Agreement/Formation

Steps

1) Offer OR Invitation to treat

2) Acceptance

3)Revocation

4) Unilateral contracts

Offer OR invitation to treat

Offer:

Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball co

ITT:

advertisements - Partridge v Crittenden (birds for sale ADVERT IS NOT OFFER)

shop display: fisher v bell (knife on display in shop is ITT)

self-service: pharmaceutical society v boots (putting item of shelf = ITT)

Acceptance

Counter Offer: Hyde v Wrench ( Farm sale - C-O destroys original offer)

Request for info: Stevenson Jacques v Mclean (selling iron - RFI is not a C-O so OG offer remains intact)

Silence is not Acceptance: Felthouse v Bindley (House nephew and uncle)

Must be communicated: Entores v Miles Far East (English v dutch law - acceptance via these forms of communication had to be clear before any contract is created)

Postal rule: Adams v Lindsell (an acceptance of an offer is legally binding the moment it is correctly posted by the offeree, rather than when it is received by the offeror)

Postal rule excluded: Holwell Securities v Hughes (if it is explicitly worded that the vendor must be “noticed” than the PR doesn’t apply and acceptance happens when the latter is received - unless the outcome is absurd)

Revocation

Must be communicated: Byrne v Van Tienhoven (PR doesn’t apply here and revocation is only legally enforceable when it is communicated to the offeree)

3rd party com is sufficient: Dickinson v Dodds (house selling held till Friday)

can revoke before acceptance: Routledge v Grant (R given 6 weeks to accept but G sold to someone else by week 3)

Unilateral contracts

Rewards type offer: Carlill v Carbolic smoke ball co (A promise in return for an action, such as a reward or a product guarantee, creates a valid, binding obligation once the consumer acts upon the request.)

Beginning performance may prevent revocation: (Widower and son/ daughter-in-law mortgage house eviction - Lord Denning ruled that a unilateral contract has a two-fold nature 1. starts as offer but once performance has commenced it is implied it shan’t be revoked 2. only ceases to bind offeror if offeree leaves performance unfinished)