Introduction to Business Law

Introduction to Business Law

ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS

Question 1

1. Acceptance is key feature of any contract and said to happen when the terms contained in the offer are unconditionally accepted by the offeree (Robertson,  Paterson & Duke, 2011). Based on the given facts, it is clear that Angie makes an offer to Mark for buying the painting at $ 8,500 to which Mark expresses his disapproval. Instead Mark makes a counter offer to Angie for buying the given painting at $ 5,500. Hence it may be concluded that Mark has not given his acceptance through email but has instead made a counter offer to Angie.

1. Any person or party who makes the offer is called the offeror while the person or party who accepts or rejects the offer is known as the offeree (Carter, 2012). Based on the given facts, it is clear that James is the offeror while Angie is the offeree. This is primarily because Angie was approached by James with the offer of buying the painting for a total consideration of $ 3,500 along with providing help to the couple for packing. The given offer was given acceptance by Angie.

1. The mailbox rule provides guidance with regards to ascertaining the time of enactment of the given contract especially with regards to acceptance. The mailbox rule states that the acceptance by the offeree becomes effective as soon as the letter or mail indicating acceptance leaves the possession of the offeree (Robertson,  Paterson & Duke, 2011).  Based on the given facts, it is apparent that a contract was made between Mark and Angie and hence any subsequent contract with any person regarding the same item would be considered null and void.  It is stated that after a series of mail exchanges between Angie and Mark. Angie made an offer to Mark through email sent on March 11 to which Mark provided his acceptance through his email dates March 15.

Even though Angie did not reach the email lying in the inbox till April 19 but yet it doesn’t impact the validity of the contract since as per the mailbox rule acceptance is assumed to happen as soon as the mail indicating acceptance leaves Mark’s possession on March 15. Meanwhile Angie assumes that Mark has not accepted her offer and instead accepts the offer made by James and thus seemingly enacts a contract with James on March 16. However this contract would be null and void since the given article of consideration does not exist as a contract has already been reached (Carter, 2012).

1. It is given in the question that the painting has been misplaced/lost since March 12 which is before Angie enters into the contract with Mark to sell the painting which is sealed on March 15. One of the central tenets for a legal and valid contract is the existence of consideration that too for both the parties or else the contract would become null and void. So given this understanding, in case Angie does not have the painting and also cannot arrange for one at the agreed price then there is no consideration for Mark to enter into a contractual relationship with Angie. Additionally in case of sale object being damaged or lost before the enactment of the contract, it becomes essential that the seller should inform the buyer about the same or else it may classify as misrepresentation and may pave way for legal liabilities for the seller (Carter, 2012).  However the facts in this particular case point towards Angie’s behaviour not being fraudulent since she herself was not aware that the painting has been lost and thus hence no obligation to inform to Mark. Since Angie in the given case did not have any intention to cheat on Mark, hence Mark will not be able to press any legal charges or make Angie liable for any losses or damages that he might have encountered due to entering into the contract with Angie for the given painting. If the same event would have occurred after March 15 i.e. after entering into a contract with Mark then Angie would have to honour her obligations under the contract provided Mark would have wanted to do so or face legal consequences (Robertson, Paterson & Duke, 2011).

Question 2

1. One of the relevant clauses of the agreement between the couple and RedCube state that it is duty of the company that they get the selected items picked up on or before the scheduled time and should not delay. Clearly there is a breach of the above clause thus resulting in breach of contract since the company personnel reached the destination after the scheduled time. It may happen that RedCube may attempt to explain their delay through bad weather but since there isn’t any weather related clause which exempts the liability of delay from the company’s end in case of bad weather, hence this explanation would not hold ground (Gillies, 1988).

1.  (i) Condition in case of contract is a term which is central to the contract and hence must be fulfilled in order for contract to be legally valid. However warranty is a term which is not central to the fulfilment of the contract but instead incremental. Therefore applying the above understanding, we can conclude that the damage to the table would be a breach of warranty as it does not make the contract null and void but instead can only claim damages for losses.

 (ii) Since the damage caused to the table is defined as a breach of warranty therefore contract cannot be nullified on these grounds. Only course of action for the couple would be to claim compensation for the damages caused to the table against which RedCube’s only defence could be the poor packaging which could indemnify the company from the losses. However if the company is not to find enough evidence so as to hint towards poor packaging then it will have to pay charges for the damage caused (Vickery & Flood, 2012).

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