hey guys this is Ben from lovicott law in this series of videos on contract formation I will talk about the elements for a contract valid contract now before we start going to the elements I should first say that a contract can be oral yes there's such a thing as all the contracts as long as all the elements are fulfilled they could most contracts though are in writing and they're also packed all and part with the contracts now what are the four elements of contract formation formation the first is offer it has to be an offer there's to be acceptance and has to be intention to create legal relations and there has to be consideration and we talked about the first one what is an offer and offer is an undertaking made by an offer or the person making the offer with the intention to be legally bound okay by its terms by the contract when the other party the offeree accepts the terms okay next element acceptance acceptance by the offer we has to be unqualified and unconditional of all the terms in the offer he cannot change it he can't make a counter offer you make an offer then offer expires next intention to create legal relations the parties have to have intention to be legally bound by the contractual terms okay about their respective rights and obligations therefore merely responding to an inquiry or requests for information does not constitute offer and acceptance for example if you make inquiry what is the best price you can give me for this TV and the person replies $800 that is neither an offer and acceptance the next the fourth okay element 4 contract formation would be consideration what is consideration consideration is something of value it is a promise to do something for example if you buy a car from someone you promise to pay the seller forty thousand for the car the celldex forty thousand is your consideration the seller of the car promises to sell you the car so the car is his consideration sometimes it is difficult to know whether a contract has been formed because you know especially doing email correspondences there's all these dingdong and somewhere along those email correspondence there could be an unequivocal acceptance of all the terms accidentally inadvertently so when you're doing email negotiation it is always important to put in the email subject to contract otherwise you might accidentally make an unequivocal and qualified acceptance of the terms somewhere in the email okay thanks for watching this video there will be more videos later on or go into detail on the other elements of the contract formation