Contract Law
Part of the common law series
Contract theory
Classical theory  · Promise theory
Consent theory
Contract formation
Offer and acceptance  · Mailbox rule
Mirror image rule  · Invitation to treat
Consideration
Defenses against formation
Lack of capacity to contract
Duress  · Undue influence
Illusory promise  · Statute of frauds
Non est factum
Contract interpretation
Parol evidence rule
Integration clause
Excuses for non-performance
Mistake  · Misrepresentation
Frustration of purpose  · Impossibility
Illegality  · Unconscionability
Accord and satisfaction
Rights of third parties
Assignment  · Delegation
Novation  · Third party beneficiary
Breach of contract
Anticipatory repudiation  · Cover
Exclusion clause
Fundamental breach
Remedies
Liquidated damages  · Penal damages
Specific performance  · Rescission
Other areas of the common law
Tort law  · Property law
Wills and trusts
Criminal law  · Evidence
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Penal damages are best seen as quantitatively excessive liquidated damages and are invalid under the common law. While liquidated damages are a priori calculations of expectation loss under the contract, penal damages go further and seek to penalise a party in some way for breach of a clause above and beyond the loss suffered by the innocent party as a result of this breach. Many clauses which are found to be penal are expressed as liquidated damages clauses but are seen by courts as excessive and thus invalid. Image File history File links Legal portal image File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A contract is any legally-enforceable promise or set of promises made by one party to another and, as such, reflects the policies represented by freedom of contract. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... Contract theory is the body of legal thought that investigates normative and conceptual problems in contract law. ... Offer and acceptance analysis is a tool in contract law used to determine whether a contract exists between two parties. ... The mailbox rule or the postal acceptance rule is a term of common law contracts which determines when a contract has been formed where the parties are communicating via the mail. ... In the law of contracts, the mirror image rule states that an offer must be accepted exactly without modifications. ... In contract law, an invitation to treat is an action by one party which may appear to be a contractual offer but which is actually inviting others to make an offer of their own. ... (Note, Consideration under English law is dealt with separately) Consideration is a central concept in the common law of contracts. ... Capacity is a legal term that refers to the ability of persons to make certain binding dispositions of their rights, such as entering into contracts, making gifts, or writing a valid will. ... Duress in the context of contract law is a common law defence, and if you are successful in proving that the contract is vitiated by duress, you can rescind the contract, since it is then voidable. ... Undue influence (as a term in jurisprudence) is an equitable doctrine that involves one person taking advantage of a position of power over another person. ... In contract law, an illusory promise is one that courts will not enforce. ... Statute of frauds - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... This is a list of legal terms, often from Latin: A mensa et thoro A mensa et thoro, from bed and board. ... The parol evidence rule enacts a principle of the law of contracts that presumes that a written contract emodies the complete agreement between the parties thereto. ... c) The packing and logo of the products shall be complete without damage. ... In contract law a mistake is incorrect understanding by one or more parties to a contract and may be used as grounds to invalidate the agreement. ... In contract law, a misrepresentation is when a party to a contract makes a representation, warranting or promising something that is not in the terms of the contract, that has the effect of inducing a party in entering the contract, yet is revealed to be false. ... Frustration of purpose is a term used in the law of contracts to describe a defense to an action for non-performance based on the occurance of an unforseen event which makes performance impossible or commercially impracticable. ... Modal logic, or (less commonly) intensional logic is the branch of logic that deals with sentences that are qualified by modalities such as can, could, might, may, must, possibly, and necessarily, and others. ... An illegal agreement, under the common law of contract, is one that the courts will not enforce because the purpose of the agreement is to achieve an illegal end. ... Unconscionability is a term used in contract law to describe a defense against the enforcement of a contract based on the presence of terms unfair to one party. ... Accord and satisfaction is the purchase of the release from a debt obligation. ... An assignment is a term used with similar meanings in the law of contracts and in the law of real estate. ... Delegation is a term used in the law of contracts to describe the act of giving another person the responsibility of carrying out the performance agreed to in a contract. ... Novation, or its full title: Novation Electronic Music Systems, is an English company founded in 1992 and largely produces synthesizers. ... A third party beneficiary, in the law of contracts, is a person who may have the right to sue on a contract, despite not having originally been a party to the contract. ... Breach of contract is a legal concept in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other partys performance. ... Anticipatory repudiation (or anticipatory breach) is a term in the law of contracts that describes a declaration by one party (the promissing party) to a contract that they do not intend to live up to their obligations under the contract. ... Cover is a term used in the law of contracts to describe a remedy available to a merchant buyer who has received an anticipatory repudiation of a contract for the receipt of goods. ... An exclusion clause is a term in a contract that seeks to restrict the rights of the parties to the contract. ... Fundamental breach, sometimes known as a repudiatory breach, is a breach so fundamental that it permits the aggrieved party to terminate performance of the contract, in addition to entitling that party to sue for damages. ... Liquidated damages is a term use in the law of contracts to describe a contractual term which establishes damages to be paid to one party if the other party should breach the contract. ... In the law of remedies, a specific performance is a demand of a party to perform a specific act. ... In contract law, rescission (to rescind or set aside) refers to the cancellation of the contract between the parties. ... In the common law, a tort is a civil wrong for which the law provides a remedy. ... Property law is the law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land as distinct from personal or moveable possessions) and in personal property, within the common law legal system. ... In the law, a will or testament is a document by which a person (the testator) regulates the rights of others over his property or family after death. ... The law of trusts and estates is generally considered the body of law which governs the management of personal affairs and the disposition of property of an individual in anticipation and the event of such persons incapacity or death, also known as the law of successions in civil law. ... Criminal law (also known as penal law) is the body of law that punishes criminals for committing offences against the state. ... The law of evidence governs the use of testimony (eg. ... Liquidated damages is a term use in the law of contracts to describe a contractual term which establishes damages to be paid to one party if the other party should breach the contract. ... Breach is a comic book series from DC Comics. ...

The judicial approach to penal damages is conceptually important as it is one of the few examples of judicial paternalism in contract law. Even if two parties genuinely and without coercion wish to consent to a contract which includes a penal clause, they are unable to. So, for example, a person wishing to give up smoking cannot contract with a third party to be fined $100 each time they smoke as this figure does not represent the expectation loss of the contract. Traditional cultural paternalism: Father Junipero Serra in a modern portrayal at Mission San Juan Capistrano, California Paternalism often refers to the hierarchic pattern of the family applied as a paradigm to state policy; it also can refer to paternalistic attitudes and actions by individuals and non-state institutions. ...