Read the text and find the definition of a contract. Name its types and main clauses.

What is a Contract?

A contract forms the basis of a transaction between the Buyers and the Sellers. It is an agreement between two or more parties to do, not do, or promise something.

It can come in many forms — they can be oral or written, implied or express, and legally enforceable or not. The strongest contract, in terms of enforceability, has an offer, acceptance, consideration for the exchange, clearly sets out the terms of the agreement without ambiguity, and is signed by the involved parties with proper capacity to enter into the contract. Weaker contracts include verbal agreements or contracts drawn up by parties in direct violation of state or federal laws.

While we tend to think of written contracts when we talk about contracts, the most common type of contract is actually an oral contract. In fact, we pretty much enter into at least one oral contract every day. For example, a parent might tell his or her child that they will get a reward if they behave properly at a certain event. If the child agrees, then you have a type of oral contract — albeit one that isn't legally binding!

Contracts can be implied or express. In an express contract, the parties have directly started the terms of their contract orally or in writing at the time the contract was formed. When the surrounding facts and circumstances indicate that an agreement has in fact been reached, an implied contract (also called a contract implied in fact) has been created.

Offer and acceptance, sometimes also called “meeting of the minds” is a fundamental part to a contract. Without it, we might bind parties to contracts who did not want or intend to be party to the contract. Consideration, on the other hand, ensures that something is being exchanged.

Contracts may be enforceable by law or they may not. Whether a contract is enforceable by law depends on numerous factors, the primary factor being whether the parties to contract intended the contract to be legally binding or legally enforceable.

As a rule the Contract contains a number of clauses, such as:

— legal addresses of the contracting parties;

— the subject matter of the contract, i.e., what this business agreement is about; usually this also includes the total amount of money involved and the denomination of goods bought or sold under the provision of this contract (or the type of service agreed upon);

— a more detailed description of goods: their price, quality and quantity, packing and marking, etc.;

— the terms of delivery (the most usual ones being F.O.B., F.O.R.,C.I.F.,C.&F.,F.I.O.S., F.O.);

— the length of duration of the contract, i.e. over what span of time the obligations arising out if it are valid;

— the terms and procedure of payment, banking details;

— arbitration;

— claims and their settlement;

— guarantee period (if any);

— other conditions.

2. Find the following words and word-combinations in English in the text: операція або угода; обіцяти що-небудь; позовна сила; невизначеність; порушення; письмові угоди; усна угода; (ви)нагорода; пропозиція; прийняття; зустрічне задоволення; пункти (у договорі).

3. Match the following words with those opposite in the meaning given in brackets below: agreement, the same, obligatory, to appoint, total, to dispute, final, to include, to involve.

(initial, to exclude, to omit, different, optional, conflict, to dismiss, to agree, partial)

4. Match the following words with those close in the meaning given in brackets: clause, damage, to stipulate, to fulfil, necessary, claim, conditions, to dispute, probably, contract, amount, total, obligation, obligatory.

(demand, terms, most likely, agreement, settlement, quantity, to specify, whole, needed, to execute, harm, article, to debate, liability, binding)

5. Match the following phrases from the text with their translation:

1. the strongest contract 2. the terms of the agreement 3. the involved parties 4. proper capacity 5. weaker contracts 6. verbal agreements 7. legally binding 8. “meeting of the minds” 9. legally enforceable

a) який має позовну юридичну силу b) усні угоди c) юридично обов'язковий d) зацікавлені сторони e) контракт, який має найбільшу силу f) контракти, які мають найслабшу силу g) «зустріч думок» h) умови угоди i) відповідна компетенція

6. Match the following terms with their definitions.

1. an oral contract 2. a written contract 3. an express contract 4. an implied contract 5. a transaction 6. an agreement 7. a contract

a) an agreement made on a printed document that has been signed by both the lender and the borrower b) a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties with mutual obligations c) a contract duly executed and legally binding d) an agreement that was made verbally e) an agreement which is found to exist based on the circumstances when to deny a contract would be unfair and/or result in unjust enrichment to one of the parties f) a communicative action or activity involving two parties or things that reciprocally affect or influence each other g) a contract in which the agreement of the parties has been expressed in words, either in oral or written form

7. Answer the questions to the text.

1. What is a contract? What is its role in business? What are its forms?

2. What is the difference between the strongest and weaker contracts?

3. What is the most common type of contracts? Why?

4. What is the difference between implied and express contracts?

5. What is a fundamental part to a contract?

6. When is a contract enforceable by law?

7. What are the main clauses of the Contract?

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16