Contracts Explained

In discussing contracts there is an inherent interrelationship amongst various clauses. One should look at a contract as a puzzle. The agreement is the completed puzzle. In order to complete this puzzle you have to assemble all of the pieces together. The pieces are, you guessed it, the various clauses within the contract. You see there is no final agreement unless all clauses within the contract are accepted and agreed upon by both sides. Many of these clauses are interrelated. They rely upon each other in order to formulate the agreement itself. I would argue that these interrelated clauses are specifically designed by the contractor to gain advantage over the contractee. As discussed in previous blog posts, the contractor, contractee agreement is all about power. A struggle by both sides to reap the benefits and shift the risk onto the other party. As a contractor the power is essentially in your hands from the beginning. You construct a contract and the contractee either a...

It is a abundantly clear that the main purpose of a contract is to protect yourself and shift risk. Regardless of what you are told, people are inherently selfish. At the root of this selfishness is money itself. Now, this is a totally justifiable selfishness. We need money to function, profit and survive. In contracting with someone in any circumstance, your first concern is (or should be) self preservation. Self preservation while receiving consideration in which you contracted for in the first place. The core of this self preservation is based on risk. Risks include: loss of funds, concerns of physical safety and ability of the opposite party to hold you liable. So it is conceivable, considering the human condition, that one might want to maximize benefits while eliminating risks. Speaking from a legal point of view, the case can be made that many clauses within a contract are used for this purpose. Specifically, moral clauses, notice, waiver and severability.  Moral clause...