Details
- The most detailed work available on contract formation
- Provides practical insight into planning and drafting letters of intent, heads of agreement and similar pre-contractual documents
- Considers drafting devices available to avoid being legally bound
- Advises on the practical problems that may arise in the formation process and how to avoid these
- Incorporates discussion of cases from England, Australia, Canada, the USA, Singapore and New Zealand
New to this Edition:
- Completely updated with analysis of relevant cases since the first edition
- New chapter on consideration
This new and updated edition provides a scholarly and practical analysis of the legal principles which govern the formation of contracts in English law, offering those involved in litigation and in drafting contracts a guide to the application of those principles in practice.
The book comprehensively reviews all the classical rules governing contract formation with extensive coverage of difficult areas such as certainty, conditional contracts, good faith negotiations, auctions, tenders, on-line contracting and the assessment of conduct and silence in contract formation. It also discusses the efficacy, problems and rules around modern contracting, in particular the use of heads of agreement, letters of intent, letters of comfort and the methods of resolving a battle of the forms. In this second edition a chapter has been added on consideration and estoppel.
Although this work is based on English law, the authors draw upon decisions in other jurisdictions such as Australia, Canada, the United States, Singapore and New Zealand, where these inform the development of principles in English law.
1: Formation and the Concept of Agreement, Furmston/Tolhurst
2: Offers and Invitations to Treat, Furmston/Tolhurst
3: Termination and Revocation of Offers, Furmston/Tolhurst
4: Acceptance, Furmston/Tolhurst
5: Auctions and Tenders, Furmston/Tolhurst
6: Problems of Intention and Consideration in Online Transactions, Eliza Mik
7: Letters of Intent, Furmston/Tolhurst
8: Practical Aspects of Letters of Intent, Furmston/Tolhurst
9: Conditional Contracts, Furmston/Tolhurst
10: Denial of Legally Binding Effect, Furmston/Tolhurst
11: Certainty and Completeness, Furmston/Tolhurst
12: Consideration, Furmston/Tolhurst
13: Is There a Duty to Negotiate in Good Faith?, Furmston/Tolhurst
14: Pre-Contractual Liability, Furmston/Tolhurst
Michael Furmston, Professor of Law, Sunway University, Malaysia, and Gregory Tolhurst, Professor of Law, Sydney Law School
Michael Furmston is Professor of Law at Sunway University in Malaysia. He studied law at Oxford and has taught at Birmingham, Belfast, Oxford, Bristol, and Singapore Management University. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1960 and has been a Bencher of Gray's Inn since 1989. He is a member of the UNIDROIT working group which produced the General Principles for International Commercial Contracts.
Greg Tolhurst is a Professor of Law at Sydney Law School. He is also an editor of the Journal of iContract Lawr, a co-editor of the iCommercial Law Quarterlyr, a consultant editor of iCarter on Contractr, and a consultant with Herbert Smith Freehills. His research interests lie in the areas of contract law and personal property and in particular where these two areas meet such as in sales of goods, bailment and dealings in intangibles.
Contributors:
Eliza Mik, Assistant Professor of Law, Singapore Management University
Review from previous edition This book is a vital asset for anyone with a problem, whether they have a binding contract, be they practising lawyers, businessmen, academics, or, dare I say it, judges. - Clifford Joseph, Graya
This is an excellent, well written text. It appropriately approaches the area from the perspective of pinciple, rather than simply setting out the results of endless cases. It is very well structured, with each issue brokedn down into its component parts and dealt with rigorously and in depth. A wealth of UK, Commonwealth, US and international sources are referenced. - Professor Elizabeth MacDonald, Professor of Law, University of Swansea
...a thorough examination of the major areas of interest concerning contract formation, and the authors deserve much credit for a vast amount of research which collages a huge quantity of disparate material. This book should serve as a helpful reference point, particularly for practitioners, at whom it is primarily aimed...Overall, Furmston and Tolhurst have produced a helpful book on an important subject, which will assist and illuminate discussion of this major field of contract law. - Paul S. Davies, The Cambridge Law Journal
This book provides a detailed and constructive review of the specific issues arising from contract formation. - Gillian Black, Edinburgh Law Review
