An express contract, as the name implies, is a contract either in writing or verbally. According to USLegal, the parties to the contract express the terms of the agreement or the material terms of the agreement sufficient to bring about a contract. There may be some negotiation or communication between the parties. There are situations where the parties do not necessarily discuss or talk about all the material provisions. In those cases, you generally do not have a contract. But there may be a contract because the contract may be implied, either from the circumstances or facts of the situation.
According to Cornell Law School, an implied contract is when the facts of the situation or the activities of the parties to the proposed contract demonstrate that there was the intent. There may have been a meeting of the minds and, therefore, a contract exists. For example, you regularly supply somebody with materials. The other person is a builder or contractor. You typically deliver these types of materials and supplies, but in this case, the contractor did not order them.
Nonetheless, you provided the material, and the contractor used them. You did not expressly negotiate the terms of this agreement, but you had a prior course of dealing. So, in this case, there would likely be an implied contract. The fact that the contractor kept the goods and used them means that he or she accepted the products and there was an agreement. The terms of the agreement are consistent either with what is reasonable in the industry or compatible with the terms of previous contracts or previous agreements between yourselves.
