Business and Corporate Law 1: Offer, Acceptance, and Legal Remedies

This report provides a detailed analysis of a business law case involving James and Elizabeth, focusing on the principles of contract formation. It examines the initial offer by James to sell his van, Elizabeth's responses, including a counteroffer, and the subsequent acceptance. The report delves into the application of postal rules, the significance of timing in contract formation, and the concept of revocation. It also explores the legal remedies available to James based on the sequence of events. The analysis references relevant legal precedents such as Partridge v Crittenden, Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball, Harvey v Facey, Hyde v Wrench, and Entorres v Miles Far East, providing a comprehensive understanding of the legal principles involved. The report concludes that a valid contract was formed, despite the initial counteroffer, and that James is unlikely to have suffered a breach of contract.

Business and Corporate
Law
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Sequence in event- James sends Elizabeth a letter......................................................................3
Next sequence: Elizabeth sends James a postcard.......................................................................4
Next sequence: Elizabeth changed her mind...............................................................................5
Next sequence: Is timing important.............................................................................................6
Additional sequence: Could James be entitled to any legal remedy...........................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
Law is considered as a valuable system of rules that are developed and enforced by social
as well as government bodies to regulate conduct. It follows specific practices in order to face
any crime, property, and finance. However, a contract is a legal binding agreement that
recognizes the rights and duties of the concern parties that are involved in the agreement. It
happens to be legally enforceable because it fulfills the needs of law, whereas an offer is
generally a clear indication of the offeror's willingness to enter into an agreement with specific
terms and conditions (Southgate and Glazer, 2012). Moreover, acceptance is a kind of situation
in which party is able to accept something from the offeror, while a revocation is termed as
official canceling of something by some authority. Therefore, this project report intent to provide
specific information about the postal rules, offer and acceptance that are made between James
and Elizabeth.
MAIN BODY
Sequence in event- James sends Elizabeth a letter
Issue: According to the mentioned case scenario between James and Elizabeth, it has
been seen that there was a valid offer made in which James has offering to sell his van for
£3,000. In fact, it is said to be a valid contract in the situation of both an offer and acceptance.
Hence, the offer would be considered a binding contract because it was accepted by Elizabeth.
Law: Partridge V Crittenden and Carlill v Carbolic smoke case
According to the above-mentioned case example, it has been seen that the defendant
placed a public notice in a categorized section of a magazine and offer some bramble finches for
sales. As per section 6 of birds act 1954, it is an offense to offer such type of bird for sale. In this
case, the defendant's assurance was quashed. The ad was considered as an invitation to treat not
an offer (Rhee, 2012).
Carill V Carbolic smoke ball case is all about a newspaper ad placed by the defendant in
which £100 is been rewarded to any individual who can contract influenza after using the ball
three-time regularly for two weeks. Mrs carlill has decided to buy some balls and utilize them
according to that impact in the form of flu (E-lawresources, 2018).). The court has found that
Mrs. Carlill was entitled to the reward as the ad constituted an offer of a unilateral contract. She
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had accepted the offer after reading all the terms and conditions mentioned in the ad. The court
has straight away rejected all the arguments that are forward by the defendant.
Therefore, there was a clear difference between these two case examples that one is related to the
invitation, whereas another is based on the offer. Both situations are identical to their respective
issues. Thus, it cannot be considered as a valid offer or a contract.
Application:
After analyzing the two different case situations, it has been seen that a contract can only
be formed in the case both parties agree on the terms and conditions with their mutual consent. It
was clearly seen that James had made the offer for van sales and Elizabeth has accepted his offer
comfortably (Eren and et.al., 2012). Henceforth, there is a valid formation of a binding contract
because it was accepted at the end by Elizabeth in £3000 as an offer by James earlier.
Conclusion:
From the above situation, it has been articulated that an offer letter is termed as an
informal offer of purchase that typically made to confirm a verbal agreement. The message was
clear from Elizabeth's side that she is ready to accept the offer; hence it formed a valid offer and
acceptance case. Therefore, it is an appearance of a craving to enter into a contract that is
valuable to both parties implicated in the agreement.
