In some circumstances， you can contract your way out of tort liability. For example， the owner of a sporting event stadium or a concert hall may have a disclaimer on the back of your ticket （ a tiny contract but a contract nonetheless） which says that they cannot be held liable for any accidents on the premises. This is an attempt to contract out of tort liability. In addition， tort liability does not require consideration. It should also be said that the existence of a contract does not necessarily relieve a person of liability under tort law between the contracting parties， unless the contract specifically says so. Promises are what contracts are all about. A contract is made up of a promise of one person to do a certain thing in exchange for a promise from another person to do another thing. Contract law exists to make sure that people keep their promises and that if they do not， the law will enforce it upon them.
Contract law is based on several Latin legal principles， the most important of which is consensus ad idem， which means a meeting of the minds between the parties or， in other words，a clear understanding，offering and acceptance of each person s contribution. Lawyers say that it is from the moment of“consensus ad idem”that a contract is formed and may be enforced by the courts. So a contract requires an agreement between the parties. But not all agreements are contracts. Non-business， religious， or charitable agreements are not always contracts. The same has been said of family or household agreements （ in one 1991 case， a casual arrangement between friends to share hockey tickets was held not to be a contract： Eng vs. Evans） . In fact， there exists a common law presumption against such agreements being contracts， although this presumption can be rebutted. Conversely， where an agreement issues from a commercial relationship， it will be presumed to be a contract.
Contract law is said to bea partof“privatelaw”becauseitdoes notinvolve or bind the state or persons that are not parties to the contract. Some legal commentators have described contract law as a miniature legal system which persons establish between themselves； the contract becoming binding upon them as a sort of private and self-imposed law. Thus， contracts are voluntary and require an“exercise of the will of the parties”.
legalese / li g li z/n.法律术语，法律措辞
diatribe / dai traib/n.诽谤；恶骂
succinct /s k si kt/adj.简洁的；简明的；紧身的
reciprocal /ri sipr k l/adj.相互的；互惠的
taint /teint/vt.污染；腐蚀；使感染n.污点；感染vi.败坏；被污染
immorality / im r l ti/n.不道德；无道义；伤风败俗的行为
verbal / v b l/adj.口头的；言语的；照字面的
charitable / tr t bl /adj.慷慨的，仁慈的；宽恕的；慈善事业的
miniature / mini t/adj.微型的，小规模的n.缩图；微型画；微型图画绘画术vt.是的缩影
judi ci alsancti on 司法处罚
uncondi ti onalacceptance无条件接受
create m utualand reci procalri ghts创立相互互惠的权利
tort l i abi l i ty侵权责任
l egalcom m entators法律评论员；法律注释者
1.ffer and acceptance （要约与承诺） ： offer and acceptance is a traditional approach in ontract law used to determine whether an agreement exists between two parties. As a ontract is an agreement， an offer is an indication by one person （ the“offeror”） to nother （ the“offeree”） of the offeror s willingness to enter into a contract on certain erms without further negotiations. A contract is said to come into existence when cceptance of an offer （ agreement to the terms in it） has been communicated to the fferor by the offeree.The offer and acceptance formula， developed in the 19th century， dentifies a momentof formation when theparties areof onemind. This classical approach to contract formation has been weakened by developments in the law of estoppel， misleading conduct， misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.
2. Uniform Commercial Code （UCC or the Code，《统一商法典》）： The UCC， first ublished in 1952， is one of a number of uniform acts that have been promulgated in onjunction with efforts to harmonizethelaw of sales and other commercial transactions in all 50 states within the United States of America.
