Although we conclude that the bypass procedure contained in 24 C.F.R. § 866.51 (a) (1978) relieved the housing authority of the obligation to comply with the termination procedure, we do not base our conclusion on the reasoning relied upon by the housing authority or by the trial court. Both reasoned that the incorporated regulations had altered the lease so as to include the grievance procedure bypass. We recognize as a basic principle of contract law that parties to a contract may incorporate into their agreement the terms and conditions of another document by reference, so that the two will be interpreted together as the agreement of the parties. Randolph Construction Co. v. Kings East Corporation,165 Conn. 269, 275, 334 A.2d 464 (1973); Batter Building Materials Co. v. Kirschner, 142 Conn. 1,7, 110 A.2d 464 (1954); 3 Corbin, Contracts 549; 4 Williston, Contracts (3d Ed. Jaeger), p. 135, 581. The critical concern in determining the validity of the terms of a document incorporated by reference is whether the contracting parties knew of and assented to the additional provisions. This meeting of the minds and mutuality of assent are the most basic ingredients of a contract. Hence, the courts, while willing to enforce incorporated terms, *Page 519
will do so only when the whole writing and the circumstances surrounding its making evidence the parties' knowledge of and assent to each term.