Agreement I - Offer Flashcards
(35 cards)
What are the three elements of a contract?
Agreement (offer and acceptance); Consideration; Intention to create legal relations.
What are the requirements of an offer?
The offer must be certain; it must be communicated to the offeree; and must show intention to enter into a legal relationship.
What is the authority for there to be a need for an offer to show intention to enter into a legal relationship?
Gibson v Manchester City Council (no offer) and Storer v Manchester City Council (offer).
What is the authority that the display of goods is not an invitation to treat?
Fisher v Bell; Pharmaceutical Society of GB v Boots Cash Chemists
What is the authority that advertisements are ITTs?
Partridge v Crittenden
Why is Grainger & Son v Gough significant?
Lord Herschell (obiter) said that if the supplied is also the manufacturer, there may be an inference that advertisements do constitute an offer for sale on the basis that a manufacturer could, theoretically at least, have unlimited supplies.
What exceptions are there to the general rule that advertisements are ITTs?
Manufacturer as supplier (Grainger & Son v Gough) and unilateral offers (Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co).
What is the authority that says invitations to tender are generally invitations to treat?
Spencer v Harding.
What exceptions are there to the general rule that says invitations to tender are invitations to treat
Where the defendants say they will accept the highest bidder (Harvela Investments Ltd v Royal Trust Co. of Canada (C.I.) Ltd) or where there is a contractual obligation on the party inviting tenders to consider such tenders that are submitted in accordance with the prescribed method (Blackpool & Fylde Aero Club Ltd v Blackpool Borough Council).
What is the authority for the general rule that auctions are general ITTs?
Payne v Cave
What is Barry v Davies authority for?
That auctions without reserve are an exception to the auction sales rule. The auctioneer is in effect undertaking to sell the lot in question to the highest bidder (like a unilateral offer).
Are websites ITTs?
Yes
How can an offer be communicated?
In writing, orally, or implied from conduct.
What is the authority that an offer has no validity unless and until it is communicated to the offeree?
Taylor v Laird.
What is the authority that an offer can be communicated to the whole world?
Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co.
How can an offer be terminated?
Rejection; Revocation; Lapse
Does rejection of an offer have to be communicated?
Yes. A rejection does no take effect until it is actually communicated to the offeror.
What does Hyde v Wrench provide authority for?
A counter-offer rejects the original offer and is itself a new offer which will be capable of acceptance.
What happened in Butler Machine Tool Co v Ex-Cell-O Corporation?
- The plaintiffs offered to sell a machine on their own terms and conditions which stated that these terms would prevail over any terms and conditions in the buyers’ order. These terms and conditions included a price variation clause providing for the goods to be charged at the price ruling on the date of delivery. The buyers placed an order on their own terms and conditions which were materially different from those of the seller and which, in particular, did not include a price variation clause. The order placed by the buyers included a tear-off acknowledgement of receipt of the order stating that the sellers accepted the order ‘on the terms and conditions stated therein.’ This acknowledgement was duly completed by the sellers and returned to the buyers. A dispute arose as to the effect of the price variation clause and it was essential to establish the exact terms on which the parties had contracted.
- The court held that the contract had been concluded on the buyers’ rather than the sellers’ terms and was therefore a fixed-price contract. The buyers’ order was a counter-offer which the sellers had accepted by completing and returning the acknowledgement.
What does Stevenson, Jacques & Co v McLean provide authority for?
That a request for information does not affect the original offer; the original offer remains valid and capable of acceptance.
When can an offer be revoked? What is the authority for this?
Any time before acceptance. Payne v Cave.
The promise by the offeror to keep the offer open can be a separate contract that in itself is enforceable by the offeree, only arising when the offeree has given consideration to the offeror for the promise to keep the offer open. What is this called?
An option contract.
What happens if there is an option contract and the offeror revokes his offer?
The offeror will be in breach of the option contract.
What happened in Dickinson v Dodds and in Routledge v Grant.
No option contract was created as no consideration was provided to keep the offer open. Thus, the promise to keep the offer open was not binding and unenforceable.
