Term
| Contracts against public policy |
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Definition
| Contracts deemed to be void and unenforceable by the courts for a variety of reasons, from their being illegal to their being considered prone to promote unnecessary litigation or immoral behaviour. Archie was unable to enforce his agreement with Bill that the latter would pay him $300 after he lost their poker game, as wager agreements are contracts against public policy. |
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Term
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Definition
| In contract law, a term meaning that a contract is capable of being repudiated by one of the parties at his option, in which case the contract is unenforceable. Examples of voidable contracts include those involving parties lacking capacity, as well as ones where a party was induced to make the contract because of the other party’s misrepresentation. As the customer had been told by the seller that the BMW did not have any rust problems when in fact it did, her contract with the seller was voidable at her option. |
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Term
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Definition
| A contract in which both parties have performed their obligations under the contract at the time the contract was made; nothing remains to be done by either at some future time. Although he was not at all aware of it, Marvin had just entered into an executed contract with the store when he purchased from it a loaf of bread for $2.99. |
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Term
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Definition
| In contract law, a term meaning that a contract is not recognized to have had any legal validity from the very beginning; neither party can enforce it against the other. Examples of void contracts include those which are illegal or contrary to public policy or where the parties were mistaken as to existence of the subject matter at the time the contract was made. The defendant’s promise to pay $5,000 to the plaintiff if he torched the business competitor’s premises was not only void, it was sufficient grounds for both parties to be prosecuted in the criminal courts for conspiracy to commit arson. |
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Term
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Definition
| A contract in which one or both of the parties are obliged to perform part or all of some service, or pay part or all of some money, or deliver part or all of some property at some point after the contract was made. Although the plaintiff made the contract with the defendant on March 12, it was not required to deliver the machine to the defendant until the following month; this was an executory contract. |
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Term
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Definition
| In contract law, a contract that cannot be enforced by one of the parties against the other. It is distinguished from being void or voidable in that at some future date, something could happen that would make it enforceable. Contracts involving infants and contracts pertaining to land may be unenforceable at one point, but enforceable at a later date because of some changed circumstance. The contract for the sale of the vendor’s cottage on Pender Island was unenforceable against him because his agreement with the plaintiff had not been rendered into writing and signed by the vendor. |
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Term
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Definition
| A word having several legal connotations. In one sense, the performing or bringing about of anything. In another sense, the process of signing, witnessing, and sealing of documents. The execution of the lease papers will take place in the solicitor’s office on June 12 at 3:30 in the afternoon. |
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Term
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Definition
| (1) In contract law, a term in a contract in which a party agrees to restrict herself in some way from doing something that otherwise would be legally permissible; most commonly it arises in the sale of businesses or in employment contracts. (2) A real property interest in which someone agrees to restrict himself from doing something on or with his property, and which may be binding upon his successors in title. (1) The sale of the hardware business included a term that precluded the seller from starting up another hardware store within a radius of ten kilometres for a period of five years after the sale; this restrictive covenant would probably be enforceable by the courts because it was reasonable. (2) The restrictive covenant prevented the owner of Lot 33 from erecting any structure on the southern half of her lot that would interfere with the owner of Lot 32’s view of the Olympic Mountains. |
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Term
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Definition
| In law, any person lacking legal capacity because of his age. In B.C. one is an infant until he has reached his 19th birthday. At common law all contracts made with minors are enforceable against the other party at the option of the minor, but they are not enforceable against the minor. However, this has been modified in some circumstances by statute (see Infants Act of B.C.) As the defendant was only 17 when he agreed to buy the car, he was allowed to repudiate the contract with the dealership even six months later because he was considered to be an infant at the time he made the agreement. |
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Term
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Definition
| Anything that the law considers likely to restrict the free operation of business in the marketplace. Agreements that bring about this effect will often be considered void as being contrary to public policy. Statute law (such as the Competition Act) often penalizes or restricts such agreements in a number of ways. Practices such as exclusive dealing, tied selling, and price discrimination are all considered to be practices that promote restraint of trade in the marketplace.
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Term
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Definition
| In contract law, those things that the law deems to be essential, such as food, clothing, shelter, transportation (to work), medication, etc. In contracts involving a party claiming to lack mental capacity at the time they were made, the law requires the person lacking capacity to prove that the subject matter of the contract was not a necessary or the contract may still be enforceable. As the defendant already had six sports jackets at home, his purchase of two more sports jacket from the plaintiff retailer while in a state of intoxication were not considered to be necessaries. |
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Term
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Definition
| In contract law, an indication by one party to the contract to the other that he does not intend to perform his obligations under the contract. Usually, the term is synonymous with “breach of contract”; however, there are some circumstances where a party could repudiate and not be in breach, as (for example) when an infant refuses to do what she promised to do in the contract. There was a repudiation of the contract when the student wrote to the art school to advise that he was not going to attend the first day of classes and he wanted a refund of the money he paid for the course. |
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Term
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Definition
| In contract law, contracts that relate to interests in land, as opposed to the actual land or any building on it. These can include such things as mortgages, leases, easements, restrictive covenants, agreements for sale, etc. The Law and Equity Act of B.C. stipulates that, in the absence of part performance, contracts involving such must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged in order to be enforceable. The defendant agreed to allow the plaintiff neighbour to cross his property to gain access to the beach; but as this was a disposition of land the agreement was not enforceable because it was not in writing. |
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Term
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Definition
| Any documentation that, as described in s. 59 of the Law and Equity Act, contains sufficient information to identify the parties to a contract involving some identifiable land or a disposition in land and the price to be paid for it. It does not have to be a formal written agreement, and it can sometimes be inferred from several documents. The court found the two letters and their envelopes between the vendor and the seller sufficient to constitute a writing for the purposes of satisfying s. 59 of the Law and Equity Act. |
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Term
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Definition
| A third party’s promise to pay the creditor of a debtor the amount owed by the debtor should the debtor default. To be enforceable in B.C., it must be made in writing and signed by the guarantor. The guarantee promised the bank that if Mr. Jones failed to make any one of his monthly payments, the bank could look to his father for payment of what was owing. |
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Term
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Definition
| In contract law, the person who is being sued in a contract relating to land or a disposition of land. It can be either the seller or the buyer, depending upon whom it is that reneged on the agreement. The Law and Equity Act of B.C. says that in the absence of part performance this person must have signed something in writing for the agreement to be enforceable against her. The defendant refused to follow through with the sale of the cottage to the plaintiff; as the defendant was the party to be charged, it was important for the plaintiff to show that the defendant had signed something in writing to that effect. |
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Term
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Definition
| A third party’s promise to the creditor of a debtor that the amount owed by the debtor would be paid. There is no obligation on the creditor to look to the debtor first for payment. To be enforceable in B.C., it must be made in writing and signed by the indemnitor. Under the indemnity the commercial tenant reimbursed the landlord for the damages it had to pay to the customers who were injured on the premises last October. |
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Term
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Definition
| In contract law, the common law principle (and now statutory as well – see s.59(3)(b)(c),(4) and (6)(b) of Law and Equity Act) that even in the absence of something being signed by the party to be charged in a contract relating to the sale of land (or a guarantee or indemnity), some evidence consistent with the agreement having been made may be sufficient for the contract to be enforceable by the courts. Although the vendor did not sign anything when he agreed to sell the house for $50,000 less than its market value, he had accepted and cashed a $20,000 deposit from the buyer; this part performance on his part made the contract enforceable against him. |
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