Requirements for a valid contract

An acceptance of an offer is “ a manifestation of assent to the terms thereof made by the offeree in a manner invited or required by the offer.

Acceptance-This basically means that the terms of the offer have been clearly understood and agreed to through consent and assent and at no time will the terms be changed.

An offer allows the person or business to whom the offer is made to, to reasonably expect that the offering party is willing to be bound by the offer based on the terms proposed thus these terms of an offer must be define as well as certain.

Offer – to form a contract there must be an offer by one party. It is a definite and clear statement of willingness to be bound on stated terms without further consultations. Offer can be in written or oral form but it is not effective if it is not being communicated to the offeree.

1. Jerry sent a letter containing an offer to sell his mountain bike to Bill for $300.  This letter was sent on Oct. 1 and it was received on Oct. 4.  On Oct. 5 Bill sent a letter to Jerry accepting the offer.  But then Bill changed his mind; on Oct 6 Bill sent a message by personal messenger to Jerry, rejecting Jerry’s offer.  The messenger delivered the rejection and it was received by Jerry on Oct. 7.  The letter containing Bill’s acceptance was received on Oct. 8.  Based on the above, has a contract been formed for the sale of the mountain bike?

Wilbert Heikkila listed eight parcels of property for sale and David McLaughlin was interested in purchasing three of them. Mr. Heikkila proposed a counter offer and then withdrew his offer to sell, was a contract ever reached? To conclude on this issue, we have to look at whether there was ever a “meeting of the minds” regarding this transaction. Mr. McLaughlin made an offer to purchase three of the parcels, however when Mr. Heikkila received the offer, he countered and resubmitted to Mr. McLaughlin. At that point, a counter offer rejects the original and becomes the current offer for consideration. Until the two parties come to an agreement on the terms, there is no contract, stated or implied. Mr. Heikkila also has no obligation to

In this example, an agreement has not been made. The ad that Pete placed in the Auto Trader is simply an offer to do business and not an offer to enter into a contract. The ad “1989 Pontiac Sunbird for sale - $6,000” is an advertisement to attract potential buyers and to initiate negotiations for a contract of sale. Paul provided a response to the ad by offering to pay $6,000 for the vehicle, which then provides Pete the option of accepting or denying the offer.

The offer had been agreed upon from both parties is important. The acceptance of an offer cannot alter the terms of the specified in the offer. “An offeree accepts by saying or doing something that a reasonable person would understand to mean that he definitely wants to take the offer.” (Beatty, 2016) Once the buyers or offeree came to an

The four elements of a valid contract are offer and acceptance, meeting of the minds, consideration and competent parties. The contract must cover a legal purpose or objective as well (Binder, 2012). The objective theory of contracts holds that contract formation is dependent on what is communicated, rather than what is thought by one of the parties (Barnes, 2008).

Case 1 Bert owned an early historic speed boat which he decided to sell for $50,000. Bert told his friend James and James said he was very interested and would Bert give James the first right to buy the speed boat. Bert agreed to do so. After a few weeks Bert asked James if he still wanted to buy the speed boat. James said he was seriously thinking about it. Bert told James he was going to advertise the speed boat "for sale at $60,000 or near offer" on the Historic Speed Boat Club's notice board. In response to the advertisement in the club Bert received a telephone call from Alphonse. Bert told Alphonse the speed boat was for sale "But someone has right of first refusal." Alphonse then expressed surprise and asked Bert if he was selling or not. Bert said he was selling the speed boat for $60,000 or near offer and invited Alphonse to call and inspect the boat. Alphonse called on Bert and after inspecting the boat offered Bert $50,000 for it. Bert said he would have to speak to James before accepting. Alphonse then said he would pay Bert the asking price of $60,000. Bert told Alphonse to wait a minute and Bert went into his office and rang James telling him what Alphonse had said. James said he would buy the boat for $50,000 as originally agreed. Bert said to James "I suppose I have to sell the boat for $50,000 to you". Bert then told Alphonse about the conversation with James.

This question requires analyzing the problem scenario from the perspectives of contract law paying attention to the rules relating to invitation to treat, offers, and counter offers. The scenario involved three distinct cases which should be dealt with separately in applying the following rule of contract law. In spite of its wording the advert on the website does not constitute a legal offer, it is merely an invitation to treat because Abigail put up an advertisement that stated the movie memorabilia on offer for 6,000 pounds or near. As such it is not an offer to sell but merely an invitation to others to make offers.

There are two types of offer; specific and general. Specific offers are those made by one person or group of people who can choose to accept, and general offers are made to a generalised majority, such as in rewards and public advertisements. In the case of CARLILL v CARBOLIC SMOKE BALL, a general offer had been made, as it was a publicised advert. The company did not comply with the terms that it had stated; therefore the court held that the contract had been breached as an offer had been made. It was rightly decided that most offers

An offer is an expression of willingness by one party to contract on certain terms with another party with the understanding that the contract will become binding when accepted by the person to whom it is offered. An offer may be made in different ways, such as in a letter, an email, or even your behavior, so long as it conveys the basis on which the offering party is willing to contract. An offer should consist of: (1) a statement of present intent by the offering party to enter into a contract; (2) a specific proposal that is certain in its terms; and (3) a communication that identifies the person to whom the offer is made. If any of these elements are not present, an offer has not been made. (Walker, C. B., 2012)

The next step in contracting an agreement is to either accept the offer being put on the table or if the party does not agree then they enter a counteroffer. A counteroffer, is considered a non acceptance but, instead a response to an offer that modifies the original offer. Then the original offering party has the choice to accept, counteroffer back, or deny the offer which would mean the contract would be no more. If the offer is accepted, then the next step will be mutuality.

X permitted S to take the lamps. On the next day the price of the lamps on the market rose to $60.00 each. On the same day B sent his truck to pick up the refused lamps from X, and was told that the lamps had been turned over to S. B immediately contacted X and told him that "We have no deal, and I want my lamps back right now." Claiming that he had a contract with B, S refused to return the lamps.