A contract is an agreement between two parties. A document explains the conditions, clauses and data that both parties have previously agreed upon. In the case of the purchase of a good, the price also appears. Finally the document is signed by the affected persons and thus they express their consent.
The concept of contract is broad and in fact there are several modalities: unilateral, onerous, bilateral ... Each modality refers to the responsibility of one or both parties. In daily activity there is a wide variety of contracts: mortgage, sale, marriage and a long etcetera.
The law contemplates the possibility of a private contract. It consists of two individuals expressing the characteristics of an agreement in a document. The public administration does not intervene in the private contract; for example through the figure of the notary. The private contract has full legal validity and its breach may cause a legal conflict that must be resolved in the courts of justice. However, legal specialists recommend that, in some cases such as the sale of a home, the private agreement be corroborated in a public act. In legal language it would be said that the private contract should be raised to public rank. In this way, the validity of it is greater and, above all, the parties are protected against a possible legal problem or fraud, since a notary has confirmed the legal correction of the agreed conditions.
It is important that in a private contract there are no clauses outside the law, because if this were the case it would be considered illegal and, therefore, invalid.
Proper professional advice is highly recommended when signing a private contract, since the intentions of the contracting parties may be good but without sufficient knowledge of the law. Another of the potential problems of private contracts is their interpretation, so there should be no ambiguities that give rise to future conflicts.
Normally the law requires that some contracts have to be written, as it should not be forgotten that the contract can be, although it is very infrequent, verbal.
Private contracts are considered in law as non-formal, since the law does not impose that they necessarily have a certain scheme or format, as is the case with formal contracts.
In conclusion, the private contract is a totally legal document, it obliges the parties to assume their agreed responsibility and it is advisable that it becomes a public contract.
