Contract Law For Dummies

Confused by contract law? This hands-on guide gives you plain-English explanations of terminology and language used in contracts, showing you how to read and analyze cases and statutes with ease. You'll quickly and painlessly get up to speed on contract formation; contract theory and legality; agreement, consideration, restitution, and promissory estoppel; fraud and remedies; performance and breach; the parol evidence rule; and more.

• Defense! Defense! — get the 4-1-1 on contract formation and the different contract defenses, including whether a party did anything illegal or unfair, whether the parties had the ability to make a contract, and the factors that determine whether an oral agreement is enforceable

• Make sense of the madness — grasp the strategies the courts use to fill the gaps in a contract and interpret what the language really means

• To perform or to breach — find out how one party may breach a contract even before performance is due by anticipatory repudiation

• There's a remedy for that — understand the various methods available to the courts to remedy a breach in a way that's fair for both parties

• Bring a third party into the picture — discover how to recognize the rights and duties of third parties and decide under what circumstances third parties are allowed to enforce contracts

Open the book and find:

• Coverage of common law contracts and the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)

• How a contract is formed through mutual assent

• Ways to determine whether a party has performed as promised

• How to determine whether a contract is void, voidable, or unenforceable

• Advice on figuring out remedies for breach

• Tips for interpreting contracts

• Questions to ask when analyzing contract problems

• Examples drawn from real-life cases

Learn to:

• Identify the essential elements of contract formation

• Recognize common contract defenses

• Apply the rules that govern contract performance in different situations

• Draft contracts that more effectively protect the parties' interests