WK 3 - Tutorial Flashcards
Lewis offers to buy Duane’s bicycle for £85. Lewis makes the offer in January; Duane accepts Lewis’ offer in July.
Is contract enforceable?
- Price fluctuation: Wylie & Lochead v McElroy & Sons (Iron; 5 weeks)
- A contract may have been concluded, unless time limits were agreed upon and imposed
Lewis advertises his bike in his local paper. He lists the price as £85 or nearest offer. Duane sends a text stating: “I will give you £80 and will pick up tomorrow”. Lewis does not respond. Contract?
- An advertisement is an invite to treat, not an offer. (Pharmaceutical; Fisher v Belle)
- Silence doesn’t stipulate acceptance (Felthouse)
- No contract
Lewis offers to buy Duane’s bicycle and Duane agrees to sell it to Lewis. Neither of the parties mention the price of the bicycle. Duane delivers the bike to Lewis, who has now used it every day for last three weeks to commute to work but has still not paid anything for it.
- Muirhead & Turnbull v. Dickson [1905] ~ Piano (Is it a contract of deferred payment?)
- No agreement on price = no communication so contract is not concluded.
- Agreement to agree
- Note: Performance can change outcome. (e.g. Shaw; Avantair; Architect)
Duane offers to sell Lewis his bike for £85. Lewis agrees to buy Duane’s bicycle for £85 but requests two new tyres. Duane refuses this offer. A day later, Lewis contacts Duane to offer the asking price of £85 and believes he has now concluded the contract.
Wolf & Wolf; Hyde (farm £1k - £950 - £1k) - counter-offer kills original offer.
However, parties may renegotiate.
Duane and Lewis have reached an understanding that Duane will sell Lewis his bike once Duane has become bored with it.
Vague; suspensive condition ~ when will he become bored?
No consensus on price.
Tayside Council invites tenders for electric scooter hire for public use in the city. Joyrider is the only party who submits a tender within the stipulated time and budget but hears nothing further from Tayside Council.
- ‘Invites tender’ - invite to treat
- No offer and acceptance, so no contract
Jakob promises to lend his younger sister Ingrid £250 until the end of the month but now feels he cannot afford it. His sister has already made plans to use the money and now threatens to seek legal advice.
- Robertson v Anderson (split winnings) - social agreements; Balfour (wife allowance)
- Promises must be in writing, unless in course of business
- Age - capacity to enter ?
- However, promises irrevocable once made + legally binding in Scots law
Boris got rather drunk in a local pub last night and ‘vaguely’ remembers chatting to someone called Sid Swindle about buying a car. Boris let slip that his eighteenth birthday had just passed and that he had just received some funds from a trust that his grandmother had left him. Sid seemed most interested in this and explained that he had a Porsche he was putting up for sale. Boris is approached by Sid the next day, who claims that Boris has ‘formally agreed’ to buy the car and plays a video recording of Boris agreeing to pay £68,000.
Degree of intoxication - X v BBC
Jan Gough, who fancies herself as a bit of an art expert, agrees to buy a dusty old painting that she has found in a local antique shop believing it to be worth quite a bit of money. The painting cost £100 on a cash only basis. Jan agrees to get the cash and settle the bill the next morning. However, that evening she consults her reference books and discovers it is not the famous painting she thought it was, and certainly not worth the several thousand pounds she thought it would bring if she sold it on. She decides not to bother to collect it in the morning.
No contract concluded or conditional upon payment?
Bob the builder hires construction machinery from Peter Plant Hire, who have provided machinery to Bob on a few occasions in the past. The equipment is delivered on the same day, and then an invoice arrives the next day. On this occasion, the brakes fail on a bulldozer supplied by PPH and Bob is unable to stop it from veering into one of his newly built houses. When Bob calls PPH he is directed to a clause on the invoice, which he has just received. The clause states that RPH will not be liable to the hirer in respect of any damage consequent on a failure of machinery supplied under the contract.
- Exclusion clauses - are they enforceable?
- Are parties aware at time of contract?
