For each of the following examples, determine whether the contract is legal or not and explain your response. In particular, discuss which of the six elements of a legal contract is fulfilled or not and why. For the purposes of this exercise, all other factors determining the legality of a contract must be presumed to have been met. Traci Cull has been a lawyer for 25 years. She has taught in several programs and colleges in paralegal, criminal law, economics, ethics and more. She has developed a variety of compliance documents and courses, law textbook supplements, law exam review questions, and online lessons. She enjoys teaching and designing courses as well as creating content for all legal subjects. She is currently writing a textbook for tort law. She is a certified mediator and compassionate trust leader and enjoys teaching alternative dispute resolution. Not only does substitute decision-making deprive the legal capacity to act, but it often does so against the will of the person and sometimes without his or her knowledge.
This deprives people of a voice in their own lives and leads others to perceive socially that the individual is not a whole person, but something that needs to be managed by others. This denial of personality marginalizes persons with disabilities and makes them more vulnerable to abuse by others. Although individuals may have consumed a sufficient amount of intoxicants or drugs to decrease or eliminate their ability to understand exactly what they are doing, these conditions are self-induced, and therefore the law generally does not allow for a defense or excuse for actions taken during incapacity for work. The most generous states allow individuals to terminate agreements once they are sober, but the conditions for exercising this right are strict. [ref. needed] For example, Mr. Smalley undertook to sell a product, but later stated that he was unable to sell it, so the contract requiring him to sell was void. He had visited psychiatric hospitals several times and had been diagnosed with manic-depressive by doctors. His doctor claimed he was unable to accept business deals in his manic state. The California Court of Appeals refused to terminate the contract, saying Smalley could contract in his manic state. The legal capacity of a legal person is defined as the right of a legal person to acquire rights and assume responsibilities.
In criminal law, the traditional rules of M`Naghten absolved all people of liability if they did not understand what they were doing, or if they were doing it, if they did not know it was wrong. The consequences of this apology were that the accused were detained indefinitely or until medical authorities confirmed that it was safe to release them into the community. This consequence was deemed too draconian, and the laws therefore introduced new defences that limit or reduce the liability of those accused of committing crimes if they suffered from mental illness at the appropriate time (see defence against mental illness and mental disorder). To have a valid contract, there must be six elements. These are: offer, acceptance, consideration, intent, ability and security. Legal capacity in contract law is defined as a natural or business person who has the legal capacity to conclude a contract. To have the capacity, you have to be competent and able to understand the consequences of the contract. Certain groups of people are considered incapable of entering into contracts. These include minors, mentally or physically incapacitated persons, and those under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
If a person is a minor, the contracts he concludes are voidable because of his actions. They may annul the treaty if they so decide or continue to apply it within the framework of ratification. If they do not respect their part of the contract, the courts will not punish the minor; However, you may be asked to return the goods received or refund the benefits. Those who are mentally or physically incapable are those who do not have the capacity to understand the meaning of a contract and their rights and obligations. This may be decided on a case-by-case basis if the court has not already declared the person mentally incapacitated. The court often uses a cognitive test, which involves analyzing whether the person signing the contract can understand the terms and consequences of the contract, or a motivation test, which looks at whether or not the person can understand whether or not they should enter into a contract.