Offer and Accepatnce (section 3-9 of Indian contract act 1872)

offer
When one person signifies to another his willingness to do or to abstain from doing anything, with a view to obtaining the assent of another person he is said to make an offer or proposal A offers to sell his book to B. A is making an offer to sell his book A offers not to file a suit against B if the latter pays A the amount of Rs. 200 outstanding. Here the act of A is negative one; he is offering to abstain from filing a suit How an offer is made An offer can be made by a) any act b) by omission of the party proposing by which he intends to communicate such proposal

An offer can be made by act in the following ways: a) by words ( written or oral) b) by conduct

An offer implied from the conduct of the parties or from the circumstances of the case is known as implied offer

Specific and general offer

An offer can be made either : 1. To a definite person or group 2. to the public at large Ex: A offers to sell his house to B. this is a specific offer Ex: In carbolic smoke ball co s case, the patent medicine company advertised that I would give a reward of 100 dollars to anyone who contracted influenza after using the smoke balls of the company for a certain period according to the printed directions. Mrs. Carlill purchased the advertised smoke ball and contracted influenza in spite of using the smoke ball according to the printed instructions. She claimed the reward. The claim was resisted by the company on the ground that offer was not made to her and that in any case she had not communicated her acceptance of the offer. She filed suit for the recovery of the reward Held: she could recover the reward as she had accepted the offer by complying with the terms of the offer's

Essential requirements of the valid offer The offer must have been made with a view to obtain acceptance The offer must be made with the intention of creating legal relations The terms of the offer must be definite, unambiguous and certain or capable of being made certain An offer must be distinguished from a) Mere declaration of intention b) an invitation to offer or to treat The offer must be communicated to the offeree. A tender is an offer as it is in response to an invitation to offer. The special terms forming part of the offer must be duly brought to the notice of the offeree at the time the offer is made. If it is not done then there is no valid offer and if the offer is accepted, and the contract is formed, the offeree is not bound by the special terms which were not brought to his notice.

Cross offer: Where two parties make two identical offers to each other, in ignorance of each others offer, the offers are known as cross offers and neither of the two can be called as acceptance of the other, and therefore is no contract Ex: H wrote to T offering to sell him 800 tons of iron at 69o Rs. Per ton. On the same day T wrote to H offering to buy 800 tons at 690 Rs. per ton. Their letters crossed in the post. T contended that there was a good contract. Held: that there was no contract

Termination or lapses of an offer:

1. The offer lapses after stipulated or stipulated time. 2. An offer lapses by the death or insanity of the offeror or the offeree before acceptance 3. an offer terminates when rejected by the offeree 4. an offer terminates when revoked by the offeror before acceptance 5. an offer terminates by not being accepted in the mode prescribed 6. a conditional offer terminates when the condition is not accepted by the offeree 7. Counter offer: Where in place of accepting the terms of an offer as they are, the offeree accepts the same subject to certain condition or qualification, he is made to make a counter offer

Acceptance
When the person to whom the proposal is made signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted Acceptance is either expressed or implied Essentials of a valid acceptance: Acceptance must be absolute and unqualified acceptance must be communicated to the offeror acceptance must be according to mode prescribed it must be given within the time specified or within reasonable time it must be made before the offer lapses it must be given by the person to whom the offer is made

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