PHILOS 2Q03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Extortion
Document Summary
Basic pattern of a contract: one party will offer to do something for, or to give something to another party normally in exchange for something, the second party must accept the offer. Contract as meeting of the minds" between two parties: A contract is never imposed on you from outside. Rather, the standard pattern is offer and acceptance as seen above. Contract law = motivated by idea that private citizens should be empowered to make create law. Citizens as sources of legislation / legal norms. But: not everything that looks like a contract is a contract. With this in mind, our courts distinguish between valid and invalid contracts. Valid = the ones that are legitimate: carry the force of law with them. Ex: buying food: food = considered a necessity, this means you do have a legal obligation to make the exchange, but: you are not bound as a kid in the same way that an adult is.