offer

Question 1

the offer

Answer 1

can be made to one person, or a number, or even the whole world. May be written but usually a verbal one is perfectly valid. If an offer is accepted then a contract will exist.

Question 2

two rules for offers;

Answer 2

1. offers must be ‘definite’ - must really mean to be bound by it
2. offers must be ‘certain’ - terms of the contract must be certain
   Gibson v Manchester City council

Question 3

An ‘invitation to treat’ is not an offer because it is not definite;

Answer 3

an invitation to treat is just a preliminary step before an offer
e.g. most advertisements = invitations to treat.
Stock can run out

Question 4

Partridge v Crittenden

Answer 4

placed advertisement to sell a wild bird - which was an offence
He was not guilty as the advertisement wasn’t an offer but an invitation to treat.Any offer leading to a contract would be made by a person responding to the advertisement.

Question 5

However, an advertisement may SOMETIMES be an offer…

Answer 5

in a ‘unilateral contract’ - an offer to everyone and someone accepts. The offeree does not need to accept but if they perform the act required by the offer then a contract exists.
Most contracts are bilateral - 2 way

Question 6

Carlill v Carbolic Smoke ball
(unilateral contract)

Answer 6

The company advertised a medicine, the smoke ball, stating the if someone used it correctly and still got flu then the company would pay them £100. Mrs Carlill did get flu after using the smoke ball as instructed.
The promise was an offer that could be accepted by anyone who used the smoke ball correctly and still got the flu - advertisement was a unilateral offer.

Question 7

Fisher v Bell
(goods in shop window or on a shelf)

Answer 7

shopkeeper displayed a flick knife with a price tag in his shop window for sale. He was charged ‘offering a knife for sale’, which was an offence.
The display of the knife in the window was an invitation to treat so the knife hadn’t been offered for sale - not guilty of the offence

Question 8

British Car auctions v Wright
(‘lots’ at an auction)

Answer 8

the auctioneers were prosecuted for offering to sell an unfit vehicle at an auction.
No offer, only invitation to treat.

Question 9

Harvey v Facey
(request for info)

Answer 9

Harvey wanted to buy Faceys farm and sent a message ‘‘will you sell me bumper hall pen? state lowest price’’
Faced stated lowest acceptable price for £900.
Harvey tried to boy the farm but couldn’t as the reply was merely s reply to a request for info not an offer.

Question 10

when does an offer come into existence?

Answer 10

when it is communicated to the offeree

Question 11

Taylor v Laird

Answer 11

Taylor gave up captaincy of a ship overseas, he worked as an ordinary crew member to get back to England, but received no wages. The ship hadn’t received any communication of his offer to work as an ordinary crew member.
Therefore, there was no contract for payment of wages on this voyage.

Question 12

ending an offer

Answer 12

> Revocation
Rejection
counter-offer
Lapse of time

Question 13

Revocation

Answer 13

an offer can be revoked at any time before acceptance. The offeror must communicate the revocation to the offeree before the revocation can take effect.

Question 14

Routledge v Grant

Answer 14

Grant had offered his house for sale, stating that the offer would remain open for 6 weeks. He told Routledge he no long wished to sell the house, this was effective revocation of the offer, even though it was within the 6 week period - offer could no longer be accepted

Question 15

Revocation can be communicated using…

Answer 15

a reliable 3rd party
Dickinson v Dodds

Question 16

rejection

Answer 16

offer can be rejected in two ways;
1. specifically responding to the offer and saying ‘no’
2. making a counter offer - alter the terms of the offer
once offer has been rejected, this ends the offer. The rejections must be communicated before it takes affect. Rejection by one person doesn’t mean the other offerees cannot accept the offer.

Question 17

Hyde v Wrench
(counter offer)

Answer 17

Wrench offered to sell his farm for £1000 to Hyde. He replied with a counter offer which Wrench rejected, so then he tried to accept the original offer. However, as the counter offer ended Wrench’s original offer, Hyde couldn’t accept it.

Question 18

Lapse of time

Answer 18

if a fixed period for the duration of the offer is stated , then as soon as that expires, there is no offer to accept

Question 19

Ramsgate Victoria Hotel v Montefiore

Answer 19

8th June Montefiore offered to buy shares at a fixed price in the hotel. 23rd Nov his offer was accepted but he no longer wanted them as the share prices had fallen; he refused to pay.
The long delay between the offer + acceptance meant the offer had lapsed and could no longer be accepted