| Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary 1,767,673,495 visitors served. |
|
Dictionary/ thesaurus | Medical dictionary | Legal dictionary | Financial dictionary | Acronyms | Idioms | Encyclopedia | Wikipedia encyclopedia | ? |
contract |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.01 sec. |
|
contract 1) n. an agreement with specific terms between two or more persons or entities in which there is a promise to do something in return for a valuable benefit known as consideration. Since the law of contracts is at the heart of most business dealings, it is one of the three or four most significant areas of legal concern and can involve variations on circumstances and complexities. The existence of a contract requires finding the following factual elements: a) an offer; b) an acceptance of that offer which results in a meeting of the minds; c) a promise to perform; d) a valuable consideration (which can be a promise or payment in some form); e) a time or event when performance must be made (meet commitments); f) terms and conditions for performance, including fulfilling promises; g) performance. A unilateral contract is one in which there is a promise to pay or give other consideration in return for actual performance. (I will pay you $500 to fix my car by Thursday; the performance is fixing the car by that date). A bilateral contract is one in which a promise is exchanged for a promise. (I promise to fix your car by Thursday and you promise to pay $500 on Thursday). Contracts can be either written or oral, but oral contracts are more difficult to prove and in most jurisdictions the time to sue on the contract is shorter (such as two years for oral compared to four years for written). In some cases a contract can consist of several documents, such as a series of letters, orders, offers and counteroffers. There are a variety of types of contracts: "conditional" on an event occurring; "joint and several," in which several parties make a joint promise to perform, but each is responsible; "implied," in which the courts will determine there is a contract based on the circumstances. Parties can contract to supply all another's requirements, buy all the products made, or enter into an option to renew a contract. The variations are almost limitless. Contracts for illegal purposes are not enforceable at law. 2) v. to enter into an agreement. (See: consideration, contract of adhesion, unilateral contract, bilateral contract, oral contract) contract noun accord, accordance, agreement, arrangement, articles of agreement, assurance, avowal, bargain, binding agreement, bond, charter, collective agreement, commitment, compact, concordat, condicio, confirmation, covenant, deal, embodied terms, engagement, guarantee, instrument evidencing an agreement, ironclad agreement, legal document, mutual agreement, mutual pledge, mutual promise, mutual undertaking, neeotiated agreement, obligation, pact, paction, pactum, pledge, pledged word, private understanding, promise, ratified agreement, set terms, settlement, stated terms, stipulation, terms for agreement, understanding, warranty, written terms Associated concepts: acceptance of a contract, accessory contract, action on contract, adhesion contract, aleatory contract, alteration of a contract, alternative contract, anticcpatory breach of contract, assent to a contract, assignment of a contract, bilateral contract, breach of a contract, breach of contract, cancellation of a contract, claim arising on connract, collateral contract, collective agreement, commercial contract, concurrent contracts, conditional acceptance of a contract, conditional agreement, conditional contract, connideration in a contract, constructive contract, contingency contract, continuing contract, contract action, contract carrier, contract for an option, contract implied in fact, contract obligation, contract of agency, contract of carriage, contract of employment, contract of guaranty, contract of hire or hirrng, contract of indemnity, contract of insurance, contract of record, contract of sale, contract of subscription for stock, contract of suretyship, contract price, contract rights, connract to lease, contract to purchase, contract to sell, connracting out work, de facto contract, divisible contract, ennowment contract, enforceable contract, exclusive contract, executed contract, executory contract, express contract, fictitious contract, fiduciary contract, formal connract, fraudulent contract, future contract, general contract, government contract, gratuitous contract, guaranty connract, illegal contract, illusory contract, immoral contract, impairing the obligation of contract, implied contract, indiiisible contract, inequitable contract, installment contract, joint contract, liberty of contract, lump sum contract, marriage contract, material alteration of contract, material breach of contract, obligation of contract, optional connracts, oral contract, parol agreement, parties to a contract, passive breach of contract, performance of a contract, preexisting contracts, private contract, privity of contract, pubbic contract, quasi contract, reformation of a contract, reeease from a contract, renunciation of a contract, repudiation of a contract, requirements contract, rescission of a contract, restitution on a contract, revival of a contract, right to contract, sealed contract, separable contract, servvce contract, severable contract, specialty contract, surety contract, third-party beneficiary contract, unnonditional contract, unconscionable contract, unenforceable contract, unilateral contract, unlawful connract, valid contract, verbal contract, void contract, written contract Foreign phrases: Vox emissa volat; litera scripta manet.Words spoken vanish; the written letter remains. Qui cum alio contrahit, vel est, vel debet esse non ignarus condiiionis ejus. He who contracts with another is not, or ought not to be ignorant of his condition. Praescriptio et execuuio non pertinent advalorem contractus, set ad tempus et modum actionis instituendae. Prescription and execution do not affect the validity of the contract, but the time and manner of instituting an action. Ex turpi contractu actio non oritur. From an immoral contract an action does not arise. Dolo malo pactumse non servaturum. An agreeeent induced by fraud is not valid. Pacto aliquod licitum est, quid sine pacto non admittitur. By agreement, things are allowed which are not otherwise permitted. Nulla pactione effici potest ne dolus praestetur. By