Agreement | Lanbuk on the Law of Contract

In simple terms

The first requirement is an agreement the court might enforce. It must be certain and final. The court usually finds it by an objective reading of what the parties said and did.

An agreement is normally made when one person accepts the other's offer. The parties can keep the courts out, for example by agreeing or mediation. They can also choose to use the courts.

There are two ways of being sure an agreement exists. One is form. A deed, signed and traditionally sealed, is treated as showing an agreement. Section 4 of the Statute of Frauds 1677 provides that a contract for the sale of land should be evidenced in writing and signed by the person to be charged. The other way is to look for a meeting of minds, . Most contracts need no special form and no special words. A spoken exchange can bind.

If the parties dispute whether they agreed, or what they agreed, the court takes an objective view. It asks what a would have thought was going on, from what was said and done. It does not try to open each person's private thoughts.

Distance makes this harder. If time passes between offer and acceptance, the parties may not actually be of one mind at the moment the law says a contract was made. The objective test still fixes that moment.

The agreement must be certain and final. If important terms are still open, there is nothing yet for the court to enforce.

Words and Latin in this note

Consensus ad idem: A meeting of minds: the parties have agreed the same thing. The court usually finds it from what they said and did, not from their private thoughts.