“ A contract is an agreement which gives rise to, or is intended to give rise to, a binding legal relationship or which has, or is intended to have legal effect.” A contract can be a bilateral or multilateral agreement. It can be gratuitous (when only one side of the contract has to be preformed) or onerous (when both are). It is formed when there is consensus in idem, known as a “meeting of the minds” between the parties. This means that all parties must agree on the same terms of the contract, as well as know and understand exactly what it entails. If there is a dispute about whether this was found, then the case can go to court . The contract can become void or continue; if consensus in idem wasn’t or was found. This has to be between …show more content…
The Civil Laws aim is to solve the wrong doing and provide compensation when there is a breach of contract between two or more parties. It is not about punishment but to help compensate the innocent party. The pursuer is the person who accuses the action and defender is the person who is being accused. Examples of this would be divorce, wills, employment law or personal injury. Whereas Criminal Law is to stop certain actions and punishments may be used when it is found. Examples would be theft, assault, drunk driving and murder. The court decides if the accused is guilty, not guilty, or not proven, and if proven guilty the court decides the punishment the accused will receive. The courts that are Civil Courts are the Supreme Court, the Court of Session and the Sheriff Court. The Supreme Court is the highest court that exists in the UK. It is in the place of the House of Lords. There is normally a panel of 5 Judges but for more serious cases more might be used. The Court of session is the Supreme Civil Court for Scotland. There is the Outer House and the Inner House. The Outer House is a court of First Instance whereas the Inner house is a Court of Appeal. The Inner House has 8 Senators and is split into the First Division and the Second Division. The Sheriff Court is an inferior court and it only deals with cases that have never been brought to court before. There is normally no jury and one Sheriff. The court can deal with summary cause and ordinary cause procedures. The Criminal Courts are the High Court of Justiciary, the Sheriff Court and the Justice of Peace Court. The Justice of Peace Court (previously the District Court) is the lowest court in the Criminal Court. This is only for minor crimes such as minor assault, drunkenness, and sometimes road traffic offenses. There are 1 or 3 justices. They are lay judges and there is a legal clerk to help them. They deal mainly with fact rather than a decision