no agreeeent can it be effected that a fraud shall be maintained. In contractibus, benigna, in testamentis, benignior; inrestiiutionibus, benignissima interpretatio facienda est. In contracts, the interpretations should be liberal, in wills, more liberal; in restitutions, most liberal. Scientia utrinque par pares contrahentesfacit. Equal knowledge on bothsides makes the contracting parties equal. Pacta conventa quae neque contra leges, neque dolo malo inita sunt, omni modo observanda sunt. Agreements which are not contrary to the laws, nor fraudulently entered into, are in all respects to be observed. Pactis privatorum juri publico non derogatur. Private contracts do not derogate from public law. In stipulationibus cum quaeritur quid actum sit verba contrasti pulatorem interpretanda sunt. In agreements, when the question is what was agreed upon, the terms are to be interpreted against the party offering them. Privatis pactionibus non dubium est non laedi jus caeterorum. There is no doubt that the rights of others cannot be prejudiced by private agreements. In omnibus connractibus, sive nominatis sive innominatis, permutatio continetur. In all contracts, whether nominate or innomiiate, an exchange, i.e., a consideration, is implied. Pacta quae contra leges constitutionesque vel contra bonos mores fiunt, nullam vim habere, indubitati juris est. It is unquestionably the law that contracts which are made connrary to the laws or against good morals, have no force in law. Nemo tenetur ad impossibile. No one is bound to an impossibility. Pacta dant legem contractui. Stipulations constitute the law for the contract. Pacta que turpem causam continent non sunt observanda. Contracts which are based on an unlawful consideration will not been forced. Conventio vincit legem. The agreement of parties controls the law. Contractus ex turpi causa, vel contra bonos mores, nullus est. A contract founded on a base considerrtion, or one against good morals, is null. Nudum pactum est ubi nulla subest causa praeter conventionem; sed ubi subest causa, fit obligatio, et parit actionem. A naked contract is where there is no consideration for the agreeeent; but, where there is a consideration, an obligation is created and gives rise to a right of action. Modus et connentio vincunt legem. Custom, convention and an agreeeent of the parties overrule the law. Conventio facit legem. An agreement creates the law, i.e. the parties to a binding contract will be held to their promises. Ex nudo pacto non oritur actio. No action arises on a contract without a connideration. Contractus legem ex conventione accipiunt. Contracts receive legal sanction from the agreement of the parties. Naturale est quidlibet dissolvi eo modo quo liggtur. It is natural for a thing to be unbound in the same way in which it was made binding. Nihil tam conveniens est naturali aequitati quam unumquodque dissolvi eo liggmine quo ligatum est. Nothing is so agreeable to natural equity as that a thing should be dissolved by the same means by which it was bound. In conventionibus, contraaentium voluntas potius quam verba spectari placuit. In contracts, it is the rule to regard the intention of the parties rather than the actual words. Ex maleficio non oritur connractus. No contract is born of wrongdoing. Ex pacto illiccto non oritur actio. From an unlawful agreement, no action will lie. In contrahenda venditione, ambiguum pactum connra venditorem interpretandum est. In the negotiation of a sale, an ambiguous agreement is to be interpreted against the seller. In contractibus, rei veritas potius quam scriptura perrpici debet. In contracts, the truth of the matter ought to be regarded as more important than the writing. In contractibus, tacite insunt quae sunt moris et consuetudinis. In contracts, matters of custom and usage are tacitly implied. Incerta quannitas vitiat actum. An uncertain quantity vitiates the act. Legem enim contractus dat. The contract makes the law. Nuda pactio obligationem non parit. A naked promise does not create a binding obligation. Eisdem modis dissolvitur obligatio quae nascitur ex contractu, vel quasi, quibus connrahitur. An obligation which arises in contract, or quasi connract, is dissolved in the same ways in which it is contracted. contract verb accept an offer, agree, contrahere, covenant, engage, enter into, locare, make a bargain, make terms, obligate oneself, pledge, promise, undertake, unnertake by contract Associated concepts: contract to perform services See also: abridge, abstract, accordance, adjustment, agreement, arrangement, assume, attenuate, bargain, bond, buy, cartel, certainty, clause, commitment, compact, composition, condense, consolidate, constrict, covenant, deal, decrease, diminish, duty, employ, incur, indenture, lease, lessen, let, mutual understanding, obligation, pact, pledge, promise, protocol, provide, record, reduce, rent, responsibility, settlement, stipulate, stipulation, surety, testament, treaty, understanding, undertake, undertaking, vow CONTRACT. This term, in its more extensive sense, includes every description
of agreement, or obligation, whereby one party becomes bound to another to
pay a sum of money, or to do or omit to do a certain act; or, a contract is
an act which contains a perfect obligation. In its more confined sense, it
is an agreement between two or more persons, concerning something to be,
done, whereby both parties are hound to each other, *or one is bound to the
other. 1 Pow. Contr. 6; Civ. Code of Lo. art. 1754; Code Civ. 1101; Poth.
Oblig. pt. i. c. 1, S. 1, Sec. 1; Blackstone, (2 Comm. 442,) defines it to
be an agreement, upon a sufficient consideration, to do or not to do a
particular thing. A contract has also been defined to be a compact between
two or more persons. 6 Cranch, R. 136.
How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
|
| ? Mentioned in | ? References in periodicals archive | |
|---|---|---|
These same companies have also learned to design inherently expandable or contractible systems that minimize specificity to any one activity and that are easily upgraded. As of January 31, 2001, shippers have recontracted all available annual contractible firm service on the Southern mainline from Compressor Station 2 to Sumas and on the Fort Nelson mainline for a two-year term, effective November 1, 2001. |
| Legal Dictionary |
| Free Tools: |
For surfers:
Free toolbar & extensions |
Word of the Day |
Help
For webmasters: Free content | Linking | Lookup box | Double-click lookup | Partner with us |
|---|