The conclusion of a unilateral contract can be proven in the English case Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. [6] To ensure the effectiveness of the Smoke Ball remedy, the company offered a £100 reward to anyone who used the remedy and contracted the flu. When Carlill learned of the offer, she accepted the offer when she bought the Smoke Ball remedy and took the prescribed course. After contracting the flu, she was entitled to the reward. Therefore, the company`s offer to pay £100 „in exchange“ for the use of the Smoke Ball agent and the guarantee not to contract the flu was made by Carlill. So that the U.S. It.C 2-205 is applicable, there must be four elements. First of all, the offer must be made in writing and signed by the supplier. Second, it must be clear from the offer that it is irrevocable for a certain period of time. Thirdly, the contract, like all the provisions of Article II of the U.S. It.C, must concern the sale of goods. Fourth, the supplier must be a merchant. For example, in English law, butler Machine Tool Co Ltd v Ex-Cell-O Corporation (England) Ltd[29] raised the question of which of the standard contracts prevailed in the transaction.
Lord Denning MR preferred that the documents be considered as a whole, and the important factor was the search for the crucial document; On the other hand, Lawton and Bridge LJJ preferred the traditional analysis of the acceptance of offers and considered that the last counter-offer before the start of the service invalidated all previous offers. The absence of an additional counter-offer or rejection by the other party shall be interpreted as tacit acceptance. A tenderer may withdraw a tender before it has been accepted, but the withdrawal must be notified to the target recipient (but not necessarily by the tenderer[17]). If the offer has been made to the whole world, as in the case of Carlill[6], the withdrawal must take a form similar to the offer. However, an offer cannot be revoked if it has been combined into an option (see also option contract) or if it is a „fixed offer“, in which case it is irrevocable for the period specified by the bidder. An offer may be withdrawn at any time before being accepted, unless there is a contract to keep it open; which must be supported by considerations. Because offer and acceptance are necessarily closely related, offer and acceptance in California, USA, are analyzed together as sub-elements of a single element, which is called either consent of the parties or mutual consent. [33] An option contract is a contract in which the bidder promises to keep its bid open for a certain period of time and the target recipient actually gives the bidder consideration for that promise (unlike our examples at the beginning of this chapter where the promise to keep the bid open is not taken into account). Option contract: A contract entered into to keep an offer open for a certain period of time so that the supplier cannot withdraw the offer during that period. The promise to keep the offer open is underpinned by considerations. The first exception concerns public offers.
A publicly made offer (para. B of rewards) may be revoked by publishing the revocation in the same manner as the offer was published. This type of publication ends the power to accept, even for people who may have seen the offer but did not see the revocation. An example: for the conclusion of a contract, however, there must first be an offer and an acceptance, so that the parties can be considered to have reached a legally binding agreement. So what exactly makes an acceptable offer? As mentioned earlier, a contract is unenforceable unless there is an intention to establish a legal intent. Thus, in Rose and Frank Co v. Crompton & Bros [1924], it was perfectly valid to expressly exclude legal applicability. The court accepted that term. It is generally true that the context shows whether there is an intention to create legal relationships, and although legal relationships may exist in a family business, as discussed in Snelling v.
John Snelling Ltd [1972], the court will not normally apply domestic (family) agreements. In Balfour v Balfour [1919], Lord Atkin said that „cold dishes“ are not the place for contractual discussions about „love and affection.“ The expression of an offer can take different forms and the acceptable form varies depending on the jurisdiction. Bids can be submitted in a letter, newspaper advertisement, fax, e-mail orally or even in a behavior, provided that this communicates the basis on which the supplier is willing to conclude contracts. Conditional or Qualified Acceptance: Conditional or partial acceptance that modifies the original terms of an Offer and executes a Counter-Offer. The offer cannot be accepted if the target recipient is aware of the death of the bidder. [32] In cases where the target accepts in ignorance of death, the contract may still be valid, although this proposition depends on the nature of the offer. If the contract concerns a person characteristic of the supplier, the offer is destroyed by death. An offer that prescribes the type of acceptance can generally only be accepted in this way.
However, a supplier is not allowed to stipulate that silence equals acceptance. A target recipient who does nothing in response to an offer is generally not bound by its terms, in particular because it would be unfair to impose the inconvenience on a target recipient to reject an offer that it did not want to accept. However, a simple request for information on the terms of the offer is not a counter-offer and leaves the offer intact. [28] It may be possible to make a request in such a way that it complements the terms of the contract while keeping the initial offer alive. If an offer is sent by mail, the acceptance will be considered timely if it is sent within a reasonable time in the circumstances. If the offer is an offer that leads to a unilateral contract, the offer usually cannot be revoked as soon as the target recipient has started with the service. A simple acknowledgment of receipt of the offer or a request for additional information regarding its terms and conditions is usually not sufficient to justify acceptance. .