Common Law

Table of Contents
I. The perspective of the law of contract, the rules of offer and acceptance, and impact of new
technology ..................................................................................................................................................... 1
II.

The importance of the rules of intention and consideration of the parties to the agreement ................ 2

III.
The importance of the contracting parties having the appropriate legal capacity to enter into a
binding agreement ......................................................................................................................................... 4
IV.

The contract terms with reference to their importance and impact if these terms are broken .......... 5

V.

The law on standard form contracts ...................................................................................................... 6

VI.

The effect of exemption clauses in attempting to exclude contractual liability ................................ 7

REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................. 9

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I.

The perspective of the law of contract, the rules of offer and acceptance, and impact
of new technology

Introduction
An offer (unlike a solicitation) is a clear indication of the offeror's willingness to enter into an
agreement under specified terms, and is made in a manner that a reasonable person would
understand its acceptance will result in a binding contract.1
Acceptance is the unqualified agreement to the terms of the offer. When an offer is received, it is
either accepted or countered (with a counter offer). A counter offer obligates the other party to
accept it or respond with its own counter offer. Accepting an offer (or a counter offer) creates a
binding contract.2
Lapse of time mean that an offer may be expressed to last for a special time....