Contract Law in Construction

Running head: CONTRACT LAW IN CONSTRUCTION
Contract Law
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CONTRACT LAW IN CONSTRUCTION
Answer to question 1:
The present case law is based on the principle of offer and acceptance. Offer and
acceptance are the popular legal term in the case of contract law (Stone 2014). When one party
makes certain proposals to other with an intention to create legal relationship with him, it is
termed as offer. If the other party accepts the offer, contract is made in between them. In general,
an offer can be accepted through direct communication. This rule has been established through
the case of Cities Service Oil Co., v. National Shawmut Bank, 172 N.E.2d 104. However, there
are certain exceptions to this rule are present. One of the most common exceptions is the postal
rule (Sasso 2016). According to this rule, if an offer has been made to a person and that person
gives his consent over the issue by letter, the offer will be regarded as accepted as soon as he will
post the letter (Bayern 2015). It has been stated by the court that the acceptance rule will prevail
even if the letter address has been disturbed (Poole, Devenney and Shaw-Mellors 2017). The
postal rule has been confirmed by the court in the case of Adams v Lindsell (1818) 1 B & Ald
681. Further it has been observed in the case of Henthorn v Fraser [1892] 2 Ch 27 that if the
parties to a contract has been mentioned about the communicating method of acceptance, the
acceptance will be made when the party will post his consent. The court of appeal in case of
Entores Ltd v Miles Far East Corporation [1955] EWCA Civ 3 has been observed that the
postal rule is not applied in case of instantaneous communication like telex; rather the rule will
be applied in case of message sending machines. Therefore, it can be stated that postal rule will
apply in case of fax. According to the general rule, an acceptance to an offer is said to be made
when the offer maker will receive the acceptance.

2CONTRACT LAW IN CONSTRUCTION
It has also been stated by the postal rule that the process of acceptance is not maintained
in cases of fax transaction. It has been observed in postal rule that acceptance can be held as the
person post the letter of consent. It is not important whether the opposite party received the
acceptance or not. However, in the case of fax, the other party should have to receive the
acceptance. In case of any adverse situation, the acceptance will not create any binding
agreement between the parties.
According to the “mailbox rule”, contract through fax can be established when the offer
maker will receive the fax. In the present case, it has been observed that the Benmark Steel Ltd
has made an offer to Lands End Limited and certain conditions regarding the acceptance have
been mentioned in this case (Bayern 2016). However, it has been observed that Lands End has
accepted the offer and sent a fax within the stipulated period to the Benmark. The fax was
delivered from the machine of Lands End. However, the fax machine of Benmark was troubled
and the company could not receive the acceptance. According to the provisions mentioned in the
Entores Ltd, contract through the fax can only be accepted when the offer maker will receive the
response. In this case, Benmark could not receive the acceptance and therefore, it can be stated
that no binding contract has been made in this case.
Answer to question 2:
In United Kingdom, there are certain forms of contract that are used in the civil
engineering and construction projects. New Engineering Contract (NEC) is one of them (Chan
2014). This type of contract has been made by the Institute of Civil Engineers and provides
certain guidelines regarding the conveyance of construction-oriented projects. The main
intention of this contract is to get tenders or award contracts. The relationship between the two