Offer Flashcards
What is a bilateral and unilateral promise?
- A promise made in exchange for another promise. coffee for money
- promise in exchange for an act.
What are the legal requirements for a contract to be valid
- offer and acceptance
- consideration
- intention to create legal relations
- certainty
- capacity
- sometimes- formalities
what is an invitation to treat
is a proposal that invites others to negotiate or make an offer.
- cannot be accepted
- no agreement can result from it
- courts decide status from ‘apparent intention’.
Gibson v Manchester city council 1979
demonstration of an invitation to treat
Fisher v Bell 1961
display of goods in a shop is invitation to treat
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd [1953]
statuts of displays in shops today. invitation to treat.
How can an offer come to an end? what are the requirements of each
- rejected by the party the offer is made to.- terminates offer. counter-offer is a form of rejection.- terminates the offer. (Hyde v wrench 1840). request for information is different and will not terminate offer (Stevenson v clean 1880)
- by lapse of time- there is no deadline the offer will lapse after a reasonable period of time as he offeree is taken to have rejected the offer by not responding. - ( Manchester Diocesan Council for Education v Commercial & General Investments [1970] )
- if revoked or withdrawn.- it must be communicated to the offeree and must take place before acceptance takes place. (Bryne v van Tienhoven 1880) [revocation can be communicated by third-party- Dickinson v Dodds 1876] [revocation can be valid in unliateral contract if its communicated before performance of acceptance. Shuey v US 1875]
Stevenson, Jacques & co v Mclean 1880
a case demonstrating that the original offer ends once replaced by counter offer
what is the rule on ordinary adverts
Patridge v Crittenden 1968.
- not offer but invitations to treat.
- based on apparent intention
what is the exception where adverts amount to an offer
Carlill v Carbolic Smoke ball Co 1893
- advert will be treated as an offer if it shows a clear intention to be an offer
what is a puff or puffery
the old way of describing sales hype that no reasonable person would take seriously
what is the basic principle concerning websites and e-commerce
- treated the same as a shop display.
- invitation to treat ( like boots case)
- if a webpage displays an ordinary advert, presumed invitation to treat (patridge v crittenden)
- if a webpage shows a clear intention to be an offer it will treated as such (carlill)
what is the basic principle concerning auction sales with a minimum price
Advert for an auction is not an offer to hold it- Harris v Nickerson 1873.
- (auctioneers request bids at the start of an auction is an invitation for bids)
what is the basic principle for an advertisement of an auction without a minimunm price
- is an offer to sell to the highest bidder.
- Warlow v Harrison 1859
Routledge v Grant 1828
states that an offer can be withdrwn at any time before it is accepted.