Enforceable Contracts

Six Essential Elements of an Enforceable Contract In normal everyday life contracts are utilized for various situations and reasons. Some contracts are more binding as compared to others based on the six elements of offer, acceptance, consideration, the parties’ capacity to contract, the parties’ intent to contract and the object of the contract. This paper examines the above mentioned elements using a contract existing between a customer and a phone dealer. The phone dealer dealt with used but clean phones and because the customer could not afford a new phone, he approached the phone dealer who promised to deliver a functional and clean used smart phone at the price of $74 after two days. The payment was to be made after the delivery of the phone but on the condition that the phone would be fully functional and the customer could return the phone within the following week if it developed any problem. On the appointed day, the phone dealer delivered the phone as promised and the customer made the payment as he had promised too. After two days of using the phone the customer started to experience so many complications with the phone and it finally went off completely. When he returned the phone to the phone dealer, the dealer told him that once the phone was sold the customer could not return it. When the customer threatened to sue him for breach of contract, the dealer affirmed that there were no grounds because there was no written contract.
The customer however went on with the suit because though the verbal contract between them was initially fulfilled through the delivery of the phone within the appointed time, it was breached when the dealer refused to accept back the phone within the agreed grace period. A breach of contract is defined as any form of violation that occurs on conditions contained in an enforceable contract. To ascertain the breach of contract the first step is affirming that a contract existed between the customer and the phone dealer.

References: Adamson, J. E. (2012). Law for business and personal use. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.