Introduction to Business Law

Introduction to Business Law
NTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS LAW
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City and State
Date

Introduction to Business Law 1
Introduction
Xena was selling land to Hercules at a price of $250,000, This price was $50,000 less the
market value. Xena informed Hercule that the offer can only be accepted by exchanging contract
at her place before 2.00 pm the following day. Hercules stressed to the mechanic that he needed
the car before 12.00 midday to exchange a contract 200 km away, after which he would $50,000.
However, the mechanic delayed the repairs until 1.30 pm later that day. Hercules lost the
contract.
Question A: Hercules vs Xena
Issue
The dispute is a matter of methods of acceptance. Whether non-compliance with the
stated method can still be regarded as sufficient acceptance.
Rule
Acceptance of an offer must mirror the rules stated for acceptance. In (Manchester
Diocesan Council for Education v. Commercial and general investment Ltd 1969), Buckley J
stated that offeror can choose to decline the acceptance if it was not done as per the insisted
method of acceptance. Where the offeror had not insisted on one method but had suggested a
method of acceptance, Honeyman J in (Tinn v. Hoffman & Co. 1873) stated that any other
method would be acceptable as far as it benefits the offeror.
Application
On the application of these rules, Xena’s instruction for acceptance stated that the offer must be
accepted before 2.00 pm, and the exchange would be at her property. Like as mentioned above,
Buckley J in (Manchester Diocesan Council for Education v. Commercial and general
investment Ltd 1969) stated that if the offeror insisted on some methods of acceptance, he would

Introduction to Business Law 2
be free to reject any acceptance made by other means. Looking at the instructions of Xena, she
had told Hercules that “the offer can only be accepted by an exchange of contracts at her
property.” From the facts, we are told that Hercules did not go to Xena’s place, he only called to
accept the contract verbally which contradicted Xena’s requirements.
Also, the rules in (Tinn v. Hoffman & Co. 1873) required that if there have to be other
means, only those that are beneficial to the offeror. When applying this rule, we can see that the
acceptance was not beneficial to Xena because the phone line died before they had a clear
communication.
Conclusion
There was no acceptance of the contract. So, Hercules cannot enforce the contract with Xena.
Question B: Hercules and HM
Issue
Whether there was a breach of contract and damages from that breach.
Rules
Damages in the contract are only awarded for broken terms. A determination of whether a
statement is a term requires the statement to be important, be provided by the skilled person,
have a short interval between when it was provided and acceptance of a contract, and it must be
oral, written or given by conduct (McKendrick 2017). Once that the statement has been
identified as a term, a breach of that term would lead to a claim of damages by the innocent
party. Damages are intended to bring the innocent party to the position it would have been had
there been no breach (Adams 2010, p.183).