Contract And Postal Rules Assesment

Running head: CONTRACT AND POSTAL RULES
CONTRACT AND POSTAL RULES
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

CONTRACT AND POSTAL RULES1
The given case has arisen with the issue that there is a valid contract formed between
Dr. James Cork and Elizabeth Turner by following the elements of a contract that is offer,
acceptance by the other, and the exceptional postal rule.
A contract is an agreement parties that have a legal validity. The elements for a valid
contract are as follows. Firstly the offer, secondly the acceptance, thirdly consideration and
fourth is the intention to create legal relations (Smits 2017).
An offer is considered as the initial element of a contract. Offer must be
communicated from one person to other (Keršić 2019). The other person must know about
the offer to accept it. Offer can be two types one is general offer and specific offer. Specific
offer is such kind of offer which is given to a particular person or persons and it must be
accepted by that particular person or persons. The case law for the specific offer is Boulton v
Jones (POOLE, Devenney and Shaw-Mellors 2019). The general offer case law is Carlill v.
Carbolic Smokeball Company (Adriaanse 2016). In general offer it is not mention to
particular person or persons and it is an offer towards the society so the one who can fulfill
the terms and conditions will be entertained.
The second element of the contract is acceptance. Acceptance of an offer is usually
known as the unconditional acceptance towards the terms and conditions of the offer (Taylor
and Taylor 2019). The acceptance of an offer must be communicated to the offeror by the
offeree. The person who made an offer can control the acceptance of the offer with in fixed
time period and the method of communication should be proper. Acceptance of an offer can
be improper if it is made in a different way instead of the requirements by the offeror. Mere
silence is not a way to accept an offer if the offeror accepted it then also in the eye of court it
is inappropriate (Kötz 2017). The case laws related to this are Metropolitan Railway,
Trentham Ltd v. Archital Luxfer.

CONTRACT AND POSTAL RULES2
The exception to the rule is known as the postal rule where the post or telegram is
involved to communicate (Defossez 2019). The acceptance through postal service is
considered as complete when the letter of acceptance posted to the offeror in the case of
Adams v. Lindsell. The postal rule requires a post in a correct address and it must be properly
stamped. The exception of postal rule is not applicable where it is mentioned that the
acceptance must be in a particular form.
The third element of contract is the consideration. The parties enter into a contract
when the consideriration is paid. The consideration is the value or price which must be in
existence. A contract is not valid if there is no consideration between the parties (MacMillan,
2016). Consideration must be delivered from a promisee to the promisor as discussed in
Mccoubray v. Thomson. A third party cannot play a part in consideration. There are two types
of consideration and they are known as the executed and executory (Hsiao 2017). Executed
consideration is that form of consideration where the payment need to be paid at the present
and executory consideration has a future aspect here the payment need to be paid in future.
The consideration amount must be proper and value should be there to enter into the contract.
Courts never identify the value for consideration. Cases related to consideration are Chappel
and Co v. Nestle Co., Currie v. Misa (Kuhnel-Fitchen 2017). Consideration must be legal as
evolved in Pearce v. Brooks. Consideration are not only defines by the way of monetary
terms there are other forms of considerations like services, any right and forbearance. A bad
negotiation never become a part for consideration.
The fourth element of a contract is the intention to create a legal relation between the
parties. The expression towards an offer and acceptance through the action both are identified
as the intention to create a legal boundation. The negotiation to a contract comes under the
intention to bound by the terms of the agreement or not is a highly depends upon the
circumstances. Blue v. Ashley [2017] EWHC 1928 is a recent case law to deal with the