Essential Cases: Contract Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Felthouse v Bindley [1862] EWHC CP J35; 142 ER 1037. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Nicola Jackson.
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Felthouse v Bindley [1862] EWHC CP J35; 142 ER 1037
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Adams v Lindsell [1818] EWHC KB J59; (1818) 1 B & Ald 681; (1818) 106 ER 250
Essential Cases: Contract Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Adams v Lindsell (1818) 106 ER 250. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Nicola Jackson.
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2. Contract I: essential features of a contract
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the essential features of a contract. Offer and acceptance are the first stages in establishing an agreement that may form a legally binding contract. An offer may be accepted at any point until it is terminated. Acceptance can only be made by the offeree or their agent. Consideration is the bargain element of a contract and may be referred to as the ‘price of a promise’. The parties must intend for an agreement to establish legal relations to create an enforceable contract. Presumptions exist in relation to social/domestic agreements and business/commercial agreements.
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2. Agreement
How does contract law determine whether the parties have committed to the contract and what each has committed to? This chapter discusses: the primacy of the objective test of intentions; the offer and acceptance test of agreement and what happens when one party appears to be mistaken about what is in the contract; when an offer is terminated so that any purported acceptance is ineffectual; assessment of the mirror image approach; the requirement of certainty; the nature of the requirement of intention to create legal relations; and the law’s approach to the benefits conferred in anticipation of contracts that do not materialise.
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6. The formation of the contract
This chapter examines the legal requirements relating to the formation of a contract. It discusses the five essential elements of a contract, namely offer, acceptance (offer and acceptance are collectively referred to as ‘agreement’), certainty, consideration, and the intention to create legal relations. It analyses these individual requirements in detail and considers the courts’ approach in determining whether an enforceable contract is present or not. This chapter also explains the principles of different types of contracts, namely the distinction between bilateral and unilateral contracts, and how the normal rules of contractual formation are modified in the cases involving unilateral contracts.
Chapter
3. Agreement Part II: Acceptance
This chapter examines the key cases and principles relating to acceptance. Where an offer has an essential requirement relating to acceptance (like the method of acceptance) then it must be followed. However, equivalent alternatives might be permitted if the offeror has not done enough to make the requirement essential. Acceptance must be in response to an offer, but the motive for accepting is not relevant. The general rule is that acceptance is effective once it has been communicated (received). Automated ticket and vending machines present an offer so that acceptance takes place when the customer is committed—as when payment is made. Meanwhile, emailed acceptance and the use of websites to communicate acceptance are likely to operate on the basis of the general rule. The traditional analysis based on offer and acceptance will be applied to ‘battle of forms’ cases. In exceptional cases, courts may look to the wider context in such cases to identify the terms of an agreement.
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Butler Machine Tool Co. Ltd v Ex-Cell-O Corporation (England) Ltd [1979] 1 WLR 401, Court of Appeal
Essential Cases: Contract Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Butler Machine Tool Co. Ltd v Ex-Cell-O Corporation (England) Ltd [1979] 1 WLR 401. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Nicola Jackson.
Chapter
8. Secret trusts
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses secret trusts. Secret trusts allow property to be left to someone in a will without explicitly naming that person. This is achieved by a bequest to a person who has previously promised to hold that property as trustee for the intended recipient. The anonymity provided by a secret trust is important, as all wills are public documents and therefore open to scrutiny. Secret trusts can be either fully secret or half secret. To establish a valid secret trust there must be: an intention to create a trust; communication of that intention; and acceptance of the trust obligation.
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3. The Phenomena of Agreement
M P Furmston
This chapter and the next two chapters set out the way in which a legally binding contract is made. This chapter explains the formation of the contract and sets out the rules that determine whether what has happened should legally be regarded as an agreement. The discussions cover offer and acceptance; termination of offer; constructing a contract; inchoate contracts; and long-term relationships.
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2. The Agreement
Jack Beatson, Andrew Burrows, and John Cartwright
A contract consists of an actionable promise or promises. Every such promise involves at least two parties, a promisor and a promisee, and an outward expression of common intention and of expectation as to the declaration or assurance contained in the promise. This outward expression of a common intention and of expectation normally takes the form of an agreement. This chapter discusses the establishment of an agreement by offer and acceptance; uncertain and incomplete agreements; and the intention to create legal relations.
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3. Offer and Acceptance
This chapter discusses the rules of offer and acceptance that have been laid down by the courts over the years. It states that the rules claim to be of general application and that they purport to give effect to the intention of the parties, albeit their intention objectively ascertained. The chapter also establishes that the rules in practice are often inter-linked. For example, the question whether or not an offer has been accepted may depend in a particular case on whether or not the offer was revoked before it was accepted; a court deciding such a case must decide when both the acceptance and the revocation took effect. The chapter examines the difference between an offer and an invitation to negotiate (or an invitation to treat), particularly in its application to contracts concluded in shops, tenders and contracts concluded at an auction, the battle of the forms, the time at which acceptance takes place when a contract is concluded by post, and acceptance in the case of unilateral contracts.
Chapter
3. Offer and Acceptance
This chapter discusses the rules of offer and acceptance that have been laid down by the courts over the years. It states that the rules claim to be of general application and that they purport to give effect to the intention of the parties, albeit their intention objectively ascertained. The chapter also establishes that the rules in practice are often inter-linked. For example, the question whether or not an offer has been accepted may depend in a particular case on whether or not the offer was revoked before it was accepted; a court deciding such a case must decide when both the acceptance and the revocation took effect. The chapter examines the difference between an offer and an invitation to negotiate (or an invitation to treat), particularly in its application to contracts concluded in shops, tenders and contracts concluded at an auction, the battle of the forms, the time at which acceptance takes place when a contract is concluded by post, and acceptance in the case of unilateral contracts.
