The Formation of the Warehouse Lease Contract

Issue 1: The Formation of the Warehouse Lease Contract

Hamlet jumps at the chance to rent the old warehouse…he signs the lease and Hamlet signs "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, for the new fencing enterprise."

A contract is a promise which the law will enforce. To make a contract, the offeror makes an offer and the offeree accepts the offer. Hamlet decided to rent the old warehouse on Elsinore Avenue from the landlord old Fortinbras as the location for his new fencing school. In this case, Fortinbras is the offeror who offers a warehouse to be rented by the offeree Hamlet. This is a bilateral contract where the offeror and the offeree trade promises and both parties are bound to perform. Hamlet paid rent to buy the right from the landlord of using the warehouse to open a fencing school. The landlord was bound to provide Hamlet the right to use the warehouse while Hamlet was bound to pay rent to the landlord in return. Both parties must not refuse to perform their promises. Otherwise, the other party could sue. The price paid by a party for buying the other party's promise is the consideration.

According to the Statute of Frauds, written evidence is required in suits concerning land in order to eliminate perjured testimony. Otherwise valid oral contracts may be rendered invalid if there is no evidence in writing. Renting a warehouse is considered a contract concerning an interest in land and therefore is affected by the Statute so a written contract must be formed. Hamlet signed the contract under his name instead of the name of the corporation, Mousetrap Inc. Therefore, the lease contract does not represent Mousetrap Inc. and the corporation is not responsible for any incidents about the contract. Hamlet himself is obliged to fulfil what is specified in the contract. Corporations are not able to contract like a natural person does in earlier days. However, the law now gives corporations the capacity to enter into contracts. Even Hamlet stated that the warehouse was for the new fencing enterprise, he should inform the landlord of the corporation name after it was incorporated. Then, the corporation as a legal person would be a party involved in the rental contract.

Issue 2: The Purchase of Fencing Swords from Arras

He brought in a contract for the supply of swords…Hamlet insists that Mousetrap needs to pay only the specified contract price – half of the invoice.

Hamlet wanted to purchase fencing swords for the new fencing school. He approached a local supplier Arras Fencing Inc. run by old Polonius and made an offer to purchase fencing swords. However, Hamlet deliberately wrote down a lower price of half of what Polonius quoted. Not only did he fail to inform Polonius about the reduced price he wrote, but he also misled Polonius that he actually wrote down the price Polonius quoted by saying "I see". Hamlet even