A contract is a voluntary agreement between two or more parties who have accepted to oblige to its legal terms and conditions expressed either in form of writing or orally/ verbally. This, therefore, makes sure that the parties follow such terms and conditions expressed in such a contract and failure to do so will have some consequence(s).
A contract, therefore, ensures that a certain promise or responsibility will legally happen or not. Although we can use the word promise as a synonym for the word contract, we should use it with care since, in actual sense, the word promise might not bring out the full meaning of the word contract and for example when it’s an accord without thought.
Contract law also changes from one geographical location to another with major differences. Most contracts have certain elements. For example, in common law, there are four elements that appear in a contract, these are, present, approval, purpose to build lawful relations and deliberation. These elements can be made in writing or verbally/ orally
A contract can be viewed to be either express or implied. An express contract is one where there is a definite assurance which has been put down in writing. An express contract is therefore one in which the terms and conditions are stated in writing. A contract is considered to be implied when one can establish the obligation by considering the conduct or behavior of the participants (Willmott, Christensen, Butler & Dixon 2009). The participants therefore show, through their behavior that they have a common accord and don’t necessarily have to show the agreement in writing.
A bilateral contract comes from the exchange of common guarantee between two or more parties that makes certain that either or both of the parties does or doesn’t carry out some specified act. The assurance made by one of the participants makes up enough consideration for the assurance made by the other participant.
A unilateral contract comes from the exchange of a common guarantee between two or more parties that makes certain that only of the parties does or doesn’t carry out some specified act (Willmott, Christensen, Butler & Dixon 2009). Therefore, taking a proposal to enter a unilateral contract can be invalidated until implementation is completed or until a specific time frame has elapsed for non-performance.
For a contract to be considered as an implied contract, it must contain some four elements. The contract must have been done out of good faith, the government must have acknowledged and agreed to a benefit, and finally, the products and services would have been an allowable procurement if the correct formula had been adhered to.
Acceptance by silence can be considered as a type of acceptance of a contract (Randy 2003). In general terms, a contract cannot be accepted through the use of silence. Anyway, a contract might be considered as accepted even in the case of silence when the following conditions are met: in case the dealings have been occurring over a long period of time, in case one of the parties, who is considered to be the offer or has ignored interaction by showing that acceptance may be made by silence or not portraying action, if one of the participants of the contract decides to change the terms and conditions of the contract and accept to renew an insurance policy.
References
Randy, E. (2003). Contracts. New York: Aspen Publishers.
Willmott, L, Christensen, S, Butler, D, & Dixon, B. (2009). Contract Law. North Melbourne: Oxford University Press.