Offer

• offer- a promise showing a willingness to contract on firm and definite terms.
• offeror - the person making the offer.
• offeree - the person to whom the offer is made.
• Gibson V Manchester City Council:

  The offer must be definite in its terms and words such as ‘might‘ or ‘may’ indicate uncertainty.

  The council decided that saying ‘may be prepared to sell the house’ wasn’t a sufficient offer.
• Invitation to treat- an indication that one person is willing to negotiate a contract with another, they are not yet willing to make a legal offer.
• Partridge V Crittenden:

  Advertisements are an invitation to treat.

  Crittenden wasn’t liable of selling a bird because the advertisement wasn’t an offer.
• bilateral contract- this requires both offeror and offeree to do something. Bith parties have obligations.
• unilateral contract- an agreement to pay in exchange for performance. No obligation to perform the act.
• Carlill V Carbolic Smoke Ball:

  unilateral contract.

  company advertised a medicine, the advert stated that if someone took this and still got the flu they were entitled to £100. Mrs Carlill got the flu and was awarded the £100 because the promise was an offer that could be accepted because it was a unilateral offer.
• Fisher V Bell:

  Invitation to treat.

  a shopkeeper displayed a knife with a price tag and was charged because they were offering it for sale. This was an invitation to treat so the knife wasn’t for sale and he wasnt guilty.
• Harvey V Facey:

  request for information.

  Harvey wanted to but Faceys farm and sent a messaged asking to state the lowest price. Facey said the lowest was £900 and Harvey freire to buy it for this amount but couldn’t as the reply wasn’t an offer just a reply to the request for information.
• Taylor V Laird:

  Offer only comes into existence when it is communicated to the offeree and this requires the offeree to know the existence of the offer.
• Stevenson V Mclean:

  exact timing can be critical about when the offer is open.
• How can an offer end?

  • revocation
  • rejection
  • lapse of time
  • death
  • acceptance
• Revocation:

  offer can end in 3 ways such as

  1. setting a time limit in the offer.
  2. the expiry of a reasonable time as is discussed later.
  3. publishing revocation in the same way the original offer was made.
• Routledge V Grant:

  revocation

  Grant offered his house stating the offer was open for 6 weeks. He told Routledge he no longer wanted to sell the house this was effective revocation even though it was still within the time period.
• Dickinson V Dodds:

  revocation through a reliable source.

  Dodds offered to sell houses to Dickinson and when a reliable person known to both of them told Dickinson that Dodds had withdrawn the offer, this was effective zz
• counter offer- a response to an offer which makes a firm proposal that materially alters the terms of the offer.
• Hyde V Wrench:

  rejection + counter offer

  Wrench offered to sell his farm for £1000 to Hyde. Hyde replied with a counter offer of £950 which was rejected by Wrench. Hyde then replied saying he would accept the offer of £1000. However the counter offer has ended the original offer so Hyde cannot accept it.
• Ramsgate Victoria Hotel V Montefiore:

  Lapse of time

  Montefiore offered to buy shares at a fixed price in the hotel on the 8th June. On the 23rd of November the offer was accepted but he no longer wanted them as the share price had fallen. The long delay meant that the offer had lapsed and couldn’t be accepted.
• Death- the death of the offeree means the offer ends and those dealing with the estate can’t be accepted on his behalf.

  When the offeror dies acceptance can still occur until the offeree learns of the offeror’s death.