Loose Verbal Agreements

I love how the movies sometimes influence our thinking about everyday life. Here are some myths that you may or may not believe:

1. Cardoors can stop bullets (myth busted)
2. Cars explode when you shoot at them (myth busted)
3. When shot in the chest your body will go flying backwards through the air (Newton's 3rd Law would have the shooter flying backwards as well)
4. Verbal agreements aren't legally binding (Remember the guy in Jerry Maguire who said "My word's as strong as oak" and then signed with someone else, leaving poor Jerry no recourse?)

I'll address movie myth 4.

Gilham's Solicitors has a very clear article on verbal contracts:

"It is immaterial whether the contract is verbal, in writing, or partially verbal and partially written, although common sense says that recording the agreement in writing creates a document that may be referred to for its terms in the event of a dispute between the parties."

Furthermore,

"Draft contract documents, emails, letters and order forms may lend assistance to deciding the terms of a verbal agreement, and courts have used similar agreements with third parties to apply a standard of reasonableness in determining the terms of the contract in the absence of writing."

Keeping your word is the right thing to do and will build a better society, and it's for this reason that the law recognizes verbal contracts. You may not subscribe to this belief, but realise that a lifetime's reparations might not regain you your integrity once you've sacrificed it.

Also don't try myths 1 to 3 at home...