Law 5110 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Contract, Davleia, Gijsbert Van Tienhoven
1
The Phenomena of Agreement - Offer & Acceptance
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AGREEMENT
Traditional analysis
Traditionally agreement has been analysed in terms of offer and acceptance, i.e.
an offer, once accepted, leads to a legally binding contract.
OFFER
"An offer is a statement to the effect that the person making it (the offeror) is
willing to contract on the terms stated, as soon as these are accepted by the
person to whom the offer is addressed (the offeree)."
Treitel, The Law of Contract
* The existence of an offer is subject to an objective test, so even if the offer is
made inadvertently it will be capable of acceptance providing that a reasonable
person would be induced to believe that the offeror intended to make the offer.
* An offer can be made in writing, by word of mouth or by conduct.
* The offer can be made to an individual, a group of persons or to anyone who
cares to accept it.
Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company (1893) 1 QB 256
* Offers may arise in unilateral or bilateral agreements (see previous lecture)
• The terms of the offer must be certain or it will fail
White v Bluett (1853) 23 L.J. Ex. 36
2
A father agreed not to make his son repay money he had borrowed if the son
promised not to keep boring him with complaints.
Held:
- How do you know if he’s bored or not? Too much of ambiguous term.
- What does complaints mean? Potential ambiguity here as well.
- Held failed for uncertainty.
Scammel v Ouston (1941) AC 251, All ER 14
O agreed to buy a van from S, promising his old lorry in part-exchange and
paying the balance ‘on hire purchase terms’ over two years. S reneged on the
deal and claimed there was no contract.
HL held:
- No fixed higher purchase terms.
- Held because the terms were too vague to constitute a contract. For
example, was the payment weekly, monthly or yearly?
- What was the interest rate?
When you make an offer you have to be precise.
INVITATIONS TO TREAT – these are not offers. Invitation by one party to
another party to make an offer.
Invitations to enter into negotiations to do business, must be distinguished from
offers.
1. DISPLAY OF GOODS FOR SALE:
In a self service store
Pharmaceutical Society of GB v Boots Cash Chemists (1952) 2 QB
795, (1953) All ER 482 CA
Certain medicines could only be sold under the supervision of qualified
pharmacists. Goods were selected by cusomers from the shelves but a
pharmacist was instructed to supervise the transaction at the cash desk
(till). CA held:
In a shop window
Fisher v Bell (1961) QB 394
Document Summary
The phenomena of agreement - offer & acceptance. Traditionally agreement has been analysed in terms of offer and acceptance, i. e. an offer, once accepted, leads to a legally binding contract. * an offer can be made in writing, by word of mouth or by conduct. * the offer can be made to an individual, a group of persons or to anyone who cares to accept it. Carlill v carbolic smoke ball company (1893) 1 qb 256. * offers may arise in unilateral or bilateral agreements (see previous lecture: the terms of the offer must be certain or it will fail. A father agreed not to make his son repay money he had borrowed if the son promised not to keep boring him with complaints. Scammel v ouston (1941) ac 251, all er 14. O agreed to buy a van from s, promising his old lorry in part-exchange and paying the balance on hire purchase terms" over two years.
