GCIP 191: Schedule

Week 1:
Sources of Contract Law: Common Law; Uniform Commercial Code; Express Contracts; Implied Contracts; Unilateral Contracts; Bilateral Contracts; Alternatives to Contracts; Gifts; Promissory Estoppel; Quasi-Contract

Week 2:
Agreement & Invalid Assent: Offer; Definite Terms; Essential Terms; Communication of Offer; Lifespan of Offer; Revocation; Rejection; Acceptance; Fraud; Misrepresentation; Mutual Mistake; Duress; Undue Influence: Unconscionability

Week 3:
Consideration & Legality: Inequitable Consideration; Conditional Contracts; Bargained For; Modification of Existing Contracts; Settlement of Disputes

Week 4:
Capacity & Statute of Frauds: Minors; Necessities; Fraud; Ratification; Mental Incompetence; Requirement of Writing; Narrow Interpretation; Contracts in Cyberspace; Categories for Written Contracts

Week 5:
Third Parties & Secured Transactions: Agency; Express Authority; Implied Authority; Operation of Law; Ratification; Apparent Authority; Contract Beneficiaries; Assignment & Delegation; Novation; Joint & Several Liability Guarantors

Week 6:
Performance & Remedies: Discharge; Impossibility; Breach; Alternative Dispute Resolution; Litigation; Damages; Equitable Remedies; Tort Law vs. Contract Law

Week 7:
Contract Interpretation: Components of a Written Contract; Identifications; Recitals; Consideration; Definitions; Signatures & Acknowledgments; Parol Evidence Rule; Rules of Construction

Week 8:
Working with Contracts: Creating a Contract; Negotiations; Drafting; Forms & Boilerplate; Formbooks & Checklists; Legalese

In a unilateral contract, only one party to the contract makes a promise. A unilateral contract does not form until one party acts in response to the other's promise. A typical example is the reward contract: I promise to pay a reward to you if you find my lost laptop. You are not obliged to find my laptop, but I am obliged to pay the reward to you if you find the laptop. The consideration for the contract here is your reliance on my promise, or you giving up your legal right to do whatever you wanted at the time you were engaged in the finding of the laptop.

A bilateral contract is an agreement in which each of the parties to the contract makes a promise or promises to the other party. Most contracts are bilateral. It may be that nothing has been done yet; it may be some time before anything is done, but a contract has formed. Sam orally promises to design Taylor's website next month; Taylor agrees to pay $5000.00, but neither has taken any action beyond making promises. A binding contract exists between them. It is an executory contract because there are obligations that have not yet been fulfilled.