5 Capacity
We have established that the essential ‘ingredients’ of a contract are
agreement in the form of offer and acceptance, consideration and legal
intent. One further requirement for a contract to be valid, is the status of the
people or parties to the contract. An agreement may well exist between
anybody, but to be able to sue on it in law, the makers of the agreement
must have full capacity. In general the law assumes that most adults have
this contractual capacity, and are therefore competent or able to contract,
but there are some exceptions to this general freedom to sue and be sued.
These are:
- corporations (registered business organisations)
- persons of unsound mind and drunkards
- minors.
In addition, sovereigns and diplomats have a general diplomatic immunity,
and cannot be sued in British courts unless they voluntarily agree to this.
We will concentrate mostly on minors, but it is useful to briefly consider
why the restrictions exist. Generally the restrictions in the law of capacity
exist to protect people, there being certain groups in society who, for
various reasons, may be more vulnerable than others in forming contracts.
Expiry date.
25-02-2010
Card No.(^129856001259518)
Forename.
George
Surename.
Smith
D.O.B.
21/3/1989
123568258 56984 256984135474
Proof of Age ID Card
Is he over 18?
Who do youthink are the more vulnerable members of society, as far as the
formulation of a contract is concerned?