You misread.
I was responding to your statement that there had to be a meeting of the minds on "its formally binding nature."
I have previously discussed the need for a meeting of the minds. But what there has to be a meeting of the minds about is whether there is an offer, an acceptance, and consideration, in sufficient detail that a Court can determine what it was that the parties intended to take place. Whether or not the people think they are making a formally binding agreement is not part of what a court looks in to in deciding whether there was a meeting of the minds. (This issue comes in where one party thinks they're just joking. If the second person should obviously have realized it was a joke, no contract. For example, "I'll sell you my wife for $1.00" "I'll take her." Obviously, no contract. But we have the recent case of the company that offered a Toy Yoda and the winner sued them for a Toyota. I don't know how that came out, but she may well have a good case. They may have thought it was only a joke, but if she didn't, they may well be bound to a contract in their minds they didn't intend to make.)
The Court will look at the facts and circumstances. It will decide whether there was an offer, an acceptance, and consideration. If so, unless it finds some grounds not to find a contract, the court will probably find a contract even if
The court would not find a contract in the case of an obvious joke (the Court would not allow somebody to walk out of a store without paying for the book "Steal this Book") or an illegal transaction (a contract to buy crack cocaine is not enforcable, at least not in law, but maybe by a S&W). But if one person says "I didn't realize that by agreeing to pick up her son from day care I was entering into a legally enforceable contract" the Court will most likely say "doesn't matter. You made an agreement, its terms were sufficiently clear to establish the basic elements of an agreement, and I'm going to enforce it."
I'll say it again -- go spend a day in Small Claims court. It will open your eyes. |
