Notes on Contract Law, Real Property Law, and Tort Law

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE LAW OF CONTRACT

  • Definition: A legally binding agreement creating enforceable rights and obligations.

  • Classification:
      - Special Contracts: Made by deed (signed, witnessed, delivered).
      - Simple Contracts: Oral, written, or implied by conduct.

  • Bilateral vs. Unilateral:
      - Bilateral: Exchange of mutual promises.
      - Unilateral: A promise in return for an act (one-sided).

CHAPTER 2: FORMATION OF A CONTRACT

  • Offer: Expression of willingness to contract on certain terms with intent to be bound upon acceptance.

  • Invitation to Treat: Not an offer, but an invitation to negotiate (e.g., auctions, goods on display, general advertisements, price quotations).

  • Acceptance:
      - Must be a "mirror image" of the offer.
      - Must be communicated to the offeror (exceptions: conduct, waiver, the Postal Rule).
      - Postal Rule: Acceptance is effective upon posting (Adams v Lindsell).

  • Counter-Offer: Rejection of the original offer by introducing new terms; the original offer ceases to exist (Hyde v Wrench).

  • Termination of Offer: By acceptance, rejection, revocation (communicated before acceptance), lapse of time, failure of condition, or death.

CHAPTER 3: INTENTION TO CREATE LEGAL RELATIONS

  • Social/Domestic Agreements: Presumed not to be legally binding (e.g., between spouses living in harmony or parents/children) unless consequences are severe.

  • Business/Commercial Agreements: Presumed to be legally binding unless expressly rebutted (e.g., "binding in honour only").

  • Mere Puffs: Vague, exaggerated claims with no intent to be contractually bound.

CHAPTER 4: CONSIDERATION

  • Definition: The "badge of enforceability"; a benefit to the promisor or detriment to the promisee.

  • Types: Executory (future promise) or Executed (completed act).

  • Rules:
      - Past consideration is generally not good consideration.
      - Consideration must be sufficient (of some value) but need not be adequate (equal value).
      - Must move from the promisee.
      - Performance of an existing duty is generally not consideration (exception: Williams v Roffey Bros).

  • Promissory Estoppel: Equitable doctrine preventing a party from reneging on a promise not to enforce legal rights if the other party relied on it (Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees House Ltd).

CHAPTER 5: CAPACITY

  • Minors (Under 18): Generally not bound except for:
      1. Necessaries: Goods/services suitable for their condition in life (minor must pay a reasonable price).
      2. Beneficial Contracts of Service: Employment/training for their benefit.
      3. Permanent Obligations: Bound by leases/shares unless repudiated within a reasonable time.

  • Mentally Insane/Drunken Persons: Voidable only if the other party was aware of the incapacity.

CHAPTER 6: PRIVITY OF CONTRACT

  • General Rule: Only parties to a contract can sue or be sued on it (Dunlop v Selfridge).

  • Exceptions: Collateral contracts, trusts, restrictive covenants on land, agency, and insurance policy benefits.

  • Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999: Permits third parties to enforce terms if the contract expressly allows or purports to confer a benefit.

CHAPTER 7: TERMS OF A CONTRACT

  • Representation vs. Term: Terms create obligations; representations induce the contract. Determined by timing, importance, and special knowledge.

  • Classification:
      - Condition: Goes to the core; breach allows repudiation and damages.
      - Warranty: Minor term; breach allows damages only.
      - Innominate/Intermediate: Classified based on the breach's consequences.

  • Implied Terms: Implied by custom, the court ("business efficacy" or "officious bystander" tests), or statute.

  • Exclusion Clauses: Must be incorporated (by signature, notice, or course of dealing) and must be clear. Subject to statutory reasonableness tests.

CHAPTER 8: MISREPRESENTATION

  • Definition: Unambiguous false statement of fact inducing a contract.

  • Types:
      - Fraudulent: Known to be false or reckless (deceit).
      - Negligent: Careless (special relationship required at common law; reversed burden under statute).
      - Innocent: Honest but false belief.

  • Remedies: Rescission (restoring pre-contract state) and/or damages. Bars to rescission include affirmation, time lapse, or third-party rights.

CHAPTER 9: ILLEGALITY

  • Types: Illegal as formed (void from start) or illegal as performed.

  • Common Law: Contracts to commit crimes, sexual immorality, or those against public policy.

  • Effect: Generally unenforceable; benefits usually cannot be recovered unless parties are not in pari delicto (equally at fault).

