Contract Law

Question 1

6 evaluations for offers

Answer 1

Display-Inv to treat vs Offer
Advert-Inv to treat vs Offer
Request for info vs Counter Offer
Counter offer
Has offer ended?
3rd party withdrawal

Question 2

Display-Offer v Inv to treat

Answer 2

Fisher v Bell; Pharmaceutical v Boots
Shelves=inv to treat, prevents underage buying alcohol etc, but removes liability for people selling things when they clearly have the intention.

Too technical:law defies common sense

Question 3

Advert-Offer v Inv to treat

Answer 3

Partridge v Crittenden; Carlill
Partridge-advert was not an offer despite being the intention
Carlill-advert was valid offer
Uncertain/confusing

Question 4

Counter offer v Request for info

Answer 4

Hyde v Wrench; Stevenson v Mclean

Difficult to distinguish difference as both would change terms of agreement.

Question 5

Has offer ended?

Answer 5

Reasonable time (Ramsgate)-unclarified. Law is only certain when time is specified in offer, but many people do not do this

Question 6

Problems with counter offers

Answer 6

Kill original offer. People may be forced to accept undesirable counter offer if they would lose out on contract completely.

Unfair as limits freedom of contract, and can be confusing, as many business agreements go through many counter offers

Question 7

5 problems with acceptance

Answer 7

Silence and conduct acceptance?
Any form unless required to do so
Postal rule outdated?
Postal rule strict?
Postal rule conflict
Modern methods of communication

Question 8

Silence and conduct acceptance?

Answer 8

Felthouse v Bindley-unfair, esp if parties were happy

In Carlill, acceptance could be argued to be silence.

It appears silence is only acceptable when there is conduct too

However, communication allows certainty as to whether there is an agreement or not

Question 9

Postal rule outdated

Answer 9

Post is old fashioned. Acceptance was only made on postage because it used to take a long time to arrive. Offeree can just say they sent their acceptance a certain date.

Question 10

Postal rule strict

Answer 10

Favours offeree, strict on offerer. Acceptance is once posted (Adams) and so offeror is unaware.

Question 11

Modern methods of communication

Answer 11

Postal rule isn’t used anymore due to this. Entores-acceptance once received. Clarification needed as tech always changing

Question 12

Invitation to treat pro and con and eval

Answer 12

Protects sellers to promote without legal obligation.

However can mislead consumers with false statements.

However consumer law and misrep protects then

Question 13

Request for info pros cons

Answer 13

Fair-not every conversation about price is legally binding(Harvey v Facey)

However uncertain as decided on case to case whether it was an offer or req for info

Question 14

Contract law problem overall (2)

Answer 14

Large body of precedent-lack of legislation-uncertainty inconsistency (offer acceptance is established through common law)

Rules on formation of contract too inflexible and rigid eval:strict rules can provide certainty

Question 15

3rd party withdrawal

Answer 15

Controversial-offeree may have acted in reliance upon offer remaining open.

Question 16

Last shot rule

Answer 16

Criticised by Lord Denning, where he argued court should examine the whole series of negotiations between parties

However last shot rule provides certainty.

Question 17

Any form unless required to do so

Answer 17

However in Yates v Pulleyn-was meant to be sent by registered post, however sent by ordinary post-was still valid accceptance. Uncertainty??? What does this rule even mean then?

Question 18

Postal rule conflict case

Answer 18

Henthorn v Fraser-Acceptance takes effect over withdrawal even if posted earlier but not reached. Unfair-binds offeror to agreement to a bargain they no longer wished.