Types of Contracts

Contracts have central importance in legal practice. They are the means by which all business deals are cemented between the parties. A contract is the agreement made between the parties. It specifies what the parties have agreed, the rights and duties of each party, and what will happen if things go wrong.

In Anglo-American legal systems, contracts may be made either in writing or orally. An oral contract is just as valid as a written one. However, in practice most important business contracts will be made in writing. In that way, the parties have clear written evidence of what they have agreed.

Most commercial contracts between companies relate to things that one company provides to the other for money. There are few limits to what may be bought or sold by means of a contract, but a contract to sell something which is illegal will be void (i.e. it cannot be enforced in law), as gambling contracts (contracts for the purposes of gambling). The following are the typical subjects of contracts: goods, land, services, rights.

Most commercial contracts follow this structure: the names and addresses of the parties, recital, definitions, conditions precedent, agreements, representations and warranties, boilerplate clauses, schedules, signature sections, appendices.

When a contract has been breached, the initial role of the lawyer is to ascertain the nature of the breach and advise the client on their legal rights and remedies.

Family Law

Family law regulates the legal aspects of relationships between married couples, unmarried cohabitants, and, increasingly, same sex-partners who live together.

As a general rule, cohabitants are often not granted the same rights as married couples, and homosexual couples enjoy fewer rights than heterosexual couples.

Family law deals with three main issues: 1) regulation of the legal aspects of the couple’s relationship itself; 2) regulation of arrangements for children; 3) regulation of property rights relating to the relationship.

One area of family law is concerned with providing solutions to problems between parties which may arise either during the course of a relationship or after the relationship has ended. It includes provision for divorce or judicial separation proceedings where a marriage has broken down.

The welfare of any children is of paramount importance in the breakdown of a relationship. In England and Wales, the majority of legal issues relating to the care of children are contained in the Children Act 1989. When applying for a divorce in a marriage in which there is a child or children, the petitioner must also send a statement of arrangements proposed for the children after the divorce.

The court has extensive powers to make financial orders within the context of divorce proceedings, and also has more limited powers regarding financial arrangements for unmarried couples. The petitioner or the respondent in divorce proceedings may apply for ancillary relief, which is the name given to the financial provision orders which the court is entitled to make. The most common orders which the court may make include: property adjustment order, periodical payments order, pension sharing order, lump sum order, order for sale of property, consent order.