TERMS OF A CONTRACT

The most important element of any contract is the part of it that sets out the object of the agreement and what is required of each party The terms of a contract are those matters about which the parties have agreed When parties are mistaken about the term or the meaning of the terms, the extent to which the contract may be enforced will depend on the nature of the mistake, who made the mistake, and for what reason the mistake was made

Express terms Definition: An express term is a term in a contract that is expressly made, including terms made in writing or made orally Consider a scenario where Williams, the owner of a horse, stated to West that the horse was perfectly sound in every respect. West purchased the horse, without a thorough inspection, only to find the horse was not sound. Was the statement made by Williams an express term in the contract, or was it sales talk or a personal opinion without any legal effect? In such cases the court will ask whether or not a reasonable person in the same circumstances would conclude that the statement is enforceable.

Love may not always go according to plan and if you plan on meeting your true love through a dating agency you had better beware. Consumer Affairs Victoria deals with many complaints about introduction agencies that take their client's money but do not provide their client with an introduction. If you do go ahead make sure you read the fine print!

Implied terms Definition: An implied term is a term in a contract that is not expressly made, but is reasonably assumed to be part of the contract Whenever you purchase a food product there is an implied term that it will be fit to eat and not make you sick. Employment contracts may be subject to a number of implied terms including one that an employee will not do anything to harm his or her employer's business.

Conditions and warranties

Case: ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS LIMITED V. BANCKS In Associated Newspapers Ltd v. Bancks (1951) 83 CLR 322, the creator of the comic strip Ginger Meggs agreed to supply the newspaper with a weekly comic strip for 10 years. As part of the contract, the newspaper agreed to print the comic on the front page of the comic section of the Sunday Sun. For two years the newspaper complied with this arrangement then, for various technical reasons, it moved the comic to the third page for three weeks. The question for the court was whether this represented a breach of a condition or breach of a warranty. The High Court held that it represented a breach of a condition. This gave Bancks (the creator of the comic strip) the right to terminate the contract with the newspaper and claim damages.

Unfair terms One aim of the Commonwealth Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) which came into effect in July 2010 is to protect consumers from the inclusion of unfair contract terms in standard form contracts. Under the CCA, if a court finds that a term is unfair, the term will be considered void. Examples of an unfair term include a term that allows one party to terminate the contract but not the other party, and a term that limits one party's right to sue the other party. Government agencies that enforce laws relating to unfair terms in consumer contracts include the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and Consumer Affairs Victoria.

Legal Maze – check your understanding