A binding contract requires both an offer and acceptance of that offer. A party makes an offer by expressing a willingness or desire to enter into an agreement with the intent that, if the other party accepts the terms of the offer, then there is a binding contract.
There are four essential elements of forming a contract: offer, acceptance, consideration, and intention to create legal relations. Beyond this, the terms of the contract must also be unambiguous, and the parties must have the mental capacity to agree.
When there is a breach of certain types of contracts, the aggrieved party may seek the equitable remedy of specific performance, that is, a court order compelling the breaching party to undertake to perform or to complete performance of such party's obligations under the contract.
A contract is an agreement between parties, creating mutual obligations that are enforceable by law. The basic elements required for the agreement to be a legally enforceable contract are: mutual assent, expressed by a valid offer and acceptance; adequate consideration; capacity; and legality.
A contract will only be legally binding upon the contracting parties if the following requirements are complied with: consensus, contractual capacity, certainty, possibility, legality and formalities. 39 The above requirements will be discussed next. 39Para 1 1 above.