Important Elements of Contract

1. According to this question basically it is based on contract. Offer, invitation to treat, counter-offer are important elements of contract. So as the result we need to illuminate about contract low. The word which is the contract is especially difficult to define very generalize. Contract means that a legally binding agreement between two parties whereby each party undertake specific obligations or enjoys specific rights awarded by desirable quality of that contract. on the other hand Concise Oxford Dictionary defines that contract is an agreement enforceable by law. American Restatement of the law of contract, 1978: A contract is an promise or a set of promise for the breach of which the low gives a remedy or the performance of which the law in some way recognizes as a duty.

2. An Offer

An may be defined as a clear statement of the terms on which one party is prepared to do business with another party. Therefore an offer is an expression of willingness to contract made with the purpose of that it shall become binding agreement on the offeror as soon it is accepted by the person to whom it is addressed. Offer can be made to one person or to a group or to the world at large. The offer may be made in writing, by words or conduct. A complete contract has three important characters to recognise as a contract. Those are offer must be communicated to a potential offeree, clear and complete enough to be capable of creating a legally binding agreement if consented to by the offeree and intended. Unilateral offer and bilateral offer are the main types of offer. A legally binding offer will include clearly stated terms, intention to do business, communicate of that intention.

Unilateral offer is another name for independent offer. That means the offer will be made by one side. These contracts are made without offeror`s having any idea whether they will ever be taken up and accepted. in this manner be transformed into a contract. Contract can be made to the world at large thus these type offers suitable for this purpose. Most of the newspapers have “lost and found” columns. These are the examples for unilateral offers. According to that offer offeror the person who gives offer has no idea whether it will ever accept, therefore it is independent offer or

Next type offer is bilateral offer or mutual offer, these are majority in offers. These type contracts are made with both parties present on a face-to-face basis. Lot of contracts collaborate on a idea for a principle basis. Therefore an offer to sell car involves a promise by the person who gives offer to sell, in return for offeree`s promise to pay. This is a example for mutual offer.

Sometimes offerors may wish to make vague offers. An vogue offer appears that may be capable of clarification by reference the parties previous dealings and the nature of the relevant trade,statutotry implied

Case Examples For Offer

Carlill v Carbolic smoke ball Co. Ltd (1989): the defendants published an advertisement which claimed that their product would prevent influenza and promised that they would pay £ 100 to any person who having used the product correctly still caught influenza. The advertisement also stated that £ 1000 had been placed in a separate bank account to meet any claims.

Miss. Carlill bought a smoke ball from her local chemists, when she become ill with influenza despite regularly sniffing her smoke ball as instructed, she claimed £ 100 from the manufacturers. Held: The court of appeal held that the advertisements was a unilateral offer by the manufactures of to the world at large, which would be accepted by any person who knew of it and who contracted influenza after using the product as directed.

Bloom v American Swiss watch CO (1915): the claimant gave evidence to the authorised which led to some jewel thieves. He then discovered that the defendant had previously advertised a reward a reward for such information. The defendant refused payment. The court held that the defendant was not legally obliged to pay as no contract to do so existed between the parties since the offerof the reward had not been communicated to the claimant prior to his giving the information

Guthing V Lynn (1831): the buyer of a horse promised to pay the seller an extra £5 “if the horse is lucky for me”

Held: this was too indistinct to enforceable. No indication was given of what the promise really meant.

2. An Invitation To Treat

An invitation to is not an offer it is made at the early stages of making an agreement, where one party tries to find out if the other would willing to enter a contract. Thus it is a invitation extended by one party to another party to make the offer. In the eyes of law invitation is not a binding agreement. General statements of a willingness to do business, Statements encouraging the other party to make an offer, the supply of information about the matter of a possible contract. Advertisements will consider as the invitation of the treat.

Case Examples For Invitation To Treat

Fisher v Bell (1961): the court of appeal held that goods in a shop window, even those bearings a price tag, represent an invitation to treat not an offer. Customers make offers by saying that they are prepared to do business at the price shown. Sellers then decide if they want to accept; only if they do does any contract result.

Patridge v Crittenden (1968): The House of Lord held that a magazine advertisement saying bramble finch cocks and hens 25 shillings each was an invitation to treat. Any offers came from those responding to it and asking to buy the birds.

3. A Counter-Offer

According to create a binding law the offer must equivalent to acceptance. That means offeree the person who get offer must accept all the terms of the offer. On the other hand offeree introduces new term or terms that different from the offer. As the result offeror dose not accept with that different term or terms. Instead the reply is treated as an offer itself, a counter-offer which the offeror is free to accept or reject. A counter-offer is not a fails as an acceptance. Generally it also amounts to a rejection of the original offer. The amount to a counter-offer, the offeree`s reply must itself be competent of acceptance.

Case Examples For Counter-Offer

Hyde v Wrench (1840): the offered to sell his farm for £1000. The client at first said that he would pay £ 950, but after a few days said he would pay the full price. He heard nothing from the defendant. It was held that there was no contract between the offerer and offere. The defendant had not accepted the offer from the claimant, who had destroyed the defendant’s original offer by his counter offer of a reduced price. The claimant`s subsequent statement that he would pay the asking price could not revive the original offer. It was a new offer which the defendant never accepted

Stevenson v Mcmillon (1880): An offer to sell iron at a certain price we not destroyed when the offeree enquired whether delivery and payment might be made in installments. This was merely an enquire as to whether the terms might be varied, not a counter- offer of different terms and therefore it did not destroy the original offer.