Acceptance

• acceptance- a final and unconditional agreement to all the terms of the offer.
• Felthouse V Bindley:

  acceptance by silence.

  Final letter from the offeror stated if i hear no more i consider the horse mine. There was no further response but court said there was no contract as an offer couldn’t be accepted by silence.
• Yates V Pulleyn:

  specific methods of communication

  Requred to accept by registered post. When a letter of acceptance was sent by ordinary post it wasn’t sufficient.

  Lord Denning made the difference between the requirement being mandatory and directory, mandatory has to be followed wheres directory only required completion within the time frame.
• 3 ways in which acceptance can occur:

  1. acceptance by conduct
  2. acceptance by use of post
  3. electronics methods of communication
• Reveille V Anotech International:

  Acceptance by conduct

  There was a written offer document which stated it wasn’t binding until no trh parties had signed. Offeree made some alterations which amounted to a counter offer and the document was unsigned by offeror. But there was performance of one party of the contract and the dispute concerned whether a binding contract came into existence. The counter offer had been accepted by conduct as the prescribed mode of accepted have been waived by the original offeror.
• Postal rules:

  • rules only apply if post is the usual or expected means of communication.
  • letter must be properly addressed and stamped.
  • offeree must be able to prove the letter was posted.
• Adams V Lindsell

  Postal rules, acceptance occurs when the letter is posted.

  Lindsell wrote to Adam’s offering to sell some wool and asked for a reply in the post. The letter was delayed in the post. Adams posted a letter of acceptance the same day but because of the day Lindsell assumed Adams didn’t want the wool and sold it someone else. But there was a valid contract because acceptance occurs as soon as the letter was placed in the post.
• Thomas and Gander V BPE Solicitors:

  electronics forms of communication.

  an email of acceptance was received at 6pm on a Friday night. The email wasn’t read until Tuesday morning and the court stated that when the email was sent the transaction coukdve been completed that evening even though it is outside working hours. The email is available on portable devices so there was vaild acceptance.
• Article 11 of the Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002:

  Contract is made when the buyer has received an acknowledgment of receipt of the acceptance.