John owned a large piece of prime real estate that had been in his family for generations.He had planned to eventually develop the land for residential real estate, but because of a recent increase in property values in the area he decided that selling the land was his best option.

David had expressed an interest in purchasing the land on a number of occasions over the years.On September 10^th, John's real estate agent gave David an offer whereby John offered to sell land to David for $5,000,000.The offer was "open" until September 17^thand specified that acceptance was required in writing.David was delighted and immediately contacted his bank to free up some of his investments to cover the purchase price.

On September 13^th, John's the real estate agent contacted David and informed him that John had unexpectedly sold the land to someone else.In response, David stated that he had accepted the offer when he met with his banker the night before and initialled the offer and prepared a formal letter of acceptance.Following his discussion with the real estate agent, David immediately delivered the initialled offer and the letter of acceptance to John.

David sued John for breach of contract.

1. Discuss and apply all of the basic elements of a contract and determine whether the negotiations set out above constitute a legally enforceable contract.Your discussion should include John's defence.

1. Discuss the type of agreement that the parties could have entered into to keep a firm offer open.Would such an agreement impact whether there was an enforceable contract between the parties?

1. Would it make any difference if John had mailed the formal letter of acceptance immediately following his meeting with his banker on September 12^th?

1. Discuss the law concerning contracts dealing with land and whether the facts set out above comply with the law.Would it make any difference if John had made an oral offer to sell the land that David accepted orally and immediately gave John a cheque in the amount of $50,000 as a deposit?

1. What remedies may be available to David if a court determined that the contract was enforceable?