A formal contract is a

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to ...

where the parties have signed under

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

, while an informal contract is one not under seal. A seal can be any impression made upon the document by the parties to the contract. This was traditionally done in wax stating the intentions of the parties to be bound by the contract. Only parties to a sealed document are the people who have rights under it, thus only people party to the contract can be found liable. According to Harvey Boller, J.D. Professor of Law at Loyola University, roughly 100 percent of contracts today are informal contracts. The legitimacy of a contract, however, does not rely upon whether a contract is formal or informal. Both are considered binding, given all other elements of a contract exist. In which both parties agree to each comply with each other's wishes to a certain limit. Usually, the contract is formed by a greater authority, such as a government, or corporation. The Twelfth Edition of ''Business Law: Text Cases'' (Clarkson, Miller & Cross), says that formal contracts are, "contracts that require a special form or method of creation to be enforceable." It uses negotiable instruments as an example of formal contracts, such as: checks, drafts,

promissory note A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...

s, and

certificates of deposit A certificate of deposit (CD) is a time deposit, a financial product commonly sold by banks, thrift institutions, and credit unions in the United States. CDs differ from savings accounts in that the CD has a specific, fixed term (often one, ...

. These examples are all required to have special formation under the

Uniform Commercial Code The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), first published in 1952, is one of a number of Uniform Acts that have been established as law with the goal of harmonizing the laws of sales and other commercial transactions across the United States through U ...

.Miller, and Cross. "Chapter 11: Contract Law." Business Law: Text and Cases. By Clarkson. 12th ed. Mason: Cengage Learning, 2012. 210. Print.

References

Contract law {{contract-law-stub