Next sequence: Elizabeth sends James a postcard
Issue: In the case of acceptance, Elizabeth in its first not having proper mindset required
whether to accept the offer which was made by James. She wants to pay £2900 for the purchase
of van which was not as offered by James. The contract can only be a valid offer when they
mutually agreed by both parties. But it was a clear case of justice issues from Elizabeth's point of
view that was not accepted by Elizabeth.
Law: Harvey v Facey
According to this particular case example, it has been seen that Harvey sent a telegram to
Facey in which he asked to sell a Bumper hall pen was made. However, Facey replied clearly to
telegram that states that the minimum price for the Bumper pen would be € 900. Hence, Harvey
was agreed on the price that is asked by Facey. The court has found that there was no contract
that summary between both parties. It has been seen that there was no intention that the telegram
sent was to be an offer. Henceforth, it will show that there is no evidence of postal rules that can
be determined conflict in distant business.
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Application:
Similarly, in the case of James and Elizabeth, there is no intention to write a postcard by
James, it was only Elizabeth who thinks that it will help them to communicate their offer
effectively. Therefore, the postal rules cannot be applied in this scenario. These two acts give
innovative insights into the overall application of postal regulation (Wells, 2012).
Conclusion:
According to the above analysis, it has been concluded that the justification of using
postal rules in the source of mailing could be regarded as the same as the new communication
method. However, this would determine the online mode as well as benefits both the parties. It
has been believed that it would still valid in the modern situation and continue to develop healthy
communication to form a contract.
Next sequence: Elizabeth changed her mind
Issue: After examining the matter of both parties, it has been seen that there is no new
proposal made by Elizabeth. It was based on the actual cost that is earlier offer by James for its
van. Again it was clearly seen that Elizabeth was not positive with its mindset that the cost of the
van is €3000 not below the offer value. It is related to the counteroffer terms that means the real
offer was rejected and replaced with a new one.
Law: Hyde v Wrench
In this case example, the defendant has offered to sell its farm to a cost of £1,000. The
value is being replied with an offered £950 which was rejected by the defendant. The claimant
then decided to accept the real offer of £1,000. However, the defendant tends to refuse to sell the
products to the claimant as well as brought an action for a specific performance (E-lawresources,
2018). The court has found that there is no contract established between the parties only a
counteroffer is being made that has destroyed the real offer so that it is no longer release to the
offeree to allow.
Application: According to the above case analysis, it has been examined that the James
and Elizabeth situation was also based on a counter offer concept. The offer made by James was
initially rejected by Elizabeth and required to accept under the actual value of £3000 as a
counteroffer. Therefore, there is no contract exists between them (Hiller, 2013). These changes
will not impact on either person. This is the reason Elizabeth has decided to write a postcard to
James informing about the negotiation price for the van.
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Conclusion:
From the above sequence, it has been concluded that there is no contract exists between the two
parties because it was clearly based on a counter offer. Elizabeth has tried to negotiate the
amount in its first phase. However, it would not impact the real offer made by James to
Elizabeth. Therefore, it is considered a new offer that has been made in response to an offer that
has been received by James. It has a huge effect on rejecting the real offer that cannot be
accepted by Elizabeth except revived by the offeror.
Next sequence: Is timing important
Issue: It has been seen that timing is an important essence in any contract during a time limit. It
is an essential situation of a contract, if one party would not be able to perform a contractual
obligation by the time agreed the party will be in repudiatory breach of any agreement (Allen and
Kraakman, 2016). However, in mentioned case, it has been seen that the post card was posted at
12.50pm ensuring a next day arrival, whereas after Elizabeth changes her mind she send a letter
at 3.00 pm onward to James. It is much important to have proper timing for the negotiation so
that negotiation could be made in proper manner.
Law: Entorres v Miles Far East
In this case, the claimant has sent a telex message offering to buy 100 tons of Cathodes
from the defendants. After that, the defendant has replied from Holland to London premise
informing about the acceptance of the offer. The value is considered as an effective acceptance
that is required to be exchange to the offeree. Henceforth, the contract was made in England
regulation.
