Contract Law

A detailed Summary of Contract Law

The facts of this case are as follows Dennis is a twelve year old, whose custom and practice is to trim the hedges of all neighbors' bushes on his block. Mr. Wilson, his next-door neighbor, saw Dennis walking home and asked, "If you trim the hedges in my yard I will pay you $10.00". Dennis then smiled and continued walking home. The next day Dennis trimmed the hedges, knocked on Mr. Wilson's door for his payment and Mr. Wilson refused to pay, reasoning that the contract was not valid. What I believe to be the legal issues here are simply whether the contract is valid. To find this out I think we need to look at the offer and acceptance of a valid contract. The issue present in this case is if the offer is still valid the next day as well as if by smiling and walking away, then returning the next day and completing his work is considered to be enough for an acceptance to Mr. Wilson's offer.

Mr. Wilson reasoning that the contract is invalid presents the main issue. A valid contract is a binding and enforceable agreement which meets the entire necessary contractual requirement. The contract in question I believe would be a unilateral contract, where one party makes a promise in exchange for another person performing an act

These points combined to illustrate what type of contract is at issue, the components of the validity of this contract, and to give any remedies possible for Dennis. I believe that if in fact Mr. Wilson has done business with Dennis before or if he had known of Dennis's reputation to do all the neighbors bushes, then I would consider Dennis smiling as a possibility of acceptance to Mr. Wilson's offer. If this is the case then the contract is valid and if Dennis wanted to he could bring suit against Mr. Wilson to collect compensatory damages in the amount of ten dollars for services completed.

I do not believe that any of the stipulations to terminate an offer are present in this case. The only stipulations that could be questionable to terminate the offer are, lapse of time and subsequent illegality. I believe that one-day is not a long enough lapse of time. If it is Dennis's practice to do all the neighbors houses then there is a good possibility he was already busy for the day. As for subsequent illegality this is because one of the parties entering the contract is not of competent age. Dennis is only twelve years old but according to the book in a contract entered into by an adult and a minor, the minor is the one who has the capacity to terminate the contact. The adult must fulfill the obligation, unless the minor decides to avoid the contract. These facts should prove that the offer made by Mr. Wilson is still valid for Dennis to accept or agree with the terms.

According to the book, Dennis can bind Mr. Wilson to his proposal or offer until the proposal is accepted or terminated. An offer can be terminated by: Revocation by offerer (Mr. Wilson), lapse of ti

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Approximate Word count = 1136
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous