Name: Masiat Afrin Anto

Id:1812161030
QUESTION-

Philip wants to sell his house and advertises it in the local newspaper at £370,000, giving his
telephone number. Jim sees the advertisement and rings Philip and makes an appointment to see
the house. Jim likes the house but cannot agree a price with Philip, his highest offer being
£367,000, while Philip insists on £370,000.

On the following Monday, Jim receives a letter from Philip offering him the house for £368,500
and saying that Jim can have until noon on Friday to think about it. On Wednesday evening, Jim
meets his brother Garett at a street. Garett tells him that Philip’s son in law bought the house
earlier that day for £367,000. Jim goes straight home and writes a letter to Philip accepting his
offer at £368,500. He posts the letter immediately and Philip receives it on Thursday morning
but replies by return saying- ‘You are too late, I have sold the house to my son in law.’

Advise Jim using suitable case references.

Answer :
As per the question, we can see here that, Invitation to treat, counter-offer, the status of a
commitment to hold an offer open, revocation, and postal rule are the issues that appear in this
question.
Now, the question is what is an invitation to treat? If the offeror merely feels his way to an
agreement or initiates talks that may or may not result from an agreement, then there is no offer.
Then it is an invitation to treat. Over the years the courts have held that certain situations
constitute an invitation to treat rather than offers.(Fisher v. Bell)
“In general, ads should represent an invitation to treat. In Partridge v Crittenden, the plaintiff
posted an ad in Cage and Aviary Birds saying "Bramble Anch cocks and hens." He was found
guilty of the crime of offering a live wild bird for sale. His conviction had been upheld on trial,
where the court ruled that ads were simply an opportunity to sell, and he should not have
committed the crime of offering for sale.”[ CITATION Mar20 \l 1033 ]

The acceptance of the offer by the offeror must be communicated to the offeror. If the
acceptance is posted, acceptance will be completed when the letter is posted in the post box
(Adams v. Lindsell)
The offeror must consider an offer for its real or similar terms of reference. But when offeree
proposes new terms, he makes a counter-offer whose purpose is to replace the initial offer. The
defendant offered to sell his farm for $1000 in Hyde v. Wrench. The complainant wanted to buy
but had made a counter bid of $900.By doing so, now the initial deal has been lost. An offeror
can withdraw his offer before it is approved at any moment. The appellant was held to be entitled
to withdraw his request in The Guardians of the Navan Union v. McLoughlin, as consent by the
plaintiff has not yet been transmitted to him. Even if the offeror decides to keep the offer open
for a certain amount of time, he still has the option of withdrawing the offer. In, the offeror
agreed Routledge v. Grant hold his offer open for six weeks but revoked after three. And the
judge has decided that he has the right to do so. As the commitment is considered rejected. If the
commitment to keep has been granted some conditional consideration, so the offeror could not
revoke it.
“ The offeree to be aware of the revocation. Postal law does not apply to termination; thus, the
letter of withdrawal does not immediately exist until though the offeree opens it. (Byrne v. Van
Tienhoven). However, the revocation to be conveyed exclusively by the offeror. It can also be
done by a third party. But the source should therefore be reliable. (Dickinson v. Dodds) and
(Cartwright v. Hoogstoel)”[ CITATION Mar20 \l 1033 ]

The local paper advertising of Philip by offering his telephone number and price is merely an
invitation to treat. But Jim offers a $67,000 bid that ruined Philip's initial deal. Philip then offers
another $68,500 bid and allows Jim a chance to think about it before noon on Friday. And Philip
vowed to leave the bid open here is meaningless, since there was no reason to endorse his
commitment. Thus, on Friday, he will rescind the bid before noon.
Jim hears from his brother Garrett two days later that the house was already sold. And then he
posted an acceptance note., offer may be withdrawn at any point before the offeree approves the
offer and the revoke does not always need to be announced by the offeror. Any third party will
do this and Garrett is a third party here. Now, the question is whether or not Garrett is a reliable
source.
If the court found Garrett to be an unreliable source, the bid would not have been withdrawn on
Wednesday night, and thus would have been able to consider it when Jim posted the letter of
approval. And according to the postal law, by the moment he posted the message, Jim must have
had a deal to purchase the property. And the letter from Philip to Jim that the house was already
sold does not act as a revoke.
In conclusion, I think that Garrett depends on the outcome of this case. If Garrett is a reputable
source then the bid has been withdrawn. But if it is not then a relationship between them comes
into being.
References
Morgan, M. (2020). SCRIBD web page. Retrieved from SCRIBD web site:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/46175881/Contract-Problem-Sample-Answer-1