Unilateral Contract
A unilateral contract is a legally binding agreement in which one party makes a promise in exchange for the performance of a specific act by the other party. In this type of contract, only one party is obligated to fulfill their promise, while the other party's performance is optional. Once the specified act is completed, the contract becomes enforceable.
5 Key excerpts on "Unilateral Contract"
eBook - ePubIslamic Financial Contracts
A Research Companion
- Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri, Nasir Iqbal(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...The offer and resulting contract are unilateral, that is, one-sided because only one party makes a promise. 2 Hence a Unilateral Contract is considered as a one-party transaction, i.e. which is made by a single person who intends to establish a form of legal relationship with another party through a promise. Such a promise is a self-imposed contract and becomes binding on the person who makes it. It only becomes binding on the person in whose favour it has been made once he or she accepts the promise. A typical example of a Unilateral Contract is a promise made by somebody in the form of a reward for whoever does something or finds a missing thing. Such reward (ju’alah) is usually open to anyone and whoever finds the thing becomes entitled to the reward and thus may be regarded as accepting the offer. The permissibility of a Unilateral Contract is approved by the majority of Muslim jurists based on the event narrated in the Qur’ān on what transpired between Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) and his brothers. قَالُواْ نَفۡقِدُ صُوَاعَ ٱلۡمَلِكِ وَلِمَن جَآءَ بِهِۦ حِمۡلُ بَعِيرٖ وَأَنَا۠ بِهِۦ زَعِيمٞ “They (the servants of the king’s court) said: ‘We are missing the royal goblet, and the man who brings it (after searching) will get a camel’s load of grain as a reward and I pledge myself for it.’” 3 The following two Qur’ānic verses are also quoted for Unilateral Contracts: أَوۡفُواْ بِٱلۡعَهۡدِۖ إِنَّ ٱلۡعَهۡدَ كَانَ مَسُۡٔولٗا “And always fulfil the promise...
eBook - ePubBusiness Law
A Straightforward Guide
- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Straightforward Publishing Digital(Publisher)
...This quite simply means that each party to a contract agrees to take on an obligation. This obligation is underpinned by a promise to give something to the other party. A Unilateral Contract will arise where one party to the contract will make a promise to do something (usually to pay a sum of money) if the other party carries out a certain task. Examples of this are where you might undertake to pay someone a sum of money if they shave off their hair for charity or give up smoking. Estate agents enter into Unilateral Contracts whereby a percentage of sales go to the agent if they sell the property. However, the agent is not legally bound to sell the property, just to try to sell it. The notion of offer and acceptance As we have seen, for a contract to have legal status, usually one of the parties to the contract must have made an offer and the other party must have accepted the offer. Once the contract is accepted the agreement will be legally binding. The person making the offer is called the offeror and the person to whom the offer is made is known as the offeree. An offer may be express or implied. Express means that there is an express intention to offer goods and for X to pay an amount for the goods. Implied may mean, for example, when purchasing something from a store. The act of taking goods to a checkout means that there is an implied offer to buy those goods. When dealing with contracts, or the formation of a contract most offers are made to specific parties. However, offers can also be made to a group of people or to the public at large...
eBook - ePub- Keith Owens(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge-Cavendish(Publisher)
...CHAPTER 2 CONTRACTS AND WHAT THEY ARE USED FOR WHAT IS A CONTRACT? A contract is a promise or set of promises which the law will enforce. It usually does this by awarding damages for non-performance or for defective performance, but sometimes the court will order the party in default to carry out the contract or not to breach it. Bilateral contracts Most major business contracts take the form of an agreement consisting of reciprocal promises. This is called a bilateral contract. If either party entirely fails to carry out their part of the agreement, or carries it out defectively, the other may sue for breach of contract. Example Amy is a tour operator. She contracts with Beth, an air broker, whereby Beth will provide an aeroplane to undertake specified flights to Spain during the summer from May to September, at a total cost of £250,000. This creates an obligation on both parties. If either party fails to fulfil her obligations, the other may sue for breach of contract. If the breach is sufficiently serious in effect, the innocent party may, in addition, repudiate the contract, bringing it to an end. Unilateral Contracts It is possible to have a contract where only one party makes a promise, that is, there is no agreement as such. Such contracts are called Unilateral Contracts. The difference between a bilateral contract and a Unilateral Contract is that in a bilateral contract each party makes a promise or promises to the other. If any promises are broken each may sue the other. In a Unilateral Contract (which are sometimes called ‘if’ contracts based on the idea that one party says to the other, ‘if you will do such and such, then I will do so and so’), one party’s promise is dependent upon the other party performing an act requested by the offer and doesn’t become operative until that act has been performed. Example Charles guarantees David’s overdraft with Eastern Bank (that is, Charles agrees to pay if David defaults)...
eBook - ePubBusiness Law
a QuickStudy Digital Reference Guide
- Linda Harrison(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- QuickStudy Reference Guides(Publisher)
...other EX: Promises to exchange money for property Unilateral: Only one party makes a promise (e.g., “I will pay you $10 to mow my yard”); offer is for a Unilateral Contract, created only when the yard is mowed; if you say or promise you will mow it, it becomes a bilateral contract DEGREE Three contract types Express: Either written or oral agreement of terms by both parties EX: Written car purchase; oral agreement to buy friend’s stereo for $200 Implied: Unspoken understanding between parties EX: Doctor visit: He/She will help you; you will pay his/her bill Quasi-contract: One party receives a benefit from the other party without a contract (e.g., Bill silently watches Joe paint Bill’s house by mistake); courts have ruled Bill must pay because he knowingly accepted a benefit from Joe STATUS Two contract types Executed: Both sides have fully performed; completed Executory: Either or both sides have not yet fully performed Valid or otherwise Valid contract: Contains all the essential elements Unenforceable contract: Has the elements but is not enforceable EX: Time for acceptance has expired; oral when required by law to be written; subject matter is illegal Void contract: An element is...
eBook - ePubComparative Contract Law
An Introduction
- Ermanno Calzolaio(Author)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...This definition is undoubtedly quite strange for a civil law lawyer, because for him, contract is agreement, not promise. 1 1 For a general overview, see T. J. Schoenbaum, The Law and Legal System of the United States, West Academic Publishing, St. Paul, 2016, p. 815 ff. It is not useful to illustrate the historical evolution of the different approaches to contract in the two legal traditions. Suffice it to notice that, if now we take for granted that a promise can give rise to an enforceable obligation, the history of each legal system shows that it has been a slow and difficult process. 2 What are the conditions or requisites necessary for a promise to produce an obligation? Is the so-called ‘bare consent’ enough? 2 For an in-depth and full account, the inevitable reference is to the seminal work of the distinguished Italian comparatist G. Gorla, ‘Il contratto. Problemi fondamentali trattati con il metodo comparativo e casistico’, in Lineamenti generali, vol. I, Giuffrè, Milan, 1955, p. 2 ff. Primitive answers to these questions considered that promises could be enforced only if made in the context of specific formalities, having a magic or even religious character. Alternatively, the breach of a promise was seen as a delict (fraud, deceit, trespass, etc.), giving rise to remedies in tort. In short, in every legal system the main problem to tackle has always been to ascertain when a promise is binding. Roman jurists were not interested in the problem of ‘why’ an obligation arises from a legal point of view. Rather, they concentrated their attention on ‘how’ it arises, considering that an agreement is not enough to give rise to an action. Ex nudo pacto actio non nascitur : the agreement needs to be ‘clothed’, and not ‘naked’. This ‘clothing’ is either a specific form through which the agreement has to be reached and expressed, or the presence of a typical contractual scheme (for instance: sale of goods)...
