1. What legal problems arise when parties fail to agree on all matters or set out all
parts of their agreement in a clear manner?
courts said need to be agreement on all important terms of contract before certain
enough to be enforceable
if parties still need to agree on important matters, there is assumption that parties
are still in middle of negotiations and don’t intend to be legally bound
legal problems = courts would have to decide legal terms
BRITISH STEEL CORP v CLEVELAND BRIDGE & ENGINEERING CO = parties had letter
of intent and negotiations though never actually agreed on formal contracts, nodes
arrived late – C claimed it was a breach of contract, court said since it was letter of
intent – assume don’t have intention of being in contract
FOLEY V CLASSIC COACHES = arbitration clause – was to fix agreement themselves
MAY AND BUTCHER V R [1945] = court held there was no valid contract because of
uncertainty of price [this is fundamental part of contract] – arbitration clause –
only going to fix something that was in an existing agreement , criticised because it
was too narrow
2. When is English law willing to hold that a contract is in sufficiently certain to be
enforced?
parties must express themselves that their meaning can be determined with
reasonable degree of certainty, unless this is done – impossible to hold parties
have same intentions
Buying house – only become contract once you’ve paid deposit
lock out agreement = agree to negotiation with no one else but two parties, time
limited – agreements to negotiate
court said – bona fida are unenforceable [self-interest causes issues, unable to tell
whether there is a breach – even if there was a breach, unable to punish/quantify
compensation]
unless make a statement which is untrue [misrepresentation] then parties can do
whatever
lord Ackner
Halford v Miles
PATROMACK V PETROMUST = court enforced clause, have large law firms working
for them - more sophisticated the business, less protection and harsher court is
3. What factors influence a court in deciding whether an agreement is sufficiently
certain to be enforced?
when the price is decided
offer and acceptance
objective intent
parts of their agreement in a clear manner?
courts said need to be agreement on all important terms of contract before certain
enough to be enforceable
if parties still need to agree on important matters, there is assumption that parties
are still in middle of negotiations and don’t intend to be legally bound
legal problems = courts would have to decide legal terms
BRITISH STEEL CORP v CLEVELAND BRIDGE & ENGINEERING CO = parties had letter
of intent and negotiations though never actually agreed on formal contracts, nodes
arrived late – C claimed it was a breach of contract, court said since it was letter of
intent – assume don’t have intention of being in contract
FOLEY V CLASSIC COACHES = arbitration clause – was to fix agreement themselves
MAY AND BUTCHER V R [1945] = court held there was no valid contract because of
uncertainty of price [this is fundamental part of contract] – arbitration clause –
only going to fix something that was in an existing agreement , criticised because it
was too narrow
2. When is English law willing to hold that a contract is in sufficiently certain to be
enforced?
parties must express themselves that their meaning can be determined with
reasonable degree of certainty, unless this is done – impossible to hold parties
have same intentions
Buying house – only become contract once you’ve paid deposit
lock out agreement = agree to negotiation with no one else but two parties, time
limited – agreements to negotiate
court said – bona fida are unenforceable [self-interest causes issues, unable to tell
whether there is a breach – even if there was a breach, unable to punish/quantify
compensation]
unless make a statement which is untrue [misrepresentation] then parties can do
whatever
lord Ackner
Halford v Miles
PATROMACK V PETROMUST = court enforced clause, have large law firms working
for them - more sophisticated the business, less protection and harsher court is
3. What factors influence a court in deciding whether an agreement is sufficiently
certain to be enforced?
when the price is decided
offer and acceptance
objective intent
