Virginia Code 59.1-502.10: Terms of contract formed by conduct
(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) and subject to § 59.1-503.1, if a contract is formed by conduct of the parties, the terms of the contract are determined by consideration of the terms and conditions to which the parties expressly agreed, course of performance, course of dealing, usage of trade, the nature of the parties’ conduct, the records exchanged, the information or informational rights involved, and all other relevant circumstances. If a court cannot determine the terms of the contract from the foregoing factors, the supplementary principles of this chapter apply.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 59.1-502.10
- Authenticate: means (i) to sign or (ii) with the intent to sign a record, to execute or adopt an electronic symbol, sound, message, or process referring to, attached to, included in, or logically associated or linked with, that record. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Contract: means the total legal obligation resulting from the parties' agreement as affected by this chapter and other applicable law. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Course of dealing: means a sequence of previous conduct between the parties to a particular transaction which establishes a common basis of understanding for interpreting their expressions and other conduct. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Course of performance: means repeated performances, under a contract that involves repeated occasions for performance, which are accepted or acquiesced in without objection by a party having knowledge of the nature of the performance and an opportunity to object to it. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Court: includes an arbitration or other dispute-resolution forum if the parties have agreed to use of that forum or its use is required by law. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Information: means data, text, images, sounds, mask works, or computer programs, including collections and compilations of them. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Informational rights: include all rights in information created under laws governing patents, copyrights, mask works, trade secrets, trademarks, publicity rights, or any other law that gives a person, independently of contract, a right to control or preclude another person's use of or access to the information on the basis of the rights holder's interest in the information. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Party: means a person that engages in a transaction or makes an agreement under this chapter. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Usage of trade: means any practice or method of dealing that has such regularity of observance in a place, vocation, or trade as to justify an expectation that it will be observed with respect to the transaction in question. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
(b) This section does not apply if the parties authenticate a record of the contract or a party agrees, such as by manifesting assent, to the record containing the terms of the other party.