First Principles of Business Law

5.1. Written and oral contracts

Suppose the parties to a contract disagree on what terms were included in their agreement. When the dispute comes before a court, how are the contents of the contract proved?

Sometimes the contract is entirely recorded in writing and the written document can be submitted in evidence.

In other cases, nothing is recorded in writing and the oral evidence of the parties and other witnesses will be necessary.

A third possibility is that the contract is partly recorded in writing and partly oral. The evidence admissible in such cases depends on the circumstances. Some of the rules are rather technical and are not easy to apply, but the examples in this section of the eStudy module will help explain how they work.