Business Law and Taxation & AC 14-2

Individual Assignment

Assignment Task: 

Ishaq and his family owned an old building in Sohar that was in need of painting and other repairs. Ishaq was a junior partner with a law firm and his wife Sonali worked at the elementary school where their two younger children were also studying. One morning after dropping off her kids at school, Sonali observed painters at their house from a long distance.  She sent her husband a text message asking if he had hired painters. When she learned that her husband had not hired the painters, she decided to turn around and go shopping before going back to the school.

Farad, their  fifteen-year-old son, stayed at home from school that day as he was not feeling well. At 6-feet-tall and 150 kilograms, Farad looked like he was in his early twenties. When the painter rang the doorbell, he answered. The painter said "We are here to paint your house today, is that ok?" Farad replied, "Sure, as long as I don't have to help you." The painter requested him to sign some paperwork which Farad did.

After the younger kids finished school for the day, Sonali took them to the park after which met Ishaq for an early dinner. When the family arrived home, the painters were just finishing and the painter asked, "So Mr. and Mrs. Sharooq, how does it look?" Ishaq and his wife Sonali were surprised and asked them "Who is Sharooq?" They then informed the painters that the Sharooq's  lived next door and had wanted their  house to be painted. The painters however are now  demanding  payment from Ishaq based on the fact that  the gentleman inside the house gave them both verbal and written agreement to the painters to paint the house.

Based on the scenario, write a detailed report by incorporating the following tasks:

A critical discussion on:

1.      Can  Farad's signature on the paperwork be considered as a binding contract? Justify your answer.

2.      Should Ishaq be responsible for the bill? Justify your answer. Ensure that you analyze the case by applying the following elements of a contract.

• Possible types of contract applicable
• Essentials of an Offer
• Acceptance
• Consideration
• Capacity of parties
• Genuineness of Assent
• Breach of contract

 (IMPORTANT NOTE: Substantiate your arguments by referring to various relevant landmark cases and examples)

 INSTRUCTIONS 

Your work will be graded on the following aspects: 

1.      This is an Individual Assignment.

3.      Your assignment shall reflect the depth and breadth of your original analyses in a clear and coherent manner.

4.      Use of the relevant academic literature to support ideas and issues discussed. The range of academic sources such as texts and journals to support your arguments and comments.

5.      Any reference to authors and other writers shall be quoted with due acknowledgement in your assignment report using the Harvard Referencing System. For details of Harvard referencing style refer the student's hand book page 41 and section 7.2.

6.      This is an individual assignment and carries a 50% weighting of the module grade.

7.      This assignment follows a report format and must be original and creative. An analytical piece of work is required. The use of 'cut and paste' approach will be penalized. It must be presented in a structured manner, with appropriate cover page, content page, introduction, body (with appropriate heading / sub-headings), conclusion, references, page numbered and any required appendices.

8.      Your report should be word processed and professionally presented. The length of your report should be between 2000 - 2500 words, presented in text of font size 12 with 1.5 line spacing. Please state the exact word count at the end of the assignment. 

9.      The cover page should be attached with the assignment and uploaded through MOVE (on-line. Name of the student, The Programme, Module Title, Assignment Title and number of words must be reflected on the cover sheet.

10.  All assignments must be adhered strictly to the deadlines specified by Majan College. Failure to hand in the assignment for any reason and without prior approval and a valid written extension from the module tutor will not be marked and will be awarded a grade G (0) irrespective of the quality of the work. See students handbook page 16 and  section 4.4

11.  Unacknowledged use of work of others (plagiarism) is regarded as a dishonest practice and will be will be penalized. See the penalties in the student's handbook page 31 section 5.7.

Word limit- 2500 words
Based on the case analysis, the whole report should have a cohesive discussion on the validity of the contract. The report should have a cohesive and orderly presentation like that of a story. Moreover, the discussion should be critical and argumentative in nature (taking an evaluative Yes or No stance, with proper support). Relevant support from literature is required to make the arguments valid. The students should quote relevant landmark cases (Precedents) to validate their argument.
The structure of the report may take the following style:
i) Introduction
ii) Development of arguments/Discussion
iii) Conclusion

The questions under critical discussion should not be approached like exam questions. They should reflect critical analysis of the given issues. There is no fixed answer to the case. So, you can let your creative imagination to flow and analyse the case using the conditions to be fulfilled for a valid contract. You will be evaluated not based on the answer, but how do you arrive at and (later) how do you defend your answer.
You are expected to apply all the major essentials of the contract to the case (Offer, Acceptance, Consideration, Capacity, and Genuineness of assent and Legality). While you are writing the report, you can give a brief literature review about the concept and then apply the same to the case in an in-depth manner. For example, if you feel that there is a valid offer evident in the case, briefly write the literature on the essentials of an offer and justify/argue how this case has a well qualified offer. Refer to text books and internet sources for examples and precedents to validate your arguments. (But properly paraphrase them. Do not cut and paste).