Contract Law
Chapter 7 Lecture Notes
Contract Provisions
The objective of this chapter is to introduce the problems of drafting contracts. For those courses that focus exclusively on the practical aspects of a contract practice, this chapter, in conjunction with Chapters 8 and 12, can be used as a primary text for contract creation.
The chapter starts with a Chapter Overview that introduces the basic concepts that will be discussed and previews the most important aspects of the chapter. The overview affords the student the opportunity to become prepared for the text that follows.
The body of the text commences with a discussion of the Statute of Frauds. This section relates back to Chapter 1 by indicating that there are certain exceptions to the general rule that contracts may be either written or oral. A distinction should be made between validity and enforceability of oral contracts that come within the Statute; many students confuse the two concepts.
Sections C and D contrast Covenants with Conditions. This is an excellent opportunity to begin a classroom exercise in contract interpretation. Not only can the examples given internally in these sections be used, but also reference can be made to one or more contracts appearing in the Appendix. The student can be asked to go through a contract to identify covenants and conditions.
Court Doctrines, Section E, concentrates on the Rules of Construction and the Parol Evidence Rule, so that the student becomes aware of external factors that will influence the interpretation, and hence the creation, of contractual agreements.
Section F provides Sample Clauses, followed by a short analysis of each clause given. These samples, once again, can be used as the basis for a discussion of drafting appropriate contractual clauses to meet the specific needs of a given client.
The Chapter Summary provides a review of all the material discussed in the text in order to reinforce the knowledge gained. The summary also includes a Synopsis, or outline, of the material, which the student can use as a quick review and as the basis of classroom lecture notes.
Section H is a listing of Key Terms used in the chapter and should remind the student of the precise meanings of the legal terminology incident to this material.
The chapter includes five Exercise problems. Question 1 requires the student to perform some independent research to discover and analyze his or her own state’s Stature of Frauds. Questions 2 and 3 only require a synthesis of the material without asking for any specific drafting. Question 4 has the student give examples of concepts discussed in the chapter, and Question 5 is a simple drafting exercise.
Chapter 7 includes two Cases for Analysis that are introduced by a short paragraph highlighting the portion of the text covered by the judicial decisions. These Summaries can be used to generate a classroom exercise in case analysis.
The case of Estate of Church v Tubbs highlights the typical problems associated with what happens to an engagement ring when the wedding does not take place.
The Eastern Baby Stores case concerns the impact of a condition precedent to contractual obligations and various types of contractual remedies.
Section J provides Suggest Case References that can be used as a homework assignment or as the basis of a classroom discussion. Note that the third suggestion is to locate your own Statute of Frauds, a good practical exercise for the student.
The last section, Ethical Considerations, highlights the fact that a lawyer may not enter into a contractual relationship with a client that prospectively limits the lawyer’s liability.