Business Law, The Law of Contract,International Law, etc.
If you have any gueries concerning research proposal please feel free to contact me via e-mail any time!
How to Reference "Mistakes and Misrepresentations in Contracts" Term Paper in a Bibliography
“Mistakes and Misrepresentations in Contracts.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2005, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/misrepresentations-contracts-examination/135677. Accessed 3 Jul 2024.
Related Term Papers:
Business Law Contract Essay
![Paper Icon](https://www.a1-termpaper.com/images/term-paper-3.png)
contract law, is a contract for goods void when both the buyer and seller are mistaken as to the quality and value of the goods sold? Does the seller's incorrect… read more
Essay 2 pages (832 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce
Contracts Chapter Essay
![Paper Icon](https://www.a1-termpaper.com/images/term-paper-3.png)
Contracts
Chapter 1 introduces the general notion of a contractual agreement by underlining the relationship between promise and consideration, in terms of making such a relation enforceable. According to the… read more
Essay 10 pages (2886 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Law / Legal / Jurisprudence
Role of Mistake in English Contract Law Term Paper
![Paper Icon](https://www.a1-termpaper.com/images/term-paper-3.png)
Role of Mistake in English Contract Law and German Contract Law
INTRODUCTION verbal contract isn't worth the paper it is written on." - Samuel Goldwyn (1882-1974)
In They Never Said… read more
Term Paper 17 pages (5222 words) Sources: 3 Style: MLA Topic: Law / Legal / Jurisprudence
Contract Law Principles and Concepts Term Paper
![Paper Icon](https://www.a1-termpaper.com/images/term-paper-3.png)
Contract Law Principles and Concepts
The Elements of Contract:
Don and Estelle never formed a valid contract. A valid contract must satisfy all of the individual elements of a legally… read more
Term Paper 5 pages (1453 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Law / Legal / Jurisprudence
Gilbert's Summaries Contracts the Law Essay
![Paper Icon](https://www.a1-termpaper.com/images/term-paper-3.png)
Gilbert's Summaries
Contracts
The law of contracts represents society's attempt to formalize promises between parties. Promises are agreements between parties that are supported by consideration. Historically, consideration was described as… read more
Essay 18 pages (5347 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Law / Legal / Jurisprudence
Wed, Jul 3, 2024
If you don't see the paper you need, we will write it for you!
We can write a new, 100% unique paper!