Business law and Taxation

Module Code: AC 14-2

SAMPLE ASSIGMENT.
FOR CASE WRITING STYLE
PURPOSE ONLY.

Name:
Student Number:

Words: 2336

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Module Tutor: Sam Sundar Chintha

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
The facts of the case........................................................................................................................3
Law..................................................................................................................................................4
Case analysis:...................................................................................................................................4
Binding contract...............................................................................................................................4
Elements of binding contract...........................................................................................................4
Bowling V. Sperry (1962)................................................................................................................4
Unilateral mistake............................................................................................................................4
Genuineness of assent......................................................................................................................4
Unjust enrichment............................................................................................................................4
S. Ketrabarsappa v. Indian Bank (1987)..........................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
Reference list:..................................................................................................................................4
Reference list (books):.....................................................................................................................4

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Introduction
In order to analyze this case, it would be a good idea to start by defining the term law and
contract law too. Law can be an appropriate deal involving two parties. Contract law can be
defined as the Entire body of law connected with rules that governs by mouth and also written
contracts or deals connected with trade regarding products and services, income, and also
qualities (findlaw.com, 2014).
This assignment will be analyzing the case by affording a critical discussion about whether the
case can be considered as a binding contract or not and whether Ahmed Mansoor should be
responsible for the bill or not by taking into consideration the applicable types of contracts,
defining the offer and its essentials, acceptance, capacity, consideration, breach of contract and
genuine of assent.

The facts of the case

Ahmed Mansoor and his family had a home that required some repairs and painting. He had a
wife and two small kids. One day when the wife had dropped her kids to school, she noticed
some painters in front of the house. When she asked Ahmed Mansoor if he was the one who told
them to come and paint the house, Ahmed Mansoor said that he did not do so. When she knew
that he did not do so, she went shopping. Ahmed Mansoors 16 years old child Khalifa had
stayed at home because he was not feeling well. Because of his tall and his weight, Khalifa
looked like a guy in his twenties. At the time Khalifa was at home, the bill rang. Khalifa saw the
foreman and the painters that had mistakenly come to the wrong house. The painters were
supposed to paint the house of Mr. Mohammed who was the neighbor of Ahmed Mansoor. The
foreman told him that they came to paint the house. When the foreman saw Khalifa he thought
that he was an adult and asked him to sign some papers and Khalifa had signed. At the time the
painters were about to finish painting the house, the family came back home and the foreman
asked Ahmed Mansoor as if he was Mr. Mohammed if he liked the paint. Ahmed Mansoor said
who Mr. Mohammed is. The foreman then realized that he was mistaken and had painted the
wrong house. The foreman told Ahmed Mansoor that he has to pay for the painting and told him

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that Khalifa gave him a written and a verbal agreement. The discussion here will be about if the
signature of Khalifa will make the contract binding or not and whether Ahmed Mansoor is
responsible for the bill or not.

Law
Law can be defined as a process associated with rules that control the community using the
intention associated with preserving societal order, maintaining rights along with stopping
trouble for persons along with property and home (Jones, 2011). . Law techniques in many cases
are dependent on moral or strict rules and so are forced from the authorities and also criminal
justice devices including the process of law (Advancedpractice, 2014). Legislation is usually a
process connected with policies that the modern society puts to help keep as well as guard the
individuals and residence from any difficulties or harms (Anissimov, 2014).

Case analysis:
Binding contract
Any binding contract is usually a deal or an agreement that is made by two parties or even
organizations which will be enforced through the strength from the rules. The contract will be as
a result regarded as binding contract because if one party does not surpass his commitments as
established inside the contract, the courtroom will probably enforce fines. Some consider
contract as the formation of any non-public appropriate job, since a two individuals or
organizations make a legitimately enforceable change of guarantees.
With the aim of saying that a contract is a binding one, this has to be built relative to this long
term contract legislation on the appropriate jurisdiction. The actual regulations with regard to
what needs to produce a binding contract are different from a state to another, region to region,
and also circumstance to circumstance (Wisegeek, 2014).

