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Acceptance - Coggle Diagram

- - - - The claim was unsuccessful, with the Irish Court of Appeal holding that the contract had been formed when the acceptance was posted in London
- - - - Lord Blackburn ruled "When an offer is made to another party, and in that offer there is a request express or implied that he must signify his acceptance by doing some particular thing, then as soon as he does that thing, he is bound"
      - The plaintiff had supplied coal to the defendants for a number if years without any written agreement being drawn up. The defendants suggested that a more formal contract should be drawn up.
      - It was held that even though there had been no formal communication of the acceptance by the defendant they had tacitly accepted it by acting in accordance with its terms
    - - Some unequivocal offer which exists in a form capable of being accepted
      - Some subsequent conduct by way of acceptance which is exclusively applicable to the offer
- - - - See offer notes
    - - The plaintiff purchaser offered to buy a property for £4750, unaware that the property in question was subject to a ground rent for £50 per year
      - The sellers assumed that the plaintiff was aware of the charge, and wrote back "accepting" their offer of £4750 plus £50 annual rent
      - The Court of Appeal held that no contract had been agreed as the response of the seller included a new term and hence did not constitute an acceptance of the original offer but was in fact a counter offer
        
        There was no evidence found that the plaintiff purchaser accepted this counter offer, despite fact that it was alleged by the defendant seller that they had
- - - - Re Selectmove Ltd
        
        "Silence will not normally amount to acceptance of an offer since acceptance cannot be inferred from silence alone save in the most exceptional of cases"
    - - Felthouse v Bindley
        
        An uncle and nephew were in negotiations in respect to the sale of the nephew's horse
        
        Confusion over the price of the horse
        
        Whether it was 30 pounds or 30 guineas
        
        The uncle wrote stating that they would split the difference and if he heard no more about him he would consider the horse his for 15 pounds and 15 shillings
        
        No money changed hands and no response was sent by the nephew
        
        The Court said that the uncle had no property in the horse as the nephew had not accepted his offer
    - - Both parties agree that silence will constitute assent to the contract
        
        Re Selectmove Ltd
        
        Plaintiff company owed revenue a lot of income tax and national insurance contributions
        
        At a meeting with the collector of taxes the company proposed paying £1000 a month
        
        The collector said that the proposal went further than he liked and so he would have to get approval from superiors and would revert to the plaintiff if they did not like it
        
        The company heard nothing further and the Revenue subsequently demanded payment of the arrears in full
        
        The Court of Appeal held that as the inspector had made it clear that he had no actual authority to agree to the proposal no acceptance of the proposal had been conveyed by the silence
        
        Gibson LJ commented that "Where the offeree himself indicates that an offer is to be taken as accepted if he does not indicate to the contrary by an ascertainable time, he is undertaking to speak if he does not want an agreement to be concluded"
      - Where the need to express communication of acceptance is dispensed with by reason of a past course of dealing between the parties
        
        Rust v Abbey Life Insurance
        
        The plaintiff invested her money in the defendants property bond
        
        She later sought to recover her money claiming that the bond had not been properly explained to her
        
        The Court noted that after she had received the policy she had kept it for seven months with no objection
        
        Brandon LJ held that the defendant had accepted an offer to incest in the bond by issuing a policy to the plaintiff. However, he stated that even if he were wrong in his conclusion, the plaintiff had effectively accepted the contract by holding onto the policy for seven months
      - Where the contract involves a service which by nature cannot be returned when given
        
        McDermott gives the example of a person whose car has broken down on the side of the motorway. If a passing mechanic were to stop and commence work on the car and the owner of the car, having reasonable opportunity to reject the service, chooses to remain silent in circumstances where a reasonable man would be aware that it was not gratuitous then he will be liable to pay for it
        
        Inertia Selling
        
        Intertia selling is prohibited by s 47. of the Sale of Goods Act 1980, which covers a situation where goods have been sent to a person who has not agreed to acquire or return them.
        
        The Statute gives the receiver of such goods too options
        
        If during the period of six months following the date of receipt of the goods the sender does not take possession of the goods and the recipient does not unreasonably refuse to permit the sender to do so then the recipient may treat the goods as if they were an unconditional gift to him and any right of the sender of the goods is extinguished
        
        He can also send a 30 day notice to the sender, and if the sender does not recover the goods in under 30 days, under the same guidelines, the recipient may treat the goods as if they were an unconditional gift to him and any right of the sender to the goods is extinguished
- - - - Butler Machine Tool Co v Ex-Cell-O Corp
        
        Sellers sought to sell a machine tool for a quoted price of £75,535. The price included a price variation clause.
        
        This constituted an offer
        
        The second step was that the purchaser placed an order, but used their own standard form documents, which did not allow any variation in the price, and which also contained several additional terms
        
        This constituted a counter offer
        
        The sellers sent back part of the purchasers' forms and accepted that the contract took place on the purchasers terms. this amounted to acceptance of the counter offer
- - - - There was an reward for information leading to the arest and conviction of a person for the murders of two police officers.
      - The plaintiff was arrested and charged with the murder of one of the police officers.
        
        While in custody, the plaintiff gave information that led to a conviction for one of the murders and later attempted to claim the reward
        
        Although he had once known of the reward, at the time of the purported acceptance he admitted that it had "passed from his mind"
      - The trial judge found that the plaintiff had not acted on reliance of the offer or with the intention of entering into any contract. He had only told the truth after his arrest in order to save himself from the unfounded charge of murder