The First Element to Form a Legally Binding Contract Is the Legal Capacity.

Q1.        

The first element to form a legally binding contract is The Legal Capacity.

 In the case of Alan and Ben, Alan is purchasing Liquors from the store Ben works in. If Alan is a minor (Below 18) then Ben would have rejected Alan’s offer to purchase the 3 bottles of vodka, furthermore it is stated that Alan is an avid drinker. To be passionate with vodka, and to insist in drinking Russian Vodka can somehow tell us that Alan have been drinking for a long time to pick up a preference for Russian vodka. So with the insufficient details I would like to assume that Alan is not a Minor. Alan at the point of time when entering into the liquor store showed no signs of intoxication nor mental illness.  It would be safe to conclude that Alan has the ability to enter in to a contract.

The second element to form a legally binding contract is The Agreement also known as The Offer & Acceptance.

Before any contract can exist, there must be 2 parties, one who is making an offer, and the other who is happy to accept the offer. The person making the offer is called “the Offeror” while the person considering the offer is called “the Offeree”. (PBS)

In the case between Alan and Ben, it is an Invitation to Treat, where Alan is the Offeror and Ben is the Offeree.
The difference between an Offer and Invitation to treat is that the latter is when one party invites another to make the offer.  Alan goes into the liquor store to purchase 3 bottles of vodka from Ben. Alan offers to buy 3 bottles of vodka from ben while Ben accepts the offer from Alan. If Ben is the Offeror, then he would be committing a crime every time someone who is below the age of 18 enters his shop. Ben’s shop is simply inviting customers to make an offer for the goods (alcoholic drinks) he is selling. Ben has got the option of either rejecting or accepting the offer. So if an underage person attempt to make an offer to buy a bottle of liquor, Ben will refuse to accept the offer. This is called “The Invitation to Treat”. An example is the case between Fisher v Bell (1961) (Wikipedia)

The third element to the formation of the contract is Consideration.  Each party to a contract must be both a Promiser and a Promisee.  They must also gain a benefit and endure a detriment.

There was no sign that the exchange was done in contemplation or in response to a promise given. Consideration is also sufficient as the exchange was 3 bottles of vodka (of monetary value) for money. Both Alan and ben are a promiser and a promise, and both also gain a benefit and also endure a detriment.

Alan was promised 3 bottles of Russian vodka in exchange for his money, which also means Alan was promised 3 bottles of Russian vodka in exchange for his money. He loses money (suffer a detriment) but received 3 bottles of “Russian” vodka (receive a benefit).