LAWS104 Lecture 4: LAWS104 Lecture 4 (Week 4) [Certainty & Completeness; Capacity; Requirement of Writing]
9 May 2018
School
Course
Professor
LAWS104 Lecture
Week 4 [Certainty and Completeness; Capacity; Requirement of Writing]
Completeness
- To be complete, a contract must set out the essential terms (without which the
contract cannot be enforced)
- Example –parties, property, and price in sale of land contracts
- Contracts may provide a mechanism for achieving completeness
o Booker Industries v Wilson Parking (1982) 149 CLR 600
Certainty
- It must be certain what the parties have actually agreed
- Agreeets sujet to otrat
o Preliminary oral agreements v later written contracts
o Masters v Cameron (1954) 91 CLR 353
o Baulkham Hills Private Hospital v GR Securities (1986) 40 NSWLR 622
Capacity
Minors
- Common law
o Contracts for necessaries (allowed because it benefits the minor)
o Beneficial contracts of service (allowed because it benefits the minor)
o Scarborough v Sturzaker (1905) 1 TasLR 117
o Bojczuk v Gregorcewicz [1961] SASR 128
o De Francesco Barnum (1890) 45 ChD 430
o Hamilton v Lethbridge (1912) 14 CLR 236
- Statute
o S 19 Minors (Property & Contracts) Act 1970 (NSW)
▪ Where a ior partiipates i a iil at ad his or her partiipatio is
for his or her benefit at the time or his or her participation, the civil
at is presuptiely idig o the ior
o S 18 Minors (Property & Contracts) Act 1970 (NSW)
▪ This Part does not make presumptively binding on a minor a civil act
in which the minor participates, or appears to participate, while
lacking, by reason of youth, the understanding necessary for his or
her partiipatio i the iil at
o s 20 Minors (Property & Contracts) Act 1970 (NSW)
▪ With dispositions of property, s 20 provides that the consideration
given or received by the minor must not be manifestly excessive or
manifestly inadequate
Mentally Unsound and Intoxicated Persons
- Must establish that one party was mentally unsound or intoxicated
- Must establish that the other party knew, or should have reasonably known, that the
other party was mentally unsound or intoxicated
- Onus of proof is on the party seeking to void the contract
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Week 4 [certainty and completeness; capacity; requirement of writing] To be complete, a contract must set out the essential terms (without which the contract cannot be enforced) Example parties, property, and price in sale of land contracts. Contracts may provide a mechanism for achieving completeness: booker industries v wilson parking (1982) 149 clr 600. It must be certain what the parties have actually agreed. Agree(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts (cid:858)su(cid:271)je(cid:272)t to (cid:272)o(cid:374)tra(cid:272)t(cid:859: preliminary oral agreements v later written contracts, masters v cameron (1954) 91 clr 353, baulkham hills private hospital v gr securities (1986) 40 nswlr 622. Must establish that one party was mentally unsound or intoxicated. Must establish that the other party knew, or should have reasonably known, that the other party was mentally unsound or intoxicated. Onus of proof is on the party seeking to void the contract. No general requirement for contracts to be written. Some contracts need to be in writing (either because of statute or because formal contract)
