CREATION OF OFFERS Chapter 6-1

Contract Generally defined as agreements between two or more parties that create obligations

What distinguishes a contract from other agreements Contracts are enforceable by courts Social agreements are not enforceable by law

6 Major Requirements Before Courts will Treat a Transaction as a Legally Enforceable Contract: 1. Offer and Acceptance: there must be an offer and an acceptance upon which to base the contract Offeror-the person who make the offer Offeree- the person to whom the offer is made 2. General Assent: agreement must not be made on one party deceiving another or the use of unfair pressure 3. Legality: What parties agree to must be legal 4. Consideration: Both sides receive what the law considers value in some form as a result of the transaction 5. Capacity: Parties must have legal ability to contract for themselves (age, mental capacity) 6. Writing: Some agreements must be place in writing to be fully enforceable in court

WHY EACH ESSENTIAL ELEMENT IS NECESSARY Offer and Acceptance: Without them the courts would not have an agreement that could be enforced Genuine Assent-Agreements based on deception, improper pressure, certain types of mistakes is NOT an agreement that society wants to be involved in enforcing Legality-Courts should not have to enforce contracts requiring illegal or tortious conduct Consideration- Without something of value being exchanged we have merely an unenforceable promise to make a gift Capacity- The courts must not have to enforce unfair bargains make to a lack to ability to contract in the first place Writing-Some contracts are so important that the courts must have them in writing to be sure the proper terms are being enforced (Sales of real property, promises to pay someone's debt obligations, a contract that takes longer than one year to complete, real property leases that run for more than a year, contracts for an amount or other consideration that exceeds the state's threshold, a contract that will go beyond the lifetime of the one performing the contract, the transfer of property upon the death of the party performing the contract)

REQUIRMENTS OF AN OFFER An offer is a proposal by an offeror to do something, provided the offeree does or refrains from doing something in return The offer is the basis of the bargain. If it is not valid, there can be no contract for the courts to enforce Three Tests That an Offer Must Pass to be Legally Enforceable: 1. Contractual intent must be present in the offer 2. The offer must be communicated to the offeree 3. The essential terms of the offer must be complete and definite

Contractual Intent Words that take the form of offers but which are spoken in just ( as a joke, in extreme terror or anger), or as preliminary negotiations or social agreement would not be enforced.

Offers Offers must be communicated to the offeree The term of an offer must be sufficiently complete and definite to allow a court to determine what the parties intend and to identify the parties legal rights and duties

1. CONTRACTUAL INTENT 2. BE COMPLETE AND DEFINITE 3. BE COMMUNICATED TO THE OFFEREE BY THE OFFEROR So What Are the Requirements of an Offer?