Chapter
2. Offer and Acceptance
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary, and other features. This chapter outlines a number of questions that need to be posed in answering exam questions about the rules of offer and acceptance and certainty of terms. First, has an offer been made? Secondly, if an offer has been made, has the offeree unequivocally accepted this offer? Thirdly, has the acceptance been communicated effectively? Fourthly, at the moment when the acceptance is deemed to have been effective, is the offer still open? Fifthly, are there any exceptions to the aforesaid rules of offer and acceptance? Finally, is an agreement sufficiently certain?
Chapter
2. Bargaining and agreeing
Offer, acceptance, and formation
This chapter focuses on agreement between parties as a requirement in the formation of a contract. Agreement is said to be reached when one party (the ‘offeree’) makes an offer to another proposing certain terms by which he intends to be bound, which that other party accepts as made. An agreement will only be taken to have been reached if the acceptance perfectly mirrors the offer. This chapter first examines the relatively straightforward situation of a seller and buyer bargaining over a prospective sale. It explains the distinction between an offer, an invitation to treat, and a counter-offer, as well as the importance of communicating acceptance and applicability of the postal rule to modern forms of communication. It also considers how the principles of offer and acceptance translate to other forms of contracting. The chapter covers the most influential and important cases in the subject area.
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3. Offer and acceptance: bilateral contracts
This chapter analyses the key elements traditionally required for the formation of a bilateral contract. Contracts are bargains. The natural way to make a bargain is for one side to propose the terms and the other to agree to them. So contracts are almost invariably made by a process of offer and acceptance. However, the lack of offer and acceptance does not necessarily preclude the existence of a contract, if a bargain can be discerned from the facts in some other way. The chapter begins by explaining what constitutes an offer, and discusses various common scenarios. It then examines the requirements of acceptance, since this is what is required for a contract to be concluded. It considers the possibilities that an offer might be revoked by the offeror; or rejected by the offeree; or the offeree might ask for further information; or the offer might lapse.
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4. The Nature of the Agreement
Offer and Acceptance
This chapter discusses the nature of contracts, the essential elements of a valid contract, and issues in contract law. A contract is a bargain, made between two or more persons, which is legally binding. The essential elements of a valid contract are the following: agreement (offer and acceptance of definite terms); consideration (a promise to give, do, or refrain from doing something in return for a similar promise); an intention to create legal relations (usually presumed in a business transaction); compliance with required formalities where applicable; and capacity to contract. This chapter discusses in detail the principal rules relating to offer and acceptance. It considers the making and termination of offers in unilateral and bilateral contracts. It explains the rules relating to communication and methods of acceptance of offers and discusses the making of contracts via the internet.
Chapter
2. Agreement
Robert Merkin KC, Séverine Saintier, and Jill Poole
Course-focused and comprehensive, Poole’s Textbook on Contract Law provides an accessible overview of the key areas of the law curriculum. This chapter explains how to determine whether parties have reached an agreement. Traditionally, the existence of agreement is determined objectively on the basis of an offer and corresponding acceptance. However, this approach has been challenged for being artificial and inflexible, and even in the absence of these traditional criteria the courts have occasionally found agreement, particularly where there has been performance. For formation there needs to be an offer (as opposed to an invitation to treat) and that offer must be accepted before it has been rejected or otherwise lapsed. In order to be effective, offer and acceptance must be properly communicated, which normally means ‘received’. The chapter also considers the mirror-image rule, whereby an acceptance must be unconditional and correspond with the exact terms proposed by the offeror. This chapter also examines principles that determine when an agreement can be enforced with sufficient certainty and whether liability will arise in the absence of agreement. An apparent contract will be void if the terms are considered too uncertain or where there is no context for gap filling. But this must be balanced with the need to prevent the parties from using allegations of uncertainty to escape from bad bargains. This chapter therefore considers how the courts deal with the difficult question over agreements to agree.
Chapter
8. Delivery, acceptance, and payment
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter focuses on the duty of the seller to deliver the goods and the duty of the buyer to accept them and to pay the price. It first explains the meanings of delivery, acceptance, and payment as well as the provision in the Sale of Goods Act 1979 in respect of these matters, and then considers the distinction between consumer and business buyers and cases where the wrong quantity of goods has been delivered. The chapter also discusses delivery by instalments, delivery to a carrier, and the right of the buyer not to return rejected goods.
Chapter
1. Agreement
James Devenney and Adam Shaw-Mellors
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the components of agreement; an essential ingredient of a contract. Traditionally, an agreement is comprised of an offer and a corresponding acceptance. There are two types of agreement: bilateral and unilateral. Bilateral agreements are by far the most common in practice and consist of a promise in exchange for a promise. Unilateral agreements consist of a promise in exchange for an act. This chapter analyses the agreement process in terms of offer, acceptance, and revocation of offers in bilateral and unilateral scenarios in order to provide structures and scenarios for future use. It also explains the two-contract analysis which is used to impose pre-contractual liability in English law.
Chapter
10. Duties of the parties
This chapter details the duties of the parties as part of a contract sale according to the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (SGA). Section 27 of the SGA does not contain a complete statement of the parties' duties, but Section 28 does define the relationship between the duties of seller and buyer. Each party's duty to perform is conditional on the readiness and willingness of the other to perform and commercial agreements normally provide for the goods to be delivered on credit terms so that payment is due after delivery. SGA's Section 27 indicates that the duties of parties revolve around delivery, acceptance, and payment in accordance with the terms of the contract. The chapter then analyses the notion of exclusion clauses.
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