Contract Law
Part 1
A contract is an agreement between two or more parties, which can be legally enforceable. A contract maybe written or oral, although an oral agreement can be difficult to prove in court. In order for a contract to exist it must include four elements, that being offer, acceptance, intention and consideration. (Sweeney & O’Reilly 2007 pg 160). A contract only exists when an offer has been accepted, an offer has the intention to be legally binding and the willingness to contract on certain conditions (Butt 2004 pg306). Accepting an offer means agreeing to the contract and in essences agreeing to the terms of that contract, an offer can’t be withdrawn or rejected and only the offeree is able to accept the offer, this acceptance must be final and unqualified (Sweeney & O’Reilly 2007 pg 180).
In this case although there was an offer there was no acceptance therefore a valid contract did not exist also because a counter offer occurs it means the first offer has been rejected and no longer exists (Sweeney & O’Reilly 2007 pg 178). As both parties were negotiating terms and forwarding offers there is no actually acceptance just the introduction of new terms, this leaves Mary’s offer open to be accepted by James (Butt 2004 pg101). Therefore in this case an offer will only exist if James agrees to Mary’s counter offer. In this case the price of the toys at $9 is merely an invitation to treat or negotiate, not an offer. It invites someone to make an offer but the offer does not have to be accepted (Gooley & Radan 2006 pg 37). As with the case Grainger & son v Gough [1896] AC 325 the courts stated that the catalogue distributed to consumers with prices of wine was without a doubt an invitation to treat. The advertisement from the Petz R Us store simply states that the toys start at $5 it does not give a customer the right to be able to have the product at that price as its just a statement shops use to invite customers to treat, not a fixed price (Sweeney & O’Reilly
A contract is an agreement between two or more parties, which can be legally enforceable. A contract maybe written or oral, although an oral agreement can be difficult to prove in court. In order for a contract to exist it must include four elements, that being offer, acceptance, intention and consideration. (Sweeney & O’Reilly 2007 pg 160). A contract only exists when an offer has been accepted, an offer has the intention to be legally binding and the willingness to contract on certain conditions (Butt 2004 pg306). Accepting an offer means agreeing to the contract and in essences agreeing to the terms of that contract, an offer can’t be withdrawn or rejected and only the offeree is able to accept the offer, this acceptance must be final and unqualified (Sweeney & O’Reilly 2007 pg 180).
In this case although there was an offer there was no acceptance therefore a valid contract did not exist also because a counter offer occurs it means the first offer has been rejected and no longer exists (Sweeney & O’Reilly 2007 pg 178). As both parties were negotiating terms and forwarding offers there is no actually acceptance just the introduction of new terms, this leaves Mary’s offer open to be accepted by James (Butt 2004 pg101). Therefore in this case an offer will only exist if James agrees to Mary’s counter offer. In this case the price of the toys at $9 is merely an invitation to treat or negotiate, not an offer. It invites someone to make an offer but the offer does not have to be accepted (Gooley & Radan 2006 pg 37). As with the case Grainger & son v Gough [1896] AC 325 the courts stated that the catalogue distributed to consumers with prices of wine was without a doubt an invitation to treat. The advertisement from the Petz R Us store simply states that the toys start at $5 it does not give a customer the right to be able to have the product at that price as its just a statement shops use to invite customers to treat, not a fixed price (Sweeney & O’Reilly