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Elements of binding contract

There are some important elements that need to be taken into account to consider that a certain
contract is a binding contract. If the contract is having any issues with regard to these important
elements, therefore, the contract cannot be considered as a legal binding contract. These elements
include obligations mutuality which means that there should be an offer and there should be an
acceptance too. An offer can be done when one individual or organisation (offeror) offers some
kind of trade to another individual or organisation (offeree). Acceptance is an expression made
by the offeree to show that he wants to enter into a contract with the offeror. If there was no
acceptance, there will be no contract. To make it clear, one example is when an offer is made by
Mr. Agha to Miss Peenu to sell his house to her, if she accepted the offer, then it is said to be a
valid contract (answers.com, 2014).Another important element is definite terms; this means that
the terms and conditions of a particular contract are assured. That last important element is
consideration, which means what the two parties agrees to exchange between each other and this
thing must be valuable (Macintyre, 2007).
Beside these important elements, there must be something called as capacity which refers to the
ability of the party to go into a contract with the other party. In order to consider that the
individual is having this capacity, this individual must be over or at the age of 18 which is the
age of majority, one of the parties is under the control of drugs or is mentally ill. In such cases,
the contract will not be considered as a binding contract.
To make this clearer, it is better to refer to the following case:

Bowling V. Sperry (1962)

Bowling is 16 years old boy who have purchase a care from Sperry and it was a used car.
Bowling changed his mind and wanted to return the car back to Sperry and get his money back.
Sperry filed the case to the court but the court said that the contract is voidable because of
entering into a contract with a minor (lawnix.com, 2013). .

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In the given case of Khalifa, the contract was supposed to be done between the painters and Mr.
Mohammed but the painters were mistaken and painted the wrong house which is Ahmed
Mansoors house. Ahmed Mansoor was not in the house the time the painters came, so his son,
Khalifa opened the door instead. When the foreman saw Khalifa, he thought that he was an adult
because at 6-feet-tall and 220 pounds, Khalifa looked he was in his early twenties. Because of
that, the foreman told Khalifa to sign some papers and Khalifa accepted to do so. When Ahmed
Mansoor and his family arrived home the painters just finished painting. The foreman asked
Ahmed Mansoor as if he was Mr. Mohammed about how the pint is looking like. Ahmed
Mansoor replied that this is not Mr. Mohammeds house. This foreman ordered to provide
payment from Ahmed Mansoor reminding him that this man inside afforded these individuals
equally spoken along with written agreement for painters.
Based on what happened in the above case, the signature of Khalifa Ahmed on the papers should
not be considered as a binding contract because there are some elements that are missing to make
the contract a binding one. One of the most important elements is the capacity. Although the
foreman thought that Khalifa was an adult because he looked like he was in his early twenties,
but actually Khalifa was only 16 years old which means that Khalifa is still a minor and he
cannot enter into a contract yet and he can void the contract before the time he is considered to
be an adult. To Legal agreements manufactured by minors, the mothers and fathers are not
answerable. the other party in the Agreement cannot progress in opposition to minor`s mothers
and fathers to obtain thing to consider issue (Gupta, 2014).
There is some exclusion, nonetheless. One example is, in many countries, a minor has no power
to cancel any commitment pertaining to needs similar to food, garments, and also
accommodations. Furthermore, a minor could cancel or revoke any commitment pertaining to
lack of age simply because he is under the age of 18 (Stim, 2014). in case of Khalifa did not
terminate the contract before reaching the age of 18, then the contract will be binding and he
have to pay the painters. Although there was an acceptance and consideration too between the
two parties; the foreman said "We are here to paint your house today, is that ok?" Khalifa replied,
"Sure, as long as I don't have to help you." , But since Khalifa is still a minor, he can revoke the
contract and as a result the contract will not be considered as a binding contract and he is not
forced to pay any money to the painters.
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It ought to be noticeable it is certainly not a recommended idea to enter into any commitment or
agreement with a minor. This minor may leave and also you are eventually left possessing this
proverbial case. If this deal or agreement is for residence and the residence is destroyed, you may
be remaining with almost nothing. In case it is not certain or clear if a person is really under the
age of majority, it is better to look at their ID card. Demand for a co-signer with just about any
financial products or maybe settlement options, in case it is believed that the particular customer
could possibly be under the age of majority (Murray, 2014).

Unilateral mistake
In the case given, the foreman was mistaken and instead of painting Mr. Mohammeds house, he
painted Ahmed Mansoors house. As a result, the mistake was made by one party and such
mistake is called unilateral mistake where a mistake is made by one of the parties who had
entered the contract with another party. But even though, this mistake cannot cancel or revoke
the contract unless the other party of the contract knew or have known about this mistake. Since
Ahmed Mansoor did not know about this mistake until the time he arrived home and everything
was done and the painters have finished painting as what has been mentioned in the case, "So
Mr. and Mrs. Mohammed, how does it look?" Ahmed and his wife were surprised and asked
them "Who is Mohammed?Therefore the contract cannot be revoked.

