Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Offer
- To form a contract must
be 'consensus ad idem'
(meeting of minds)
- Most judges agree occurs
when there has been offer
and acceptance.
- Objective test used to find
this, looks at what parties said
and did, not what they thought
or intended. Reasonable man.
- Smith v Hughes
- Won't prevail when offeree knows or ought
reasonably to have known that offerer didn't intend
to make an offer, or an offer in those terms.
- Expression of willingness to
contract on specified terms
without further negotiation, so that
it requires only acceptance for a
binding agreement to be formed.
- May be expressed or implied.
- To be an offer communication must
be; specific enough to be capable of
immediate acceptance; and made with
the intention to be bound by acceptance.
- Will not be an offer when it is
an 'invitation to treat'.
- All other statements made in course
of negotiations; those not capable of
immediate acceptance. Courts look at
language during the correspondance
to determine if offer or invitation to
treat.
- Gibson v Manchester City Council
- Storer v Manchester City Council
- Adverts, brochures & price lists
- Makes business sense for these to be
invitations to treat as otherwise an offerer
may be unable to supply all those who reply.
- Grainger & Sons v Gough
- Partridge v Crittenden
- Exception being in unilateral
adverts, assuming the language is
sufficiently definite and nothing left
open to negotiation.
- Carlill v Carbolic
Smoke Ball
Company
- Shop displays
- Invitation to treat to protect the
shopkeeper's freedom of contract
and to allow customers to change
their minds after picking up an item.
- Pharmaceutical Society of
GB v Boots Cash Chemists
- Websites
- Law unclear but it is generally thought
website will only be an invitation to treat.
Allows retailers to avoid contracts when;
the person in an excluded jurisdiction;
limited stock; pricing mistake etc. So
acceptance comes from the retailer. A
confirmation email may not constitute
acceptance, the terms will indicate when.
- Tenders/quotes
- Request for tenders normally invitation
to treat as the party may have criteria other
than price that they wish to take into account.
- Spencer v Harding
- Two exceptions where a request is also
an offer; express contractual promise to
accept most competitive bid; contractual
obligation to consider tenders that
conform to the bid conditions.
- Harvela Investments v
Royal Trust Co. of Canada
- Blackpool and Flyde Aero Club
v Blackpool Borough Council
- Auctions
- Request for bids generally invitation
to treat so a bid is an offer and
acceptance is the fall of the hammer.
- Exception where there is no reserve. The
promise of no reserve is unilateral offer which
is accepted by the highest bidder.
- Warlow v Harrison
- Automatic Machines
- No room for bartering so
display is offer and putting
money in is acceptance.
- Thornton v
Shoe Lane
Parking