The process of contract formation explaining the methods by which the courts decides whether or not the parties have reached an agreement.
INTRODUCTION
To establish whether the parties have formed a contract, the courts begin from examining the elements of offer, acceptance, whether or not there was a consideration or the bargain and the contractual intent to make a binding contract and any other external positive factors. The coincidence of offer and corresponding acceptance results in a contract. In some instances contracts are inferred from the conduct of the parties without a direct offer and a corresponding acceptance. Hence the courts further tries to see if the minds of the offeror and the offeree had actually met (the principle
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Having explained the differences between an offer and invitation to treat, it is imperative to consider the various types of offer that exist. The various types of offers are
a. General offers
b. Counter offers and
c. Cross offers
A general offer is an offer made to the public at large or to a particular person by way of public notice. An example of a general offer is seen in the Carlil v Carbolic Smoke ball Company.
Counter Offer is an offer made to an original offeror when an offeree in purporting to accept an offer introduces new terms by varying, adding or subtracting from the original terms. A counter offer kills the original offer. Butler Machine Tool v Ex-Cell-O Corporation [1979] 1 WLR 401
Ex-Cell-O wished to purchase a machine from Butler. Butler sent out a quotation of £75,535 along with a copy of their standard terms of sale. The terms included a price variation clause and a term that the seller's terms would prevail over any terms submitted by a purchaser. The machine would be delivered in 10 months. Ex-Cell-O put in an order for the machine at the stated price and sent a set of their terms which did not include the price variation clause. The order contained an acknowledgement slip which required a signature by Butler and was to be returned to Ex-Cell-O.
This slip stated that the contract would be subject to the terms stated overleaf. Butler duly signed the slip and returned
A writing is not insufficient because it omits or incorrectly states a term agreed upon but the contract is not enforceable under this paragraph beyond the quantity of goods shown in such writing” UCC § 2-201. Other terms including price, delivery date and place should be included in the contract. The contract must be signed by both parties in the event in suing for damages.
The principle of law is that for a valid contract to be formed there must be an agreement reached by both parties.
A contract is a promise between two or more parties that the law recognizes as binding by providing a remedy in the event of breach. In order for a promise to be enforceable it must be supported by consideration. Consideration can be defined as a bargained for exchange between the promisor and promisee; a promise can not be considered a contract without consideration. Common law states also require mutual assent to exist for a contract to be enforceable, this means that there must be an offer and an acceptance of said offer. For example, if a promise is made between two consenting people and one of those
This is a clear expression of a party accepting agreement to the terms of the offer.
Rule: To determine whether the additional terms become a part of the contract there must be a definite and seasonable expression of acceptance or a written confirmation which is sent within a reasonable time to operate as an acceptance even if it contains terms additional to or different from the offer, unless, the acceptance is expressly made conditional on assent to the additional terms or different
The plaintiff Michele Nichols purchased a car from defendant Century West, LLC using three checks as a down payment, dated the day after the contract was signed (two checks) and the other was dated two weeks later. After eleven months owning the car, the plaintiff sued Century West and another defendant, BMW Financial Services NA, LLC, seeking to release the contract. Her evidence at trial court concentrated mostly whether she received a fair deal for her trade-in vehicle, a new car she had leased a month earlier. Furthermore, on appeal, her sole argument was about the way Century West entered her three-check down payment on the “down payment” line of the sales contract, instead of putted it on the “deferred down payment” line. For this reason, she claimed that she had the right to rescind the contract according the Rees-Levering Motor Vehicle Sales and Finance
The offer and acceptance model is flawed- only an agreement is necessary. In order to fully comprehend this statement, we must first establish what constitutes and offer and what constitutes acceptance. “An offer is a statement by one party of willingness to enter into a contract on stated terms, provided that these terms are, in turn, accepted by the party to whom the offer is addressed”. Acceptance is “…an unqualified expression of ascent to the terms proposed by the offeror”. The “Offer and acceptance model” is based on the court’s adopt the “mirror image” rule of contractual formation. Applying the definitions stated above, we can take this to mean that there must be a clear and unequivocal offer which must be matched by an equally
3. An offer. An offer occurs when a party communicates the intention of doing something if the other party does another specific thing. Either the buyer or seller can initiate an offer so it could occur when you approach a cranberry cooperative with an
__T___ A promise to act or to refrain from doing an act can serve as consideration.
Every contract is based on the concept of agreement. A contract is defined as a legal agreement consisting of exchange of promises which is recognized by law as giving rise to enforceable rights and obligations. The test of agreement is used to ensure whether or not there is a contract between the parties. Whereas the objective test ensures certainty, the same cannot be said about the subjective test of agreement. The objective test of agreement is when the court decides whether there is contract based on the outward appearance of what constitutes the contract. However the subjective test of agreement involves trying to establish whether there was a “meeting of minds” when the contract was made. That is, to try to figure out the mental state of mind of the parties involved during the time the contract was made.
Contracts can be defined through promises between parties that are enforceable through law. We know that both parties agreed verbally, an oral agreement was made to hold the car for one day with a hundred-dollar deposit and Stan agreed to the terms that the deposit was refundable. Contracts can be in in two form which are written or oral. Based on the elements of contracts, many fundamentals factors are considered mandatory to form a contract that is binding on parties and are primarily outlined through the following:
In order for a contract to be formed, there are various requirements. These are offer, acceptance, consideration, and the intention to create legal relations. A contract may also be terminated.
that the document did not appear to be contractual. In D J Hill and Co
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.
Contractual agreement has always been viewed in terms of offer and acceptance. The universal principle to contract law has always been parties may get into an agreement in whichever way they deem fit and they are subject to certain terms as they choose. As far as legal requirements vital to their formation are binding contracts may be formed. Moreover a binding agreement may be manifested in terms of writing or in verbal form.