Contract

The legal area of contracts covers a vast array of legal documents. Contract law in essence covers the obligations that are established by agreements between private parties. These agreements can be implied or expressed. Transactions involved in the sale of goods is a section of contract law that affects the majority of Americans. Contract law also involves the arbitration process when disputing contracts.

Elements

There are many elements that need to be present to make a written contract legally binding. Under Contract law, if a contract does not contain these elements then it is possible it might not be enforced in court.

Contract law states that a contract must include an offer that has acceptance by a party. The two parties must have an agreement - mutual assent. The parties involved in the contract must be competent and must be identified in the contract. Another element is that the parties are intending the contract to be legally binding. They are aware that they are creating a legally binding contract.

Another key element of contract law is consideration. Consideration can be defined as a thing of value given by one party (the promissor) to another party (the promisee) in exchange for something of value - ie a payment.

Another important piece of a contract is for the subject matter involved in the agreement be described. When possible, the object should be name as specifically as possible. The contract should also outline the terms of the agreement with as much detail as possible.

And lastly, it is important that a contract be signed by the parties involved. In order to take any legal action if the contract is breached, it is important that it be signed.

Jurisdiction

Contract law is primarily governed by state regulations however, there are instances that contracts can be regulated by federal law. Such cases usually involve activities and business sectors that are already greatly regulated by federal law to begin with.

The transactions that involve sales of goods have become vastly regulated by nationwide standards. This is due from the common adoption of a federal regulation. Even with this code in place, there continues to be diversity in understanding of other types of contracts at the state level and therefore, different states have different regulations of some contracts. There is also a Federal Arbitration Act, which allows parties to arbitration procedures for breaches of contracts.