Business Law and Ethics

Assignment

14/03/2013
Module : 26313
Module leader : Phil Robinson
Words count : 1088
In order to advise Neil, it is necessary to consider the law of the contracts, especially about offer and acceptance. We will analyze the situation to see what laws are applicable and advise Neil.
In this case, we have three different people: Firstly an offeror, a person who makes an offer (in this case, Neil) and two offerees, the person to whom an offer is made (in this case, Theresa and Alex).

Neil placed an advert in the “Cats Weekly” magazine, which offer a rare female utopian cat for sale £500 or nearest offer. This is an invitation to treat, which is “an indication that a person is prepared to receive offers
She’s not sure that this is the same cat, but she posts a letter to Neil to tell him she has left a message and that she still wants it. Actually, on the authority of Dickinson v Dodds (1876) “the revocation of offer may be communicated by any third party who is a sufficiently reliable informant”. In this case, Alex’s grandmother is not a “reliable informant”.
On Friday, at 11.00 am, Theresa receives a revocation letter from Neil. We know that “the offeror’s revocation does not take effect until the revocation is communicated to the oferee” [Byrne v Van Tienhoven (1880)]. So at this time, Theresa is aware that the cat has been sold to someone else.
Moreover, Neil receives Theresa’s letter only at 1.00pm, whereas he had told her she has until 12.00 to accept the offer.
Thanks to all these arguments, we can see that Neil and Theresa have never set an acceptance, so Neil is not bound with a contract to Theresa.

Case of Alex
On Wednesday, Alex sees the advertisement and made an appointment with Neil on Thursday. He made an offer of £470 for the cat, and Neil accepts it. “Acceptance is a positive act by a person to whom an offer has been made which, if unconditional, brings a binding contract into effect”.
To be valid, a contract must respect rules such as: validity, form, content, genuine consent, and