Agreements {contract, law} can be between two or more competent parties to perform or not perform legal acts, now or in the future. Contracts are enforcable in courts. Contracts have promises and acts. Contracts are civil relationships between parties, so contract breaches are not crimes.
types
Contracts {unilateral contract} can be one person's promise in exchange for another person's act. Contracts {bilateral contract} can have promises by both parties.
validity
For valid contracts, one party offers, and other party accepts. Offers must be serious and objective, not from anger, joking, or excitement. Opinions, intentions, preliminary negotiations, advertisements, and catalogs are not offers. Offers must have definite terms, sent to other party. Consideration must induce agreement. Both parties must have contractual capacity. Contract terms must have legality. To be enforceable, contracts must have genuineness. To be enforceable, contract format must accord with law.
express or implied
Contracts {express contract} can state action to perform and compensation to give. Contracts {implied contract} {implied-in-fact contract} can allow party to perform any action and to charge any reasonable fee, to complete desired goal in whole or part. Both express and implied contracts are valid.
For implied contracts, plaintiff furnishes service or property. Plaintiff expects pay, and defendant knows that plaintiff expects payment, by objective-theory-of-contracts test. Defendant does not reject service or property.
termination
Offers can terminate by revocation or replacement by counteroffer. Offers can terminate by time lapse, property destruction, either party's incompetence or death, or illegalities.
breach
Breaching contract can be failing to fulfill promise to act, not act, or provide consideration.
breach: settlement
Parties can execute substitute agreements {accord and satisfaction, settlement}. Parties can agree that, for consideration, one party in good faith forfeits right to pursue legal claims {release of contract} {contract release}.
interpretation
In contract interpretations, words have usual meaning in context, ambiguous words have meaning most unfavorable to party that used them, and written words and numbers supersede printed ones.
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Date Modified: 2022.0224