Contracts in Business
1. The case Partridge v Crittenden (1965), Mr Partridge had placed an advert in a magazine selling Bramblefinch cocks and hens. He was charged with unlawful offering for sale. However, the decision made was that the advertisement was an invitation to treat rather than an offer. Similarly the Huddersfield Bookshop had given an invitation to treat through the use of a catalogue, examples of this is the Fisher v Bell (1961) case, whereby the decision made was that the display of goods in a shop window was an invitation to treat, and the case of Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd (1953).
On the 4th April, Simon sent a letter offering to pay £500. An offer has been made to the Huddersfield Bookshop. According to Martin and Turner a contract is when an agreement between two parties whereby they are both bound by the law and can be enforced in a court.
On the other hand, on the 6th April the offer was not accepted, this is because as expressed in the case Felthouse v Bindley (1865) “Silence can never be acceptance”
The general rule of acceptance is that acceptance must always be communicated to the offeror. Acceptance is not effective unless it has been communicated to the offeror. In Entores v Miles Far East Corporation (1955) Lord Denning explained how until an answer was given there would be no contract to be bound by. Therefore there is no contract formed between Huddersfield Bookshop and Simon.
However, had John sent the letter of acceptance as he had originally planned then Simon would have a legally binding contract. Bearing in mind the postal rule which claims that acceptance is effective as soon as the letter had been posted, provided that the letter had been posted appropriately. Adams v Lindsell (1818) is an example of this rule, whereby the courts concluded that the acceptance was valid from the day it was posted, and the defendants were in breach of their contract.
Given that John had posted the letter, and then sold the item to Ahmed, there would have been a breach of contract. The remedies which Simon could claim would be either damages or specific performance.
Damages is financial compensation given to the claimant, they are the most commonly used remedy and aim to put the party in the position they would have been in had the breach not occurred.
However, as the item in question was very rare, the courts may order specific performance. This is only used when the subject is of a rare or personal item, which money cannot compensate. in the Phillips v Lamdin (1949) case whereby a rare ornate door made by Adam was removed, the courts decided that the item was too valuable and could not be compensated with money; the defendant was ordered to return the door to its original position. Similarly Simon could claim the rare book as it is a book which cannot be remade nor found anywhere else.

2. “The law will imply terms into contracts such as the goods will be of satisfactory quality under the English Law” (Singleton 1996:3). Terms may be implied into contracts by statute, customs and courts, in order to provide protections for the buyers. The Sales of Goods Act provides a framework for the selling and buying of goods, and are applied in all sales of goods and are statutory implied terms. Therefore these terms are always part of a contract regardless of what the parties have agreed upon as the terms and conditions of the goods. The Sales of Goods Act (S.12) implies that the seller must have the right to sell the goods. In legal terms it means that the seller must have the right to transfer the title of the goods to the buyer. This applies to goods sold in the course of business as well as private sales. In the case of Rowland v Divall (1923) where a thief had stolen a car then sold it on to the defendant. The defendant then sold the car on to the claimant. The police found the car four months later and returned it to the original owner.