Legal drafting is defined as the set of procedures and means taken to prepare agreements and draft laws based on the principles proposed by the requesting party, in a manner consistent with the principles of the constitution and the provisions of the applicable laws, in preparation for the establishment of mutual obligations between the parties to the agreement.
At the forefront of these agreements is the drafting of contracts in general, as contract drafting is considered the first stage of specialized drafting that individuals in society seek to have prepared. Drafting contracts requires translating the agreement of the parties, along with the mutual obligations it entails, whether the parties are two or more, into a legally correct and binding framework. Therefore, it cannot be said that contract drafting is merely a literary or demonstrative exercise that showcases linguistic eloquence.
For this reason, it is essential for the parties to contracts or agreements in general to resort to a specialist to draft them on purely scientific and legal grounds. It cannot be said that mere proficiency in language enables legal drafting.
Thus, the necessity of resorting to a specialist for drafting legal documents is of utmost importance, and this is what HO Lawfirm advises all clients. However, the question here is how to draft contracts, as they are the most common documents individuals, whether natural or legal persons, may need.
Given that contracts are what people need most, we must first define what a contract is before delving into its types and how to draft it. Legal scholars have defined a contract as the union of two wills, the effect of which is manifested in the subject matter of the contract. Therefore, for a contract to be valid, the mutual consent of the parties is required, and this consent must be directed towards a subject matter capable of bearing the effects of the contract. Thus, consent is an expression of the will of the contracting parties, and this will can only be issued by a sane and aware human being. Finally, this will must be directed towards achieving a specific and defined purpose.
It can be said that the pillars of a contract in law lie in three elements: the first pillar is consent, which is the inclination of the parties' wills to conclude the contract; the second pillar is the cause, which is the legitimate purpose for concluding the contract; and the final pillar is the subject matter, which is determined by the parties to the contract and must meet all the conditions stipulated by law.