Oral Contracts Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Oral Contracts - Assignment Example An important difference between written and oral contracts is in the time taken to sue for breaching of an oral contract is at times shorter. For instance in California, limitation is 2 years in regard to oral in comparison to 4 for written. Washington and Connecticut, 3 for oral and 6 for written. Georgia has 4 for oral and 20 for written (Clarkson, et al, 2006). Oral contracts are enforceable, inspite of popular belief. So long as there is sufficient evidence, any given court will enforce an agreement made orally. However there exists a single exception to this statute; if the subject matter falls within the law of frauds, which is an English law that was adopted in the US, which entails specific contracts to be in written form. This law is designed so as to avert fraudulent conduct especially when the given contract has got stakes that are high or durations that are long. Most states in the US usually call for written contracts in these circumstances; sale of real estates, leases for real estate lasting for more than a year, property transfer upon the death of the owner, agreements to settle another person’s debt and contracts for particular amount of cash (Jentz & Miller, 2008). Generally, a court will deem an oral contract not enforceable, when it falls within any of the above categories. Some sort of writing therefore, must exist and signed by all parties. Exceptions to this rule; claims even if a given oral contract is within its stipulations, it still will be enforced where; one of the parties partly complied with its stipulations or rather the plaintiff depended on the promise of the defendant and in the process suffered some injury as a result. Once again it is the burden of plaintiff to provide such evidence. It should be noted that contract law evidently does not support oral contracts. This is because oral contracts are hard to prove, and frequently form the foundation of deception. People are therefore