essential elements of a valid contract

Essential elements of a valid contract

Introduction:
In this part of my assignment I will be detailing what the different elements of a valid contract are whilst also linking it in with my own contract. The contract I have decided to use is my mobile phone contract from Vodafone.
The offer:
In contract law the offer is where a person will accept the invitation, for example in my contract the offer would be when I offer to bind into their contract and purchase a mobile phone deal, and this is because they created an invitation for me to purchase a deal as they advertise their deals in various place so when I go in I offer to bind into a contract with them.
Invitation to treat:
An invitation to treat is usually used to get the parties started with some negotiations to result in a fair agreement for both parties involved. For example in my case with my contract it was negotiated for me to get more minutes instead of the amount of data they were offering as I would use the minutes more instead of the data so Vodafone agreed and created a contract stating what was agreed to ensure that they could not go back on their agreement. An invitation to treat does not bind someone into a contract as they are only inviting people to make an offer so if somebody was looking at something but didn’t not agree or make the owner a offer then therefore there is no agreement and no legal binding.
The Acceptance:
In contract law once a legal acceptance is formed a contract gets developed in which case both parties cannot back out of the agreement after the contract has been signed. There are three rules that need to be followed when creating an acceptance to ensure it is legally bound. The three rules are:
The acceptance must be known and discussed with the offeree.
The acceptances’ terms must match the terms of the offer exactly.
The agreement needs to be certain.
In the case of my phone contract it was legally bound as it follows all three of the rules of acceptance