In order to accurately understand the concept of agreement it is crucial to understand when a valid offer has been made. An offer is made when a party, known as the offeror, presents terms of a contract to another party. The party that receives the offer is known as the offeree. If the offeree accepts the offer, the two parties are considered to be in agreement. 

In contrast to offers are “invitations to treat.” Invitations to treat are not offers. Invitations to treat can happen in a number of ways. Some of the most common include the display of goods in a store window, an auction without reserve, the solicitation of competitive bids, or advertisements for goods.

Except in specific circumstances, an auction does not constitute a legally binding offer and agreement process. An auction can be held with or without reserve. An auction without reserve is the rarer of the two kinds. An action without reserve means that the item will automatically be sold to the highest bidder regardless of the price.

An auction with reserve, or reserve auction, is an auction in which the person putting the item up for auction has stated a price below which they are unwilling to part with the item or circumstances under which they “reserve” the right to not complete the exchange of goods.

Auctions present interesting situations when considering offers and agreements. In an auction without reserve, the person placing the goods up for auction is obligated to accept the final bid. Each bid during the auction represents a new offer. Each higher bid that the auctioneer accepts means that the offer represented by the previous bid is invalidated.

During a reserve auction this can create some complications. If the person placing the goods up for auction decides against accepting the highest bid, they are left without an alternative. Even if the person would rather accept the second highest bid represented, they are unable to do so because the higher bid caused the previous bid to become voidable.

Advertisements are not usually considered to be offers because they may oblige the person creating the advertisement to sell more goods than they possess. As a result, an agreement cannot be reached as the result of an individual responding to an advertisement. Advertisements are technically considered “invitations to treat.” However, there are circumstances in which an advertisement can constitute an offer. 

The Nineteenth Century case of Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Company in England involved a promise by Carbolic Smoke Ball Company to pay £100 to anyone who used their product but still developed influenza, which their product was claimed to prevent. As guarantee of their claim, the advertisement said that the company had deposited £1000 in an account to pay anyone who caught the flu. The advertisement was considered to be a unilateral contract. 

The agreement by Louisa Carlill was twofold. The first part of the agreement can be seen in her purchase of the smoke ball and the second element of agreement was her continued use of the ball. The English Court of Appeals ruled that the advertisement became a legally binding contract on several grounds.

The most relevant part of the ruling was that while an offer existed between the company and the entire world, a contract only existed with those individuals who had taken the actions to accept the terms of the offer. Acceptance in this case is interchangeable with agreement. This case also cemented the idea that conduct was sufficient to convey agreement with the terms of the advertisement’s offer.

Agreements to agree are not considered legally binding. These legal documents only reveal that the concerned parties are considering a future contract. In and of themselves, an agreement to agree does not mandate action on the part of either party. Agreements to agree arise when two parties are discussing an event involving future transactions which are still in progress.

A statement of future intent is not a legally binding contract. It only indicates an agreement by the two parties involved in the negotiation to attempt to form a future contract. An agreement to agree is not binding if the matter under discussion is still in dispute. An agreement to agree may be considered a contract, however, if the material terms of agreement are present. 

Agreements to agree can become legally binding agreements if they contain all the typical elements of a contract. If, however, an agreement to agree merely records the terms that have been discussed in preliminary negotiations or they can be given the full weight of a contract to which both parties have agreed. Agreements to agree are sometimes known as letters of intent. Whether the document is titled an agreement to agree or a letter of intent, the legal significance of the terms is equal.

In order for agreement to occur, the offeree must have an intention to enter into the contract. Intention can be interpreted by action or by verbal acceptance of the terms provided by the offeror. Intention also extends to the offeror. The offeror’s intentions are rarely subject to question. 

Intention to form a contract is one of the requirements to form a contract. Intention to be legally bound by a contract does not exist during the initial negotiation of a contract. Courts generally do not assign intention to either party by their interpretation of the parties’ statements of future intent or by agreements to agree.

Legal Context for Executive Agreements

 

 

Despite the name, an executive agreement is not meaningfully an aspect of contract law, at least according to the terms and conditions through which this legal category is usually understood, but rather of Constitutional law. More specifically, the “executive agreement” concept in U.S. law pertains to such varied matters as the ability to exercise control over the foreign policy of the country; more specifically in terms of its relationship to other nations through treaties and other documents and mechanisms and to the separation of powers between the different branches of the Federal U.S. Government.

 

 

This last concept constitutes a primary consideration undertaken by the U.S. Constitution, and accordingly applicable to the theories and debates as continue to this day, over the application of the United States’ foundational and essential, yet broad and ambiguous, document. 

 

 

Application of Executive Agreements in U.S. Law

 

 

To further illuminate these points, it might be noted that an executive agreement is a treaty passed by the President of the United States with the government of another national jurisdiction and without the consent of the legislature of the United States. Presidents are said to have used the so-called “discretion” vested in their office when they make the determination of enacting an executive agreement and thus bypassing the necessity of relying upon the power of Congress. Moreover, an executive agreement could applicably be contrasted with a legislative-executive agreement. 

In order to understand the difference between a contractor agreement and a subcontractor agreement, it is first important to understand the difference between a contractor and a subcontractor. In many instances, a business will hire a contractor to complete certain tasks or duties.

 

 

A contractor is not considered to be an employee. Instead, a contractor will act as an independent entity, performing certain tasks for the company. A contractor agreement is an agreement that exists between a company and a contractor that the company hires. This agreement will be documented in written form. 

 

 

The document will outline all pertinent features of the agreement, including the tasks that are to be completed by the contractor, the time period that the contractor has to complete these tasks, and the compensation that the contractor will receive for his/her work. 

