Contract Law For Dummies

by Scott J. Burnham

Overview

Take the mumbo jumbo out of contract law and ace your contracts course

Confused by contract law? This hands-on guide gives you plain-English explanations of terminology and language used in contracts, showing you how to read and analyze cases and statutes with ease. You'll quickly and painlessly get up to speed on contract formation; contract theory and legality; agreement, consideration, restitution, and promissory estoppel; fraud and remedies; performance and breach; the parol evidence rule; and more.

• Defense! Defense! — get the 4-1-1 on contract formation and the different contract defenses, including whether a party did anything illegal or unfair, whether the parties had the ability to make a contract, and the factors that determine whether an oral agreement is enforceable
• Make sense of the madness — grasp the strategies the courts use to fill the gaps in a contract and interpret what the language really means
• To perform or to breach — find out how one party may breach a contract even before performance is due by anticipatory repudiation
• There's a remedy for that — understand the various methods available to the courts to remedy a breach in a way that's fair for both parties
• Bring a third party into the picture — discover how to recognize the rights and duties of third parties and decide under what circumstances third parties are allowed to enforce contracts

Open the book and find:

• Coverage of common law contracts and the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
• How a contract is formed through mutual assent
• Ways to determine whether a party has performed as promised
• How to determine whether a contract is void, voidable, or unenforceable
• Advice on figuring out remedies for breach
• Tips for interpreting contracts
• Questions to ask when analyzing contract problems
• Examples drawn from real-life cases

Learn to:

• Identify the essential elements of contract formation
• Recognize common contract defenses
• Apply the rules that govern contract performance in different situations
• Draft contracts that more effectively protect the parties' interests

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118195550
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	11/16/2011
Series:	For Dummies Books
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	404,213
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Scott J. Burnham is the Curley Professor of Commercial Law at Gonzaga University School of Law. For 30 years he has taught Contracts at law schools internationally and throughout the U.S. He is also a prolific writer on legal topics and a consultant on contract drafting for numerous businesses.

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Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I: Introducing Contract Law and Contract Formation 7

Chapter 1: Getting the Lowdown on Contract Law 9

Chapter 2: Let’s Make a Deal: Offer and Acceptance 23

Chapter 3: Sealing the Deal: The Doctrine of Consideration 45

Chapter 4: Noting Exceptions: Promises Enforceable without a Contract 63

Part II: Determining Whether a Contract Is Void, Voidable, or Unenforceable 77

Chapter 5: Introducing Contract Defenses 79

Chapter 6: Considering Whether an Agreement Is Unenforceable Due to Illegality or Unfairness 89

Chapter 7: Evaluating the Parties’ Ability to Make the Contract 105

Chapter 8: Assessing the Enforceability of Oral Agreements 119

Part III: Analyzing Contract Terms and Their Meaning 135

Chapter 9: Evaluating Unwritten Terms with the Parol Evidence Rule 137

Chapter 10: Finding Unwritten Terms That Complete the Contract 151

Chapter 11: Interpreting Contracts 169

Part IV: Performing the Contract or Breaching It 183

Chapter 12: Evaluating Whether Contract Modifications Are Enforceable 185

Chapter 13: Deciding Whether Unforeseen Events Excuse Performance 201

Chapter 14: Checking for Conditional Language 213

Chapter 15: Breaching the Contract by Anticipatory Repudiation 235

Part V: Exploring Remedies for Breach of Contract 247

Chapter 16: Examining How Courts Handle Breach of Contract 249

Chapter 17: Exploring Remedies in Article 2 of the UCC 267

Chapter 18: Checking for Additional Remedies 285

Part VI: Bringing Third Parties into the Picture 303

Chapter 19: Deciding Whether a Third Party Can Enforce or Interfere with a Contract 305

Chapter 20: Acknowledging the Rights and Duties of Third Parties 315

Part VII: The Part of Tens 325

Chapter 21: Ten Questions to Ask When Analyzing a Contracts Problem 327

Chapter 22: Ten Notable People (And Philosophies) in Contract Law 337

Appendix: Glossary 341

Index 345