Cinderella is a movie about contract interpretation, negotiation, & breach.
A #lawtwitter 🪡 🧵:
A Royal invite comes to attend a ball. The invite commands “all eligible maidens” to attend. Cinderella asks to go. Stepmother and sisters reject this ask. Cinderella pushes back on this material issue, noting that she fits the defined term & attendance is mandatory.
Stepmother concedes the point, but amends the invite to make Cinderella’s attendance contingent on completing all chores & dress prep. “I said… ‘if.’” (Greatest line ever.)
Sneaky tactic: she & stepsisters then pile on chores, making performance impossible. Or so they think.
Stepmom & sisters don’t anticipate: Cinderella has subcontracted performance of dress prep to the mice! Contract didn’t specify whether Cinderella had to personally perform.
(She pays the mice in only tiny clothing, corn, & love but they’re contractors so wage laws don’t apply.)
Upon showing up at the carriage ready to go, chores done & all dressed, Stepmom doesn’t directly interfere but points out elements of the dress not owned by Cinderella. The beads. The sash. “They give it just the right touch.” Violence (er, repossession) ensues by 3rd parties.
Fortunately for Cinderella, she had a second option that worked out even better than the deal with Stepmom.
(For this one, I think she pays only with “hope” — fortunately, again, fairy godmother is a contractor.)
When Your Grace comes around trying on the glass slipper, Stepmom tries to stop him from trying it on Cinderella. But he validates Cinderella’s initial contract interpretation, noting it must be tried by “every eligible maiden.”
Like a law school exam:
1️⃣Did S have a right to make C’s attendance contingent on chore completion?
2️⃣Does C have a claim against S for making statements S knew would cause violence against C?
3️⃣Does C have a claim against the mice for incorporating stolen property into the gown?
4️⃣Does C have a claim against S & sisters for IIED for *gestures broadly* everything?
5️⃣Does C have a claim against them for intentional interference with prospective economic advantage?
6️⃣Did sisters have a right to repossess their property?
7️⃣Are mice/godmother misclassified?
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