acceptance - formation Flashcards
When can an offer be accepted
An offer can only be accepted when the offer is still open, an offer starts when it is communicated, they must know of the existence
Taylor V Laird (1856)
Taylor gave up the captaincy of a ship overseas. he needed to get back to England, he worked as an ordinary crew member to get back to England but received no wages, The ship owner had received no communication of his offer to work as a crew member so no contract would exist
LP: the offeree must know of the existence of the offer
William v Cawardine
concerned the provision of information that led to a conviction of a murderer, it was ascertained that the reason for giving information was not in specifically to claiming the reward, she still knew of the offer and thus could claim off of it, her reasons for giving it were irrelevant
(r v clarke)
Steveson v Mclean (1880)
the offer can only be accepted when it is still open.
On saturday, the offer was stated to be open until mon, he said a telegram asking if he could have credit terms and got no reply. At 1.34 he sent a telegram accepting the offer but at 1.25 the offeror had sent a telegram ‘sold iron to third party’ arriving at 1.46. he sued for breach of contract but the offeror argued the query about credit was a counter offer so there could be no acceptance- this was an enquiry so a binding contract was made at 1.34
How can an offer end?
- Revocation
- Rejection
- Lapse of time
- Death
- Acceptance
- Counter-offer
Revocation
it can be withdrawn at any time, the offeror must communicate the revocation as seen in Routledge v Grant (1828)
Routledge v Grant (1828)
Byrne v Van Tienhoven
must be received to be effective
Dickinson v Dodds
heard it the revocation from a reliable source
Rejection
once an offer is rejected, it cannot be accepted by the person rejecting the offer as the rejection ends the offer, however it must be communicated by saying no or using a counter offer as seen in Hyde v Wrench
Hyde v Wrench
The owner of an estate offered to sell for £1000. The buyer made a counter-offer of £950. The seller did not accept this offer. The buyer then offered the original £1000, but the seller did not accept.
The court ruled that there was no contract in any of this; neither party had made an offer that the other accepted
Lapse of time
an offer can come to the end by lapse of time, if it is a fixed period of time, once that is expired then there is no longer an offer to accept, if there is no time there will be a reasonable time before it runs out as seen in Ramsgate Victoria Hotel v Montefiore
Ramsgate Victoria hotel v Montefiore
The defendant offered to purchase shares in the claimant company at a certain price. Six months later the claimant accepted this offer by which time the value of the shares had fallen. The defendant had not withdrawn the offer but refused to go through with the sale. The claimant brought an action for specific performance of the contract.
Held:
The offer was no longer open as due to the nature of the subject matter of the contract the offer lapsed after a reasonable period of time. Therefore there was no contract and the claimant’s action for specific performance was unsuccessful.
Death
it depends on who died, offeree dies- offer ends, offeror dies- acceptance can still take place until they learn of the death
Acceptance
acceptance must be positive and unqualified, this means the terms must be clear and unequivocal i.e. acceptance must match the offer. eg I agree. Felthouse v bindley