Nature of Contract - Definitions and Principles

CHAPTER 1

THE NATURE OF CONTRACT:

DEFINITIONS AND PRINCIPLES

Semple Piggot Rochez

• 173B Cowley Road• Oxford OX4 1UT

www.spr-law.com

CONTENTS

Introduction............................................................................. 1

Definition of a contract ............................................................ 3

Promises ................................................................................. 4

Freedom of contract ................................................................ 6

Contract and the law of obligations ........................................... 7

Contract and tort ..................................................................... 8

Contract and equity ............................................................... 10

Contract and EC law............................................................... 12

Contract and the business world ........................................... 12

The general theory of contract ............................................... 14

Classification of contracts ....................................................... 17

Chapter 1

L AW OF CONTRACT

THE NATURE OF CONTRACT:

D EFINITIONS AND

PRINCIPLES

1. INTRODUCTION

Many students wrongly imagine that the law of contract is

difficult in that it will deal with complicated commercial

situations. The also think of contracts as complicated written

documents only entered into on rare occasions such as

accepting the offer of a job, renting or buying a house, or

engaging in a major business transaction. Of course, most of

us enter into contracts every day and the vast majority of

them are performed to the total satisfaction of both parties.

Buying a ’bus or train ticket, a cup of coffee or a book are all

examples of contracts and we hardly ever bother to record

these affairs in writing, negotiate them in detail, or find that we

have not received what we have bargained for. Like many

other areas of law, the law of...