Acceptance

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 When a person to whom offer is made signifies
his assent ,it is an acceptance of the proposal.
An accepted proposal is called agreement .
An application of shares in the company is offer
and allotment of share is acceptance of offer
resulting into contract.
Fall of hammer in case of auction sale is the
common example of acceptance.
Express acceptance. When an acceptance is
made by words spoken or written
Implied offer . If it is accepted by the conduct.
Where a person boards a train or bus he
impliedly accept to pay to the usual charges
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Who May Accept
An offer can be accepted by the person to
whom it is made .Where offer is made by A to
B ,the acceptance by C would be inoperative.
Boulton V Jones(1857)
D sent an offer to firm with whom he had
accounts. P who had just taken over the said firm
got a letter addressed to old firm ,accepted the
offer and sent the goods . P sued for the price of
the goods. The court held that there was no
contract since the order was to the old firm and the
acceptance by the new firm .
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Essential of valid acceptance
Acceptance must be absolute and
unconditional .An acceptance must be unconditional
and unqualified .accepting an offer with condition and
variation and reservation amounts to counter offer and
rejection of the original offer .
M offered to sell land to N at 280 pounds N replied
accepting the offer and enclosing 30 pounds and
promising to pay balance amount by monthly
installments of 50 pound each. Since N accepted the
offer subject to making payment in installment ,it was
held that acceptance was conditional and qualified .

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 Acceptance must be communicated to the offeror-If the
offeree is silent and give no acceptance to the offeror, no
contract is formed.
Acceptance must be made within reasonable time:
Acceptance to be valid must be within the time allowed by
the offeror and if no time is specified ,it must be made within
the reasonable time .Acceptance made after the offer has
been withdrawn is invalid.
It must be according to the mode prescribed or usual or
reasonable mode. Acceptance has to be made in the
manner prescribed or indicated by the offeror.
Section7(2)states that if the acceptance is not made in the
manner prescribed ,the proposer may within the reasonable
time after the acceptance is communicated to him insist that
the acceptance must be made in the prescribed manner.

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 The acceptor must be aware of the proposal at the time
of the offer. Acceptance follows offer. If the acceptor is not
aware of the existence of the offer and conveys his
acceptance ,no contract comes into existence .There must
be knowledge of the offer before anyone could consent to
it .An act done in ignorance of the offer of reward can not be
called an acceptance .Case-Lalman shukla V.Gauri Dutt
(1913)
Acceptance must be given before the offer lapse
or before the offer is revoked .It means that
acceptance must be made while the offer is in force that is
before the offer has been revoked or offer has lapsed.
Acceptance cannot be implied from silence.

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Effect of silence on
acceptance. Mental
acceptance
Kashi is no
Prasad V Sajjadi acceptance
begum.
A landlord served a notice on the tenant
demanding enhancement of rent .The tenant
did not protest against it and continue to
occupy the premises .The conduct of tenant
amount to acceptance of the offer to pay the
rent at a higher rate.

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 Communication of offer
(Section 4) of an offer is complete when it
The communication
comes to the knowledge of the person to whom
the offer is made. In other words, when the
offeree comes to know about the offer, the
communication is said to be completed. Mr. Habib
proposes by letter, to sell a house to Mr. Kumar for
Rs.100000. The letter is posted on 6th August,
