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.
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.
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 .
The terms of the contract must be agreed upon mutually. An offer is made, understood by both parties, and accepted. Both parties must agree to the same thing. This is sometimes referred to as “a meeting of the minds.”
For a contract to be binding it needs to satisfy four principles, offer, acceptance, consideration, and the intention to create legal relations. Generally, the law believes that an agreement is made when one party makes an offer and the other party accepts it.
In order that the acceptance can be treated as valid it is necessary that the same must be communicated to the offeror either by the offeree or by some duly authorised person on his behalf. If the communication is made by an unauthorised person, it does not result in a contract.
A contract consists of a legally binding agreement or promise between parties. The agreement must be voluntary and made by competent parties. The promise or agreement must be supported by an exchange of something of value (e.g., goods or services). This exchange must be legal.
For example, if your friend mows your lawn without asking for anything in return, this does not count as a contract because you have not promised consideration. If your friend promises to mow your lawn but doesn't do it, you can't sue for damages.