All parties must agree about an offer made by one party and accepted by the other. Something of value must be exchanged for something else of value.

A contract is a tort enforceable at law between two parties where by rights are acquired by one or more parties in return for certain acts or forbearances on the part of the other or others.

Voidable contract – is a contract in which the law prohibits one of the parties to withdraw from it if they wish, making it void.

Unenforceable contract – is a valid contract which will not be enforced by the courts due to lack of legal evidence

Terms of the offer must be clear, certain, compleate and not vague otherwisethere is failure to make a complete agreement

The offer must be made by written or spoken words, or not inferred by conduct of the parties

1.The offer must be intended as such before the contract can arise – with a view to a legal relationship that would have a possible course of action to the courts

Invitation to treat is an invitation to another person to make an offer which can then be accepted resulting in an agreement/contract. An invitation to treat can not be accepted.

Acceptance must be written or implied from conduct

Acceptance must be clear and unqualified and must exactly fit the offer

Acceptance must be communicated to and received by the offer

A mere agreement between two parties gives rise to legal obligations enforceable by law. People entered into agreements every day e.g. agreeing to meet for coffee or to go for dinner.

Generally, it is not the parties’ intention that such agreements give rise to contractual obligations and therefore the law will not enforce them in a court of law.

The law states that in addition to forming an agreement the parties must display some outward signs that they are not legally bound by that agreement

What matters is not whether the parties intended in their minds to be bound by what they agreed to do, but the implications that a reasonable person would draw from their words, conduct or the circumstances of the negotiations leading up to the contract.

Commercial or business-type agreements Where the relationship is not personal and is based on a commercial transaction the presumption is that such transactions do not give rise to legal relations.

Domestic or social agreements Where the relationship between the parties is of a personal nature and lacking in formality it is likely that the law will presume that the parties did not intend that the transaction between them would give rise to legal relations

All contracts, except those made by deed/title, require consideration to pass between the parties

Consideration must be of no value and need not be adequate. 

Consideration must not be illegal, vague or impossible to perform.

Consideration must not be something the promisee is not guaranteed to do under the general law, or under an existing contract 

The terms of a contract can be expressly agreed orally or in writing

Express Terms – are the terms used by the parties, whether written or spoken, during negotiations leading up to a contract, and by which the parties not intended to be legally bound

Mere representations which help to induce the making of a contract but which are not intended to be legally binding