CHAPTER 10: DISCHARGE OF CONTRACT

  • Performance: Must be precise and exact (exceptions: divisible contracts, substantial performance).

  • Agreement: Bilateral (mutual release) or unilateral (requires accord and satisfaction).

  • Breach: Non-performance of a condition or anticipatory breach (treating contract as ended before performance is due).

  • Frustration: Unforeseen events making performance impossible, illegal, or radically different (e.g., destruction of subject matter, personal incapacity).

CHAPTER 11: BACKGROUND TO LAND LAW

  • Tenure: Concept that land is held (not owned absolutely) from the Crown/State.

  • Real vs. Personal Property: Realty (estates in land) vs. Personalty (movable goods/chattels).

  • Fixtures vs. Chattels: Fixtures include things attached to/intended to form part of the land (quicquid plantatur solo solo cedit).

  • Waste: Doctrine preventing life tenants/lessees from altering the character/value of land (Permissive, Ameliorating, Voluntary, Equitable).

CHAPTER 12: CO-OWNERSHIP

  • Joint Tenancy: Parties own the whole together; carries the right of survivorship (jus accrescendi); requires four unities (Possession, Interest, Title, Time).

  • Tenancy-in-Common: Parties own definable/undivided shares; no right of survivorship; only unity of possession required.

CHAPTER 13: LEGAL AND EQUITABLE INTERESTS

  • Legal Interest: Right against the world (in rem); noted on title.

  • Equitable Interest: Fragile right arising from conduct/fairness; defeated by a "bona fide purchaser for value without notice."

CHAPTER 15: LEASES AND LICENCES

  • Lease: Right to exclusive possession for a determinate term; an interest in land.

  • Licence: Mere permission to be on land; no estate in land.

  • Types of Tenancy: Fixed period, periodic, at will, at sufferance, by estoppel.

  • Termination: Notice to quit, forfeiture (breach of covenant), surrender, or merger.

CHAPTER 16: EASEMENTS

  • Elements: Dominant and servient tenement; accommodates dominant land; different owners; capable of grant.

  • Acquisition: Statute, express grant, implied (necessity, common intention), or prescription (long user).

CHAPTER 17: RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS

  • Definition: Agreements (usually negative) to preserve community character.

  • Rule in Tulk v Moxhay: Burden of a negative covenant runs in equity if the purchaser has notice.

  • Discharge: Occurs if the covenant is obsolete or the neighborhood character changes.

CHAPTER 18: MORTGAGES

  • Definition: Collateralized loan for property.

  • Equity of Redemption: Mortgagor's right to get land back after repayment; "once a mortgage, always a mortgage."

  • Remedies for Mortgagee: Power of sale (after default and notice), appointment of a receiver, foreclosure, or taking possession.

CHAPTER 19-20: TORT OF NEGLIGENCE

  • Duty of Care: "Neighbor principle" (Donoghue v Stevenson); refined by Caparo test (foreseeability, proximity, fair/just/reasonable).

  • Breach of Duty: Judged by the "reasonable man" standard; adjusts for professionals (Bolam test) or children.

  • Damage: Must prove Causation in fact ("But for" test) and that damage was not too Remote (Reasonable foreseeability).

  • Nervous Shock: Recognizable psychiatric illness. Primary victims (feared for self) vs. Secondary victims (witnessed loved one; proximity required).

CHAPTER 21: DEFAMATION

  • Libel: Permanent form (written/broadcast); actionable per se.

  • Slander: Fleeting form (spoken); requires proof of special damage.

  • Defences: Truth/Justification, Fair Comment (on public interest), Privilege (Absolute/Qualified), and the Reynolds defence (responsible journalism).

CHAPTER 22: NUISANCE & RYLANDS V FLETCHER

  • Private Nuisance: Unreasonable interference with use/enjoyment of land. Locality and sensitivity of claimant are key factors.

  • Rylands v Fletcher: Strict liability for the escape of a dangerous thing brought onto land via a "non-natural use."

CHAPTER 23: TRESPASS TO THE PERSON

  • Assault: Apprehension of immediate unlawful force.

  • Battery: Intentionally bringing about physical contact without consent.

  • False Imprisonment: Unlawful total restraint of movement.

CHAPTER 24-25: ANIMALS & VICARIOUS LIABILITY

  • Cattle Trespass: Strict liability for straying livestock.

  • Scienter: Liability for animals with known vicious propensities.

  • Vicarious Liability: Employer responsible for employee's torts committed during the "course of employment."