Charles A. answered • 05/11/19
UCLA Law Lecturer Specializing in Complete 1L Curriculum
A valid contract is a promise legally enforceable in a court of law. A legally enforceable contract is an agreement between two or more parties that contains: (1) an offer (2) an acceptance (3) consideration and (4) no defenses (such as fraud, illegality, statute of frauds, unconscionability, etc.).
However, some promises that contain the four elements noted above are still not legally enforceable contracts. For example, a husband who promises to cook dinner if his wife promises to take the kids to the park might be seen to have formed a contract. Nevertheless, if the husband breaches his promise to cook dinner, no court would entertain a suit by the wife for breach of contract. The reason is that the alleged contract involves an area of life (routine domestic interpersonal relations) where the court does not involve itself.
