Australian contract law

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Australian contract law is based on the inherited English common law regarding contract, with specific statutory modifications of principles in some areas. Australian law has developed through the decisions of Australian courts, especially since the 1980s, and various pieces of legislation passed by the Parliament of Australia and by the various states and territories. See contract law for very general doctrines relating to contract law. In Australia, the law of equity has also played an increasing part in changing the laws regarding contracts, and what occurs when they are breached.

[edit] Requirements of a Contract

The basic requirements for a contract under Australian law are:

• That there is Offer and Acceptance (together, an Agreement)
• That there is Consideration (generally, the supply of money, property or services)
• That any Formalities are performed (for instance, most contracts involving real estate must be in writing. For more, see below under Australian Legislation.)
• That the parties intend to enter in to legal relations (in this context, private non-commercial agreements between family members may not constitute a contract)
• That there is Certainty in what the contract requires to be done, or restricts from being done; and,
• That the parties have Capacity to enter in to a contract (i.e. mental capacity, or in the case of corporations, that they are authorised to do so.)

[edit] Australian Legislation affecting Contracts

Most States have effected statutes relating to the sale of goods, such as the Sale of Goods Act 1896 (Qld), which imply conditions and warranties in relation to fitness and merchantibility. However, in many instances such implied terms can be displaced by the contrary intention appearing in the contract between the parties. This has meant that, in practice, in many sale of goods contracts these provisions are displaced.

There are similar implied terms under the Trade Practices Act relating to fitness and duty to take reasonable care in some classes of contract, and these particular terms are unable to be displaced by contrary intention: that is, the term will be implied into a contract of that kind irrespective of the parties' intention.

The Trade Practices Act, together with Fair Trading legislation in all states, also allows a corporation or person to be sued where they have engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct regarding commercial or trade matters.

[edit] Australian Case Law

A number of decisions from Australian courts have also affected the circumstances where legal action can be taken regarding contracts.

In the case Walton Stores (Interstate) Ltd v Maher, a decision of the High Court of Australia, the contract was overruled because of the "unconscionable" actions of Walton Stores. A number of other Australian cases have introduced the concept of acting "unconscionably" as a reason for overturning the validity of a contract [Commonwealth v Verwayen], or where one party is at a "special disadvantage" [Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd v Amadio].