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Should The Postal Rule Of Acceptance?

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In this situation, Cory is offering his computer as part of a unilateral contract. The “first come, first served” basis is a condition of the offer and Cory has prescribed a certain mode of acceptance through email or fax. It has been debated whether email and fax acceptance can be considered as instantaneous communication, or whether the postal rule of acceptance can apply to these methods. As a result of this, different approaches can be taken to decide whether it was Dan or Eve who had completed their acceptance first and who should be provided with the computer. As it can be seen, Cory has placed “first come, first served” as a condition of the offer; it can be argued that Dan should receive the computer because he was the first to respond. However, it has to be considered whether Dan’s acceptance can be deemed complete even though Cory did not see Dan’s response first. I submit that Dan’s acceptance was complete as soon as he sent the email. This can be supported by the decision of the High Court of Singapore in the case of Chwee Kin Keong v. Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd, in which Judicial Commissioner Rajah argued that “the party who selects the means of communication should bear the consequences of any unexpected events” . Cory had chosen this mode of communication; therefore he must bear responsibility of any fault. It is not Dan’s responsibility to make sure that the acceptance is successfully communicated. According to this judgement, “it could be argued that the

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