Adams v Lindsell
According to this case, the defendants has written to claimant by offering to sell them
some wool as well as asked to reply in the form of post. It was then delayed in the post office,
after receiving the letter; the claimant posted a letter of acceptance in the same day. Because of
delay there was lack of interest shown from claimant and decided to sell it to the third party (E-
lawresources, 2018). The court has found that there was a valid contract that comes into act
during the moment the acceptance was made. It was categories under the postal rules law.
Application: It has been examined that time plays important factors in any contract because
sometimes judgment can be easily made because of having proper information about the offer
and acceptance. However, it is clearly seen in the case of James and Elizabeth there no time
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issues found. The postcard and letter were sent on their respective time gap. Thus, failure to act
within the specific time need represents a breach of the contract (Yates, Kulkarni and Zurko,
2013).
Conclusion: From the above sequence, it has been articulated that the time gap sometimes
creates negative effects on the party. The contract would also be rejected by James if Elizabeth
would not send the letter of acceptance after the postcard. Therefore, it is important for the
parties to consider the time factors while getting involved in any type of contract.
Additional sequence: Could James be entitled to any legal remedy
During the entire case scenario, one party has offered to sell van to Elizabeth of €3000.
Initially, it was counter offer by € 2900 and finally agreed on the offer which was earlier made
by James. Thus, there is no any chance of breach in contract has been seen in the case.
Law: Pilbrow v Pearless de Rougemont & Co
This case is all about a customer who has asked to see a advocate there was a contract to
deliver legal service among the firm and the customer. In case the firm could not inform to the
client has right to provide an advisor that cannot actually a solicitor has not perform his duties
and liable to recover its cost from the customer. It was a clear case breach of contract.
Application: As mentioned in the case, it has been seen that the customer is liable to
follow proper instructions that are mentioned in the contract (Rutledge, 2014). According to the
case of James and Elizabeth's case, if one party is not able to fulfill the terms and conditions
properly then there is no contract.
Conclusion: The above analysis concluded that breach of contract is a legal aspect that
determines the violation of a contract that arises in the case one party fails to satisfy the promises
according to the term. Therefore, it is important to have mutual consent among both parties
before involving in any contract.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report, it has been concluded that corporation law plays an
important role in defining the nature of the agreement between the parties. However, parties need
to determine all crucial legal matters those are the primary base of any offer or acceptance.
Therefore, it has been clearly seen in the above case that a valid contract is been made between
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the parties because they are equally agreed on the terms and conditions that are offered by the
other party.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Allen, W.T. and Kraakman, R., 2016. Commentaries and cases on the law of business
organization. Wolters Kluwer law & business.
Eren, S.S., and et.al., 2012. Caching message fragments during real-time messaging
conversations. U.S. Patent 8,255,473.
Hiller, J.S., 2013. The benefit corporation and corporate social responsibility. Journal of
Business Ethics. 118(2). pp.287-301.
Rhee, R.J., 2012. The Tort Foundation of Duty of Care and Business Judgment. Notre Dame L.
Rev. 88. p.1139.
Rutledge, T.E., 2014. A Corporation Has No Soul-The Business Entity Law Response to
Challenges to the PPACA Contraceptive Mandate. Wm. & Mary Bus. L. Rev. 5. p.1.
Southgate, R.W. and Glazer, D.W., 2012. Massachusetts Corporation Law & Practice. Aspen
Publishers Online.
Wells, H., 2012. Corporation law is dead: Heroic managerialism, legal change, and the puzzle of
corporation law at the height of the American century. U. Pa. J. Bus. L. 15. p.305.
Yates, R.L., Kulkarni, P.S. and Zurko, M.E., International Business Machines Corp,
2013. Business pre-permissioning in delegated third party authorization. U.S. Patent
8,544,068.
Online
E-lawresources, 2018.[Online]. Available through: < http://www.e-lawresources.co.uk/Adams-v-
Lindsell.php>.
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