Contracts, Offers And Acceptance Flashcards
What are the six factors that could make a contract defective or unenforceable?
Capacity, mistake, misrepresentation, illegality, duress or undue influence.
What are the three basic essential elements of a contract?
Agreement between parties, intention to be legally bound and consideration given by both parties
What are the three ways in which a contract can be made?
Written, orally or by conduct
Sometimes all three at once
What contracts can be made orally?
Retail/supermarket purchases and selling of own goods
What contracts can be made by conduct?
For these types of contracts you do not necessarily have to speak, such as buying goods from a vending machine.
What is an agreement?
An offer plus an acceptance.
What is a offer?
An expression of willingness to contract, on certain terms made with the intention that it shall become binding as soon as it is accepted by the person to whom it is addressed.
Who can an offer be made to?
An individual, a group of people or to everybody
What case demonstrates an offer made to everybody?
Carlill v Carbolic Smoke ball co [1893]
What must be certain and clearly communicated?
An offer and acceptance.
What is a declaration of intention?
When one person states his intention to hold a sale. This may not necessarily go ahead. For example a poster saying the fair is coming is just a declaration of intention as weather depending it may not go ahead.
What case demonstrates a declaration of intention?
Harris v Nickerson (1873)
What is an invitation to treat?
Simply an invitation to make an offer, seen as apart of the negotiations leading up to a contract.
What case demonstrates an invitation to treat?
Gibson v Manchester City council [1979]
At an auction when is an acceptance made, and what case demonstrates this?
At the fall of the hammer.
Payne v Cave (1789)
What are goods displayed in shop windows or on supermarket shelves considered as, in the sense of a contract?
Invitation to treat.
What case demonstrates that goods displayed in a shop window are merely invitations to treat?
Fisher v Bell [1960]
What case demonstrates that goods displayed on supermarket shelves are merely invitations to treat?
Pharmaceutical society of Great Britain v Boots (cash chemist) southern ltd [1953]
What are the six ways an offer can be terminated?
Rejection, counter-offer, revocation, lapse of time, non-occurrence of a condition and death.
What is a counter-offer?
A counter-offer is when you reject the first offer (or specific terms/conditions within an offer) and re-negotiate new conditions/terms.
What case demonstrates a counter-offer?
Hyde v Wrench (1840)
What is revocation of an offer?
Withdrawing an offer before it is accepted.
When does revocation take effect, if posted?
Contrary to the postal rule of acceptance, revocation takes place once the letter has arrived.
What case demonstrates when revocation should take effect?
Byrne and co v Van Tienhoven and co (1880)
When can an offer be terminated through lapse of time?
If an offer is open for a specific amount of time, which is clearly stated, then the offer will lapse after the specified time. An offer may also be terminated through lapse of time after a reasonable amount of time, for example ‘a boatload of oranges is treated differently from a car.’
When will the death of the offeror cause a termination of a an offer?
If the offeror was providing personal services or any other offer that has not been accepted, provision the offeree has been sufficiently notified.
What is an option?
A promise to keep an offer open, held within a separate and enforceable contract.
What case demonstrates a valid option?
Mountford v Scott [1975]
What is an acceptance?
An acceptance is a clear, unambiguous (unequivocal) statement agreeing to, and accepting the offer.
When can acceptance be made?
Whilst the offer is still in force, and before the offer has lapsed, been revoked, or rejected.
What does it mean by “acceptance must be unqualified (unconditional)”?
This means that the negotiations and bargaining have been completed and that the acceptance corresponds with the offer.
Can silence constitute to acceptance? And what case demonstrates this?
No, acceptance must be communicated.
Felthouse v Bindley (1862)
What three methods can be used to accept an offer?
Communicated either, orally, in writing or inferred from conduct.
What is a unilateral contract?
A contract which is non-negotiable that is accepted by fully performing the required act.
What case shows a unilateral contract?
Carlill v carbolic smoke ball co [1893]
What is a bi-lateral contract?
A contract which is negotiable.
What two cases shows a bi-lateral contract?
Fisher v Bell [1960]; Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemist [1953]
Can a offer of a unilateral contract be withdrawn prior full acceptance?
No, an offer of a unilateral contract is irrevocable once performance has started.
