Why You Need to be Clear About The Subject Matter When Drafting Contracts

One of the most basic parts of a con­tract is describ­ing its sub­ject mat­ter.   The sub­ject mat­ter is the part of the con­tract where you, the client, has the most imput. Generally, the sub­ject describes the ser­vices that are to be per­fomed, the goods that need to be sold, the prop­erty that needs to be assigned. 

When describ­ing the sub­ject mat­ter of your con­tract be aware of the following:

• What are the basic facts of the con­tract?  A well-drafted con­tract requires an aware­ness that words have impli­ca­tions.  For exam­ple, dur­ing nego­ti­a­tions you may have agreed to pur­chased gold.  When you receive the con­tract, the seller may have changed the sub­ject to met­als.  This would have seri­ous impli­ca­tions if the seller ships you sil­ver instead of gold.
• What do com­mon terms really mean?  A com­mon term may change its mean­ing over time, so it is best to define it in the sub­ject sec­tion of the contract.