SUBJECT: LAW OF CONTRACT DUE DATE ASSIGNMENT 2: 25 July 2016

Contractual capacity Contractual capacity is the competence to create rights and duties by concluding a contract with another person or persons. Since the conclusion of a contract is a bilateral (or multilateral) juristic act, the capacity to contract is merely one aspect of the wider capacity to perform juristic acts. Accordingly, the extent to which a person has capacity to contract depends upon his or her ability to appreciate the nature and effect of his or her act. However the question requires expanding contractual capacity in the following categories: a) Minors A minor is a person between the ages of 17 and 18 years. Generally, a minor has insufficient capacity to incur binding obligations under a contract, to do so, the minor requires the assistance or consent of his or her guardian. Such consent will usually be given before or at the time of contracting, but it may also be given afterwards, by the guardian’s subsequent ratification of the contract. The contract is then validated retroactively. Indifference does not amount to consent. Where the guardian refuses to consent, the court, as the upper guardian of all minors, may upon application, consent in the guardians stead; or, where the guardian has consented, it may set aside that consent. However, a minor may without the assistance or consent of his or her guardian, conclude a contract under which he or she obtains only rights and no duties (for example, a minor may validly accept a donation). There are also statutory exemptions to the general rule that the guardian’s assistance is required. For example, a minor