Consideration in English Law is Required in Every Contract Essay

Consideration in English Law is Required in Every Contract - Essay Example This essay will look into English law of contracts in relation to consideration. Overview Consideration can be described as the price to which a promise is given in return for something else. In most cases, promises need not to be in terms of money but in many other forms. According to the law of English contracts, if an agreement or a promise is not supported by consideration then it is considered nudum pactum (a bare promise) and it is not enforceable by law. The English contracts laws have traditionally had the clause of consideration for the contract to be accepted as. For instance, in large or valuable transactions, the law requires that all parties bring something of value â€Å"consideration† for a contract to be legally binding. This law of consideration was designed to ensure that all parties are given fair treatments or equal standing in the formation of contracts (Jenks, 2010). This clause is important especially in cases where issues arise after the formation of a contract. Consideration law can be used is solving changes to the contract law in cases such as in debugging the equitable doctrine of promissory estoppels. This is the case whereby earlier terms or agreements cannot be enforced in the solution of cases. Consideration is regarded as an agreement that had the intentions of the terms to be legally binding. Consideration can be anything that is sufficient in that it can be weighted and decided to have economic value (Cruz, 2008). English courts make use of consideration in deciding whether promises or contracts are legal or enforceable. A consideration cannot be drawn in the past unless there are express terms of a request by either of the parties. Several cases have presented difficult situations for solution of cases such as part payment of debts or undertaking duties currently obligated. This was evident in the case of Williams vs. Roffey where the court decided that the contract was legal since the duties undertaken by Williams wen t beyond his legally obligated duties (Chitty, 2006). Considerations are important in English law in that they are used in making sure that the terms of the contract can be enforceable. This is especially true in cases or contracts that are supposed to be enforced in the future. But the most used form of the term consideration in contracts is when there is a direct exchange of goods for money or goods for goods. Consideration in contracts is normally enforceable and practised practically when something has been given or promised in exchange for something else. A promise in English law is a contract if a promise or consideration is attached to the promise (Atkins, 1999). For instance, if you promise to pay or buy someone a gift who have to write it down or make a deed. In the case of Currie vs. Misa of 1875, consideration in the sense of law consists of interest, benefit or profit accruing to one person and detriment or loss of responsibility to be undertaken by the other party. The understanding and execution of these contracts are quite simple. In some cases the execution or implementation of the law of contracts is difficult as in the case of Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd vs. Selfridge & Co Ltd of 1915, whereby consideration was difficult to enforce. In such as case, there was exchange of promises where neither of them was enforced. The making of the

Analysis of UK`s income tax provisions relating to antu-avoidance, tax Essay

Analysis of UK`s income tax provisions relating to antu-avoidance, tax planning and tax avoidance - Essay Example The Progressive taxation is said to minimise inequalities in the society as wealthier people has to pay more taxes as compared to less income group thereby offers some aid from the inadequate demand for consumption in capitalist’s economies. As per Keynes, progressive taxation helps to alleviate unemployment. For reaping the greatest benefits, the whole tax system of a nation should follow the progressive taxation system. USA is having highest progressive individual taxes like the federal income tax and death or estate duty .Besides; it is also having a number of regressive taxes like sales taxes levied by the majority of the states and excise duties imposed by the federal government1. A progressive tax system is a system where the average rate of tax increases as income soars. Thus, rich people have to pay heavy taxes whereas poor people have to pay less tax. The ability to pay is the main theme behind the progressive taxation. Thus, rich people are expected to contribute mor e to the national chequer for public spending. The ardent supporters of progressive taxation are of the view that such a tax system is equitable, and that helps to redistribute the income among the society to maintain the equilibrium. Lorenz was the first economist who found that there is a relationship between the cumulative size of income and cumulative size of income receiving components when they are organised in the ascending order of their income as early in 1905. This has been popularly known as the Lorenz curve which is being extensively employed to calculate inequalities of wealth and income in many nations around the world. Lorenz curve is being employed extensively for formulation of public policy. For instance, it can be demonstrated from the scrutiny of Lorenz curve that post-tax income is evenly allocated than that of pre-tax income if the mean rate of taxes soars with the level of income. Moreover, if the tax-income ratio stays constant, inflation does not alter the d istribution of post-tax revenue even if the tax function is altered or shifted every fiscal year. Lorenz curve is also being employed widely to assess poverty2. Progressive tax system also produces fiscal drag impacts and when a nation’s economy is developing rapidly and there are more citizens in work thereby earning salaries and wages and incomes seem to increase faster than prices of commodities thereby pushing citizens into the higher income-tax range and thereby enhancing the aggregate flow of tax income into government exchequers account. This can be explained as a partial automatic stabiliser for the economy as increasing tax receipts is being contributed from citizen’s disposal income. From the table given below, one can understand under the progressive tax system, the less income groups have contributed just ? 263 million by 2460 taxpayers whereas high-income group of just 8 people contributed ? 6,370 million to the UK’s exchequer. â€Å"Regressive Tax System† In the regressive tax system, the higher-income group of a country contributes the lesser share of taxes to the government and whereas poor people of a nation is taxed heavily at higher rates as compared to the higher-income group. Thus, regressive tax system can be said to be just contrary to the progressive t