offer + acceptance

• Offer: an expression of willingness to enter a contract on clear terms and conditions
• Case law examples:

  • Gibson v Manchester City Council: 'may be prepared to sell' lacked certainty so not an offer
  • Biggs v Boyd Gibbons: 'I will accept £26,000' was a clear offer with clear terms
• Invitation to treat: a willingness to negotiate and receive offers, not a definite offer

  • Case examples:
  • Fisher v Bell: goods in a shop window are Invitation to Treat
  • Harvey v Facey: 'lowest cash price £900' was not an offer, just a statement
  • Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co.: clear wording '£100 reward if you get influenza' constituted an offer
• Ending an offer:

  • Death
  • Acceptance: an unconditional agreement to all the terms of the offer
  • FeltHouse v Bindley: silence does not constitute acceptance
  • Acceptance by conduct: Brogden v Metropolitan Railway - acceptance when the contract is performed with no objection to the terms
  • Prescribed method of acceptance: signing a document
  • Acceptance by post: "postal rule" states that acceptance occurs when a letter is posted (with exceptions like incorrect stamping)
  • Electronic methods of acceptance: acceptance occurs when received, with exceptions for office hours and reasonableness of reading time
• Revocation: withdrawal of an offer before acceptance

  • Case examples:
  • Routledge v Grant: offer to sell a house was withdrawn
  • Dickinson v Dodds: a third party can communicate revocation
• Lapse of time: an offer will expire after a reasonable amount of time unless otherwise stated

  • Case example: Ramsgate Victoria Hotel v Montefiore - offer to buy shares in a hotel could not be accepted by the hotel 5 months later
• Rejection: ends an offer, counter-offer also ends an offer

  • Case example: Hyde v Wrench - a counter-offer was made, and the original offer could no longer be accepted
• Request for information: mere enquiry with no legal effect

  • Case example: Stevenson v Mclean - asking whether payment could be made in instalments was not a counter-offer, only a mere enquiry