be enforced. Encourages responsibility by forcing parties to write down their agreement or risk Even if a contract is in writing, that doesn’t unenforceability. necessarily mean the parties contemplated the seriousness of their obligations (especially where For long, complicated contracts, it gives the parties a reference. the restrictions on writings are loose). When they are forced to put a contract into For contracts for more than a year, a party gets some protection because full performance is an writing (especially with loose restrictions), the parties may not put their full agreement into the exception. For real estate there is some protection writing. This can later prevent additional terms in partial performance. There is a lower risk of that were agreed upon from being enforced. fraud associated with someone who has already relied. If people can get out of SOF through reliance, what is SOF useful for? People often enter into surety agreements without consideration, and may not realize the legal Hostility toward SOF; want to encourage contract consequences of what they are doing. Writings formation. iterate the seriousness of such a commitment to them. Discourages breaches just because a deal is unfavorable. With written evidence, a deal is harder to deny. UCC facilitates contract formation because its SOF requirements are rather lax; the only term required is quantity. UCC too harsh because it provides isn’t exceptions for some common business situations. If the case is really that bad and the SOF would leave a party in a grossly unfair position, reliance may be applied.
Encourages responsibility by forcing parties to write down their agreement or risk unenforceability. For long, complicated contracts, it gives the parties a reference. For contracts for more than a year, a party gets some protection because full performance is an exception. For real estate there is some protection in partial performance. There is a lower risk of fraud associated with someone who has already relied. People often enter into surety agreements without consideration, and may not realize the legal consequences of what they are doing. Writings iterate the seriousness of such a commitment to them. Discourages breaches just because a deal is unfavorable. With written evidence, a deal is harder to deny. UCC facilitates contract formation because its SOF requirements are rather lax; the only term required is quantity. UCC isn’t too harsh because it provides exceptions for some common business situations. If the case is really that bad and the SOF would leave a party in a grossly unfair position, reliance may be applied. be enforced. Even if a contract is in writing, that doesn’t necessarily mean the parties contemplated the seriousness of their obligations (especially where the restrictions on writings are loose). When they are forced to put a contract into writing (especially with loose restrictions), the parties may not put their full agreement into the writing. This can later prevent additional terms that were agreed upon from being enforced. If people can get out of SOF through reliance, what is SOF useful for? Hostility toward SOF; want to encourage contract formation.
hawkinscontractsfall2010.docx