Kojar Ahmed P1/P2 - Identify the legal criteria for offer and acceptance in a valid contract.
Dear Law Centre,
Due to your limited spaces and lack of funds to entertain multiple candidates, I have decided to write
this letter about the legal criteria for offer and acceptance in a valid contract in order to persuade
you about my level of legal understanding and hopefully, encourage you to take me on as a volunteer.
Firstly, I shall describe the legal aspects of a contract and I will thoroughly describe what a contract is
and the different types of business/contract law. A contract is a legally binding agreement between
two or more people, as well as organisations. These legal agreements can be in many forms such as
in written form, via a deed, or a verbal contract.
Written contracts are usually for things such as the sale of land or credit agreements, as well as
others. Written contracts are arguably the most effective and solid type of contract as they are
physical proof of the agreement between the seller or organisation. A deed is similar to a written
contract in that it is a formally written legal document, however it differs because it is used more for
things such as house sales, mortgages or vehicle sales.
Lastly, a verbal contract is a legally binding contract that has been made via word of mouth or a
person’s conduct. For example, if someone were to buy a product from a local shop, they have
automatically formed a contract due to their conduct between them and the shop. Verbal contract
are riskier because there is no legal evidence to back them up. As well as this, making a verbal
contract between two people may be harder to prove in a court of law.
One of the most common types of contracts between a business and a customer is a Standard Form
Contract. This is similar to a written contract in that there is usually a transaction of some sort
involved, these two are different in that written contracts can be negotiated easier than standard
form contracts, this is because standards form contracts are on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis and have to
be agreed upon by the seller and the customer. An example of a standard form contract may be
when a business sells a car to a customer. The customer may ask for certain add-ons for the car and
this will then have to be agreed upon by both parties in the contract before it is signed. There are
many parameters that have to be agreed upon by both parties, these include but are not limited to:
The nature of the product/service that is provided
Any extra benefits/guarantees that are to be provided
How long the service/agreement is due to last
How much the product/service will cost and how/when it will be paid for
Any interest charges
Any penalty charges for missed payments/damage/claims
The advantages of using a standard form contract are that the terms of the agreement are written
down, making it clear to both parties what is expected from them. This also makes it easier to prove
that there was a contract between the two parties. Another advantage to solely the business is that
they have very little time to negotiate the terms of the contract with the customer, meaning the
customer also has little time to read any fine print which could benefit the business. Lastly, Standard
form contracts can easily be set up by junior members of the business, giving them future
opportunities.
Standard form contracts are usually more disadvantageous to the customer than the business, this is
because the documents provided to the customer often have many fine print details that are either
difficult to understand for the customer, or they have no knowledge that it exists. Also, customers are
Dear Law Centre,
Due to your limited spaces and lack of funds to entertain multiple candidates, I have decided to write
this letter about the legal criteria for offer and acceptance in a valid contract in order to persuade
you about my level of legal understanding and hopefully, encourage you to take me on as a volunteer.
Firstly, I shall describe the legal aspects of a contract and I will thoroughly describe what a contract is
and the different types of business/contract law. A contract is a legally binding agreement between
two or more people, as well as organisations. These legal agreements can be in many forms such as
in written form, via a deed, or a verbal contract.
Written contracts are usually for things such as the sale of land or credit agreements, as well as
others. Written contracts are arguably the most effective and solid type of contract as they are
physical proof of the agreement between the seller or organisation. A deed is similar to a written
contract in that it is a formally written legal document, however it differs because it is used more for
things such as house sales, mortgages or vehicle sales.
Lastly, a verbal contract is a legally binding contract that has been made via word of mouth or a
person’s conduct. For example, if someone were to buy a product from a local shop, they have
automatically formed a contract due to their conduct between them and the shop. Verbal contract
are riskier because there is no legal evidence to back them up. As well as this, making a verbal
contract between two people may be harder to prove in a court of law.
One of the most common types of contracts between a business and a customer is a Standard Form
Contract. This is similar to a written contract in that there is usually a transaction of some sort
involved, these two are different in that written contracts can be negotiated easier than standard
form contracts, this is because standards form contracts are on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis and have to
be agreed upon by the seller and the customer. An example of a standard form contract may be
when a business sells a car to a customer. The customer may ask for certain add-ons for the car and
this will then have to be agreed upon by both parties in the contract before it is signed. There are
many parameters that have to be agreed upon by both parties, these include but are not limited to:
The nature of the product/service that is provided
Any extra benefits/guarantees that are to be provided
How long the service/agreement is due to last
How much the product/service will cost and how/when it will be paid for
Any interest charges
Any penalty charges for missed payments/damage/claims
The advantages of using a standard form contract are that the terms of the agreement are written
down, making it clear to both parties what is expected from them. This also makes it easier to prove
that there was a contract between the two parties. Another advantage to solely the business is that
they have very little time to negotiate the terms of the contract with the customer, meaning the
customer also has little time to read any fine print which could benefit the business. Lastly, Standard
form contracts can easily be set up by junior members of the business, giving them future
opportunities.
Standard form contracts are usually more disadvantageous to the customer than the business, this is
because the documents provided to the customer often have many fine print details that are either
difficult to understand for the customer, or they have no knowledge that it exists. Also, customers are
