OCR Text |
Show by Richard J. Maughan, B.S.. L.L.B. Contracts i Every day most of us enter into ... some sort of a contractual rela-" rela-" tionship. Usually, these contracts c-j2 I l7 - ve make with thers are made performed and - forgotten, about because we, and . those with whom - - we deal, do what -, is supposed to be done and our. re- - .; lationship comes ;V- to an end with- joral. There are some situations which require that an agreement be in writing. Possibly, the most important area in this regard is that which is controlled by the Statute of Frauds. This thread of the law which runs in several directions dir-ections and outright frauds in transactions involving real estate, and other items of more than a certain value, and etc. So vast is the law which has developed around ar-ound this concept of the law, that the title itself is handled independently indepen-dently of the law of contracts in the legal encyclopedias. The name lof this concept would be moie ex-Iplicit ex-Iplicit if it were referred to as the 1 State to Prevent Frauds. When this body of law wasjirst made a jpart of the English law, viz., during dur-ing the reign of Charles II, 1766, it was entitled "An Act for the Prevention of Frauds and Perju-jries." Perju-jries." It is this statute which form-ied form-ied the framework for all of the j statutes of the various United States which deal with the neces- sity of putting certain agreements (into writing, adopted by specific j legislative act either directly or 'indirectly, or by general legislative legisla-tive acts which gave fore and effect ef-fect ..to English statutes and common com-mon law by adopting all such statutes sta-tutes and law in force at a certain time, and which were applicable to the conditions prevailing in the particular state. In this regard, an interesting situations obtains in Maryland. It is said there that the English statute of frauds is in force there, not because of any specific legislative act adopting it, but because the provisions of article art-icle 5 of the Declaration of Rights declared that the people of Maryland Mary-land were to have the benefit of those -English statutes in force on July 4, 1776,' which fitted; their local lo-cal circumstances. ' ;v " : promise of one person is consider-Consideration consider-Consideration This part of a contract is. a part out complaint. ;., This, of course, R. J. IVlauahan ' ' f" is as it should be, but occasionally " t contracts" are made and misunder-, misunder-, .J;' standings arise concerning what 7 should be done under the agree-; agree-; ment, or people think they have : ; j made a contract and the time for , 7," performance of the supposed pro- ; rnjse arrives but nothing is done. ' " These "situations produce alterca-: alterca-: ..I- " tions, some of which are settled , ' ,out of court, while others become : involved in courtroom scenes, ' V where the facts and the law appli-, appli-, cable to the situation are explored , ,t and tho- problem producing the al-; al-; teication is at length settled by judgment. ; v It is conceivable that every con- tractual situation could be sc handled, with the help of legal counsel, that the rights and duties of each of the contracting parties would be so clear that no misun-t. misun-t. ,Tderstanding would occur. This, of course, is against the ideal way. but human nature being what it is, it is not infrequently that people peo-ple will "shoot first and ask ques-.; ques-.; tions afterward." stated anothei way, people'will put their names t to some document ' or another, ""without legal advise, only to find "t?at some . subsequent time' that they , have promised to do something i; ('which they-most definitely did not intend to be bound to do. This, without which a cjntract is not. It takes many forms, two broad examples ex-amples of consideration are: ' A promose of one person is consideration consider-ation for the promise of another', ind an act of .One person may be consideration , for , the promise of mother. . How Old is the Law of Contracts? It is as . old . as communicating man. We have - no record of its beginning,' but we do have a' very iarly record of its existence. This record was discovered in 1901 and is a black disc of diorite. On it is inscribed the Code- of Hammurabi, Hammur-abi, or Hammurapi (circa 1955 -1913 B.C.) Like all law it was designed de-signed to preserve the peace and jrder of the community, and an i 4 'sometimes disastrous, state of at-f at-f fairs could be avoided if the peo-j" peo-j" pie sought the advice, of their law ; yer before, and not after, they iv signed their names to that inno-V inno-V cent looking piece of paper. V. The usual reaction in this situation situa-tion is for one -who has signed some written contract to ask i "But, how can I be made to do " something which I didn't agree tc do? He knew very well what -I v intended to do. We talked abou . it."-The usual answer is, "What . you agreed to do is on the paper you signed the paper, and what is on the paper the law will enforce.'! j There are exceptions to this re-. re-. put, because there are many anc varied legal concepts which go in- - to the making of a contract. . So example of it is as follows:' "If a man owe a debt and Adad (Adad was the -God -of Storrns) innundate his field and carry ,away the pro-; duce, or, through lack of water, grain have not grown in the field, in that year, he . shall . not make any return of grain to the creditor, he, shall alter his contract; tablet and he . shall not pay the interest for that year." -- Next week we will be approaching approach-ing Christmas, let's talk a little about that season of the year. Of itself it provides an interesting insight in-sight into the control of societies. See ya then. : i'.'.iif you-ever have any question! "before or after signing any papers, " - see your lawyer. . What is a Contract? - s . Simply stated, a contract is an agreement between two or mort , people to do or not to do a particular parti-cular act, the agreement being 1 one which the law will enforce, That is to say,if the agreement is one to whiclT the law will not lend its power to enforce, there is no contract, e.g., agreements which have as their objects some thing immoral, agreements made with incompetent persons, agree ments which are contrary to pub lie policy, and etc. Once j the law gives -effect to an . agreement it will compel performance, perfor-mance, in - appropriate ways, and the government may not alter the terms of the agreement. The contract con-tract stands as an expression o rights and duties which the parties to the agreement have promised to receive and to give. The fundamental characteristics of a contract are: An offer and an acceptance of that offer.-It is at this point that many of thej problems concerning contracts ar- ise, i.e., has .an offer been made. ; and has that offer been accepted in accordance with its terms, and only in accordance with its terms? Must a Contract Be Written Or Oral? They may be both written and |