Commercial and Industrial Law
Contract law
A valid contract requires offer, acceptance, consideration, intention to create legal relations and capacity. Acceptance must be communicated and match the offer; a counter-offer destroys the original. Consideration is something of value exchanged. Terms may be express or implied; exclusion clauses are construed strictly against the party relying on them.
Business organisations and liability
A sole trader has unlimited liability; a partnership generally shares liability; a limited company gives shareholders limited liability because the company is a separate legal person. Directors owe duties of care, good faith and avoidance of conflicts.
Employment and consumer protection
Employment law covers contracts of employment, unfair dismissal, minimum wage and health and safety. Consumer law implies terms that goods are of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose, and restricts misleading claims. Agency law binds a principal for acts of an agent acting within actual or apparent authority.
Traps to watch
- Treating an invitation to treat (advertisement, price display) as an offer.
- Assuming silence is acceptance - generally it is not.
- Confusing limited liability with limited trading scope.
- Forgetting that a company acts through agents, so authority matters.
Worked example
A shop displays a jacket at a misprinted low price. The display is an invitation to treat, not an offer; the customer offers to buy and the shop may refuse. Rule of thumb: identify who makes the offer before asking whether a contract exists.