Neighborhood Saga , Essay Example

A contract is defined by Contractor’s Legal Guide (2003) as an agreement between two or more parties which is voluntary. There’s a set of responsibilities and obligations in which the parties agree to. There are five things that constitute a contract which are; offer, acceptance, consideration, intention to create legal relationship and certainty. An offer is an invitation by one party to another and it should be accepted by that party with an exchange in a value known as consideration. There must also be an intention to create the contract and certainty must be present in the parties, subject matter, price and the initial undertakings.

Mark was the richest kid in the neighborhood. His father owned a piece of land that had very precious stones which he mined and sold to make a living. All this made Mark very famous and everyone would do anything just to please him. Mark’s parents had gone out of town when Jennifer told us about a nice phone that Dave, her big brother was selling. He had just bought the phone with all his savings and realized that he needed that money to attend to a pretty urgent issue that arose a few days after buying the phone. Jenifer’s description of the phone matched the phone Mark had been pleading his parents to buy and that’s when he told Dave about his interest in the phone.

Mark offered to buy the phone at its current market price which was a very good deal and Dave gave him the phone after an agreement that Mark would pay him when his parents come back.  The parents arrived a day after the agreement and Dave was fast to claim his money since he needed it urgently. Mark’s parents had promised to buy him a phone after he had passed his final exams and knowing what he had done; Mark denied to have had anything to do with a phone. Dave tried to explain to Mark’s parents but he did not succeed because they chose to believe their son and that’s when Dave reported Mark in a court of law.

Dave called all of us to be his witnesses in the court and even before we could be given a chance to testify the court ruled that the contract was null and void ab initio meaning that it was not legally enforceable from the time it started. The main reason was that one of the parties to the contract was a minor and therefore not allowed to enter into legally binding contracts. Just as stated by Legal Match (2009), the court explained that this rule is made to protect minors from assuming obligations that they do not even understand. It was made clear that minors are only allowed to enter into legal contracts if he or she enters into either sports or entertainment contracts, contracts that involve goods that are necessary to the minors especially things that satisfy their basic needs or are important for their safety and health. When a minor engages into a contract and becomes an adult in the process, the contract can be ratified and it becomes enforceable at the court of law.

Another issue that arose was that of Dave’s parents who got really mad after hearing that nothing could be done to make Mark pay and this is when he went to the court to sue Mark’s parents. The court still insisted that the contract was void from the beginning and that Dave’s parents were breaking the privity rule. Atkinson (1999) stated that a third party cannot sue for damages on a contract to which he is not a party and therefore the current accusation were null and void. He also explains how the rule has been criticized in matters where the third party in question will benefit from the contract.

A minor has a right to disaffirm a contract according to Paralegal Studies Program (n.d.) which means that the party can avoid the legal obligations that are attached to the contract. After hearing how complicated things had become, Mark confessed to his parents of what had actually happened and apologized for making things so serious between the two families. Dave’s family forgave him but his parents decided to punish him for the unfair act towards his neighbors.

References

Atkinson D.(1999). Privity of contract. Retrieved on December 10, 2009 from http://www.atkinson-law.com/cases/CasesArt

Contractor’s Legal Guide (2003). Contract Law Principles. Retrieved on December 10, 2009 from http://www.brainbox.comau/members/brainbox

Paralegal Studies Program (n.d.). Contract- capacity. Retrieved on December 10, 2009 from http://profj.us/wlac/capacity.htm

Legal Match (2009). Minors and Contract Lawyers. Retrieved on December 10, 2009 from http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/arti