 

 

In order to successfully complete the tasks outlined in a contractor agreement, a contractor may be required to hire a subcontractor. A subcontractor is an individual who is hired by a contractor to provide the contractor with goods or services necessary to complete the tasks specified in an existing agreement. A subcontractor will be hired by a contractor after the contractor has been hired by a company.

 

 

 

A subcontractor agreement usually exists between a contractor and a subcontractor. It outlines information similar to the conditions detailed in a contractor agreement. In most instances, the contractor will be responsible for compensating the subcontractor and the subcontractor is required to complete certain tasks for the contractor. Both a contractor and subcontractor work together to complete specified duties for a company or an individual. 

As a subset of U.S. contract law, a tenancy agreement can be expected to comprise the document through which the legal relationship between a landlord and his or her tenant is established. As with other kinds of contracts, tenancy agreements typically pertain to the conditions agreed to and entered into on the part of both of the signatory and named parties to the contract.

More specifically, a tenancy agreement entered into on the part of both parties in the U.S. or another comparable and similarly-functioning legal jurisdiction and system can and should be expected to answer the questions “who?,” “what?,” “when?,” and “how much?”. 

A tenancy agreement could be considered a kind of lease, and indeed it will often be referred to with this term. In the U.S. and other legal systems considered to come under the overall heading of so-called “civil law,” a tenancy agreement, or any other form of lease alternately entered into by a property owner and prospective property user, must include the specified and necessary element of rent payable on the part of the contracting individual to the property owner.

Tenancy agreements can be understood as potentially differing from other kinds of leases, as might be alternately entered into, in terms of being for expressly residential purposes. As such, the parties signing a tenancy agreement will typically be landlord and tenant. A tenancy agreement might also variously come in such forms as fixed, periodic and indefinite leases.

 

An end user license agreement, often referred simply as EULA for short, is a license that is included with most types of computer software. The end user license agreement essentially grants the end user, or buyer of the software, the right to use that particular software in a particular way. The end user license agreement is therefore a legally binding contract between the end user, or consumer, who will agree to specific terms of use and regulations imposed by the software company or producer, and the maker of that software. 

The contract will oftentimes be presented in paper form, though the common practice has been to introduce the end user license agreement in the software itself, which will appear the first time the software is loaded into a particular computer prompting the end user to read and agree to the terms of using the particular product. The end user license agreement is provided by the software companies themselves, which does not require the end user to have to procure any kind of document as a contingency.

A cohabitation agreement is a type of legal contract that exists between two individuals who live together. This type of legal agreement functions to ensure that a couple residing within the same home are protected from legal proceedings and costs if they choose to separate in the future. A cohabitation agreement will detail the rights and responsibilities of both parties.

In many ways, this type of agreement is similar to a prenuptial agreement. It will detail the financial responsibilities of each individual. For example, a cohabitation agreement may indicate that each party is responsible for contributing equally to the financial responsibilities that arise throughout the duration of their cohabitation. These costs may include rent or mortgage payments, utilities, and groceries, just to name a few.

In addition, a cohabitation agreement will detail how property is to be divided in the event that the couple separates. This contract will list which assets are to be designated to each individual upon separation. This agreement is particularly important when considering assets that were purchased by both parties jointly.

Other factors that may be covered in a cohabitation agreement include the financial and personal responsibilities of caring for any existing children and the responsibilities of each party in regard to addressing debt.

Many couples who decide to live together do not consider a cohabitation agreement. However, this contract is important to ensure that the rights of each party are upheld in the event of an unforeseen separation.

A trade agreement is a type of agreement that exists between two or more countries in order to govern the trading procedures that exist between these states. Within the domain of international trade, there are a range of tariffs and prohibitions which limit trade between certain countries.

 

 

Trade agreements can function to counteract these barriers and promote trade between these countries. Limiting trade barriers is advantageous for the United States economy, as it allows for the exportation of more goods. It also helps to benefit participating countries, as the United States can import an increased quantity of goods from these countries, and subsequently sell these goods within the United States. The details of a free trade agreement will vary from one agreement to another. 

 

 

Currently, the United States is engaged in a free trade agreement with a number of different countries. For example, the U.S. has established a free trade agreement with Australia, Jordan, Panama, South Korea, and Singapore, just to name a few.

 

 

Perhaps the most widely known of the existing free trade agreements is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The North American Free Trade Agreement is an agreement that exists between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The initial stages of the agreement occurred between the United States and Canada, and subsequently, Mexico entered into the contract. NAFTA limits the trade barriers that existed between these three countries and encourages open trade.

A Marital Settlement Agreement is a kind of contract which can be drawn up by the two primary parties to the legal action of a marital divorce, as provides for the settlement of the various rights, privileges, and responsibilities held by the two individuals without the necessity of further litigation or adjudication.

U.S. divorce laws are, for the most part, formulated and carried out on a state-by-state basis. Thus, the particular Marital Settlement Agreement drawn up in reference to a particular marriage should refer to the applicable laws of that specific jurisdiction and provide against the possibility of provisions which cannot legally go into effect in that particular state.

A Marital Settlement Agreement, as will generally be entered into with the assistance of legal counsel separately retained by both of the parties to the divorce, can most effectively proceed by providing for all of the potentially legally relevant aspects of the legal relationship between the two individuals.

A Marital Settlement Agreement does not itself provide for the legal effectiveness of the severing of the legal relationship between the two parties signatory to the contract in the form of a divorce, nor does it enact the initiation of the legal process of the court considering and potentially approving the rightness of such a legal motion. Often Marital Settlement contracts are drawn up as preambles to entering into an amicable divorce.