SA Band CD Printing and Payment Dispute

[Tim W]

Well, without going into a lecture about six hundred years of the history and philosophy of the law of contract...

The validity ("existence", and therefore enforceablilty) of a contract depends on
whether or not all the elements ("legal ingredients", so to speak) of a contract are present.
The reason contracts get written down so often is so that the parties have an agreed record of the terms of the deal.

There are certain contracts that are required by (various bits of) law to be in writing - sale of land for example.
Nowadays though, there is law that allows for contracts made electronically to have the same standing as any other contract (eg the Electronic Transactions Act 2000 (NSW)).

But many (maybe even most) people contract* everyday without putting anything in writing.
For example - did you buy your lunch today? That was a contract too.
So are deals done on eBay and similar sites. <click here for an example>

If you do want a more solid and technical explanation, this is pretty good.
Note that it's a NSW publication.

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* in this case "contract" is a verb

 

[Martin]

Thank you

 

[Martin]

The law seems like a very diverse topic however it may only be my poor understanding of it which is creating an illusion that it is more diverse than it really is. My brain interprets the law similar to how it interprets the universe, which leads me to believe there are loops holes. I'm definitely interested in studying it. Thank you again, Sarah and Tim.

 

[Tim W]

Just wondering, what's the purpose of writing a signature on a contract if it isn't actually required to activate the contract?

Certainty and avoidance of doubt.