Contract Law Text - Cases - and Legislative

Questiuon: Discuss about the Contract Law for Text, Cases, and Legislative. Answer: Introduction: Saber, a business student found the last copy of the game Mars struck: Metal Squad in a local game store, worth $6.99. He knew the price of the game was $69.99 so he picked up the game and went to the cashier. The game was checked and the price was found to be $69.99. Saber took the storekeeper to the shelf and pointed the shop has offered the game at $6.99 and he has accepted the same, thus, creating a contract. The storekeeper stated it to be typographical error but Saber said he would bring a court action against the store if the game was not sold to him at $6.99. Saber said that it took him a lot of time and effort to reach to the store so he is ready to pay the price difference between the store price and the retail price. The storekeeper agreed to him. In Australia, the law of contract is defined as promises and set of promises that are legally binding. A contract is said to be valid if it includes the following essential elements: A promise or set of promises that are legally enforceable is a contract and to make the promises legally binding there must be an agreement; consideration; the intention of the parties to comply with the legal formalities and the parties to the contract must be legally competent to enter into the agreement. The contract must be a privity contract and must be enforceable by and against the parties to the contract The agreement is binding if there is consideration for the proposed promise.A contract must not include unfair or illegal terms. A contract terminates after completion of the contractual obligations or by an agreement between the parties or on violation of any of the contractual terms. In a contract, there must be an offer by one party and another party must accept the offer. An offer can be made to any person or a particular group of persons or even to the whole world. A person may withdraw his offer any time before the acceptance of the offer. However, before withdrawing the offer the person proposing the offer must communicate the same to the person. Therefore, an offer is a promise that is legally binding subject to the condition that the terms of the offer are accepted and there is no further scope of negotiation. When customers make offers to the seller it is called invitation to treat. Unlike offer, an invitation to treat has no legal binding between the parties as it only invites a person to make an offer. In the case of Pharmaceuticals v. Boots (1953)1 ALL ER 482, CA it is stated that goods in the display of a store are regarded as invitation to treat and not as an offer. An invitation to treat usually arises in cases where advertisements and store displays are involved. For example- an advertisement for jobs is posted on internet; it is treated as an invitation to treat. If a company offers a job to a person without any advertisement regarding the job, then it is an offer. In Fisher v Bell [1961], it is stated that display goods are not offers in any sense but are merely an invitation to treat. Application In the given case, first issue deals with the situation where Saber finds the last copy of the game Mars Struck: Metal Squad at $6.99. Now, according to the law of contracts, any advertisements or display of goods in a store are not treated as offers. They are treated as an invitation to treat and not an offer to sell as stated above in the case of Pharmaceuticals v. Boots (1953)1 ALL ER 482, CA. As stated earlier in Fisher v Bell, goods displayed in a store with a price tag on it are merely an invitation but not an offer. The display goods are treated as an invitation to treat, where the offer is made when customer takes the goods at the cash desk. The shopkeeper may not accept such offer. If the display goods are treated as an offer, then the storekeeper may be forced to become legally bound to some contracts, which he may be unable to fulfill. This would be unfair to the storekeeper in the sense that it will deprive him of his freedom to bargain. Here, Saber saw the game price in the display of the store and when he took the game to the cash desk, the storekeeper said the game is worth $69.99 and the price tag was a typographical error. The storekeeper is not legally bound to accept the offer of Saber as goods in the display of store is treated as an invitation to offer and not an offer. The storekeeper cannot be forced to accept the offer and form a contract as for a contract to be valid; it must be entered into with free consent. In the changed scenario, where Saber is willing to pay the price difference between the store price and original price and the storekeeper agrees to his offer, then a contract is formed and the attended becomes legally bound to fulfill his obligations to the contract. A contract is created when one party proposes an offer and the other party accepts the same. Here, both the parties have entered into such contract with proper understanding and free consent. In this situation, display goods in a store is an offer. Conclusion As per the Contract law, display goods in a store with a price tag attached to it are treated as an invitation to treat and it gives the shopkeeper freedom to bargain and to avert any unfairness or hassle. However, in some specific situations, display goods are treated as an offer if the term of the offer indicates an intention to be legally bound. If the shopkeeper is willing to pay the display price, then the display goods can be treated as an offer. Reference list Davenport, Shayne, and David Parker. "Business and law in Australia." (2012). Graw, Stephen. "An introduction to the law of contract." (2012). McKendrick, Ewan.Contract law: text, cases, and materials. Oxford University Press (UK), 2014. Munday, Roderick. "Fisher v Bell revisited: misjudging the legislative craft."The Cambridge Law Journal72.01 (2013): 50-64. O'Sullivan, Janet, and Jonathan Hilliard.The law of contract. Oxford University Press, 2016. Poole, Jill.Textbook on contract law. Oxford University Press, 2016.