The terms of a contract include express and implied promises, conditions, provisos and presuppositions that bind the parties. Contracts often have "gaps" in them, either intentionally or unintentionally left that way by the parties. This exercise considers how courts supply terms to fill those gaps both at common law and under the UCC.
Read moreThis lesson explores one of the fundamental requirements for contract formation, mutual assent. Mutual Assent is a mutual manifestation of assent to the terms of an agreement. This lesson looks at how parties establish mutual assent, including manifestations of mutual assent by words and conduct and the effect of misunderstanding. However, the attributes of offer and acceptance are covered in other lessons. This lesson concludes with a sample analysis exercise involving mutual assent.
Read moreThis exercise deals with offer, an essential element of the bargaining process. There are basically three requirements to establish an offer: (1) intent; (2) definiteness; and (3) communication to the offeree.
Read moreTraditional contract law classifies contracts into bilateral and unilateral contracts. Bilateral contracts are those involving promises made by all parties, whereas unilateral contracts involve promises made by only one of the parties. This lesson explores the distinction between bilateral contracts (where both parties make promises) and unilateral ones (where only one party makes a promise) and the effect on the obligations of the parties resulting from the classification. This lesson ends with an analysis exercise on unilateral and bilateral contracts.
Read moreThis lesson explores the remedies that are available in UCC Article 2 for the Seller when the Buyer is in breach. We first examine the remedies when the Buyer has the goods, and then when the Seller has the goods. This lesson may be run either as an introduction before the material is studied or as a review after it is studied.
Read moreIf a contracting party does not complete performance, that party is in breach. But if the party has given most of the promised performance, there may be substantial performance. Another way of saying this is that the breach is not material. This lesson examines the grounds for determining whether a breach is material and explores the consequences if it is. The lesson can be run either as an introduction to substantial performance or as a review after you have completed your study.
Read moreThis lesson is third in a series that takes a look at performance of agreements governed by the U.N. Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The CISG provides a uniform set of rules for international sales contracts where the parties are located in different signatory countries.
Read moreThis lesson addresses a number of issues involving consideration, including whether there was a bargain, whether there is consideration for the settlement of a claim, and whether one of the promises was illusory. You should run it after you have run the lesson on Consideration: The Basics of Consideration and the Bargain Theory.
Read moreThis lesson takes a look at the treatment of damaged and destroyed goods and how the U.C.C. allocates the risk of loss for such occurrences. Since casualties to goods do occur, there must be a mechanism for determining which party will suffer the loss. The party which will suffer the loss is said to bear the risk of loss of the goods. This lesson sets out the basic rules for determining which party bears the risk of loss in sales transactions in cases where there is no breach (UCC 2-509) and examines the effect of breach on the allocation of risk (UCC 2-510).
Read moreThis lesson tries to explain Coasean irrelevance (which is often known as the "Coase Theorem").
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