Genuineness of assent
Moreover, due to this mistake, a lack of genuineness of assent appeared in the case. Genuineness
of assent is when a party in the agreement shows that he did not genuinely assent or agree to the
conditions of an agreement.The contract or the agreement in this situation might be revoked or
canceled. Genuine assent might be incomplete because of a mistake or deceptive
misrepresentation and this happened in the above case. As a result of Khalifa was lacking
capacity the time he entered into this contract, the contract is voidable but not void.

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Unjust enrichment
What happened in this case was delivering a service to a wrong person by mistake. This has led
to the occurrence of something called unjust enrichment. This Takes place when an individual
gets benefits on the expense involving of another individual. In case of the individual is not
going to spend or perhaps pay somebody else for that benefits that they obtained, these are
considered unjustly enriched.Such situations are considered to be not fair and under lots of
laws if this thing happened, they necessitate the party who had benefited from the service or
good to pay or compensate the party who deliver this service or good. If the benefited party
refused to pay, the party who delivered the benefit has the power to file a case and give it to the
court in order to receive compensation. Unjust enrichment is a situation that takes place when
breach of contract occurs. Breach of contract is usually a lack of ability to satisfy the particular
duties beneath the deal conditions (Clarke, 2014).

S. Ketrabarsappa v. Indian Bank (1987)

The bank wrongly has made a credit entry into the account of a wrong client and the total amount
had been withdrawn by the customer. The customer was asked to return the money back with
interests too. This might be considered as unjust enrichment- the proprietor ended up being
unjustly enriched simply because he received service from the actual service provider
(Kothari, 2012)
The same thing happened when the foreman delivered the service by mistake to Ahmed
Mansoor. Accordingly, Ahmed Mansoor has benefited from the service and got his house painted
on the expense of Mr. Mohammed. In this situation, Ahmed Mansoor is responsible to pay the
bill or at least compensate the painters because they have already painted his house. If he refused
to pay for this service or compensate the foreman, the foreman can file a case and bring it to the
court and then the court will force Ahmed Mansoor to pay for the painters for delivering the
service even if the service was delivered by mistake.

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Conclusion
To put it briefly, the contract that Khalifa has signed cannot be considered as a binding contract
because there is a missing element and it is one of the most important elements for a contract to
be a binding one which is the capacity. Khalifa is still a minor and cannot enter into a contract
even if he looks like a guy in his twenties; Khalifa is still 16 years old, therefore, he is a minor.
Additionally, Ahmed Mansoor is responsible to pay the bill because he has benefited from the
service that has been delivered to him by mistakenly by the foreman on the expense of Mr.
Mohammed.

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Reference list:

Advancedpractice. (2014). What is Law?. Available:

http://www.advancedpractice.scot.nhs.uk/legal-and-ethics-guidance/what-is-law.aspx.
Last accessed 15/11/2014.

Anissimov, M. (2014). What is Law? Available: http://www.wisegeek.org/what-islaw.htm. Last accessed 26/11/2014.

answers.com. (2014). Essentials of valid offer. Available:

http://www.answers.com/Q/Essentials_of_valid_offer. Last accessed 20/11/2014.

Clarke, P. (2014). Breach of Contract Lawyers. Available:

http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/breach-of-contract.html. Last accessed
11/11/2014.

findlaw.com. (2014). Contracts Basics. Available:

http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/business-contracts-forms/contracts-basics.html#. Last
accessed 26/11/2014.

Gupta, P. (2014). Contracts made by Minors. Available:

http://www.lawsofbusiness.com/2012/03/contracts-made-by-minors.html. Last
accessed11/11/2014.

lawnix.com. (2013). Bowling v. Sperry Case Brief. Available:

http://www.lawnix.com/cases/bowling-sperry.html. Last accessed 20/11/2014.

Murray, J. (2014). Can I Enter into a Contract with a Minor?. Available:

http://biztaxlaw.about.com/od/contractsandagreements/f/Can-I-Enter-Into-A-ContractWith-A-Minor.htm. Last accessed 12/11/2014.

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Kothari, S. (2012). Theory of Unjust Enrichment. Available:

http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/article/theory-of-unjust-enrichment-13511.html. Last accessed 26/11/2014.

Stim, R. (2014). Who Lacks the Capacity to Contract?. Available:

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/lack-capacity-to-contract-32647.html.
Lastaccessed 11/11/2014

Wisegeek. (2014). what is binding contract. Available: http://www.wisegeek.org/what-isa-binding-contract.htm. Last accessed 11/11/2014.

Reference list (books):

Jones, L (2011). Introduction to business law. Oxford, U.K: Oxford University press

Macintyre, E (2007). Essentials of business law. England: Pearson Longman

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