Contracts: how words become law
13 September 2012
You can't buy anything without a contract - even a beer - but in purchasing, the issues can seem more complex. In the first part of a new series, Dick Jennings explains what makes a binding deal
One very basic question, the sort purchasers are often asked by colleagues, is: "Do we really need a contract?" What that question means invariably is not "Do we really need to buy this thing?" but "Do we really need to bother with the paperwork?" The unstated assumption is that a "contract" is a written document. This is without doubt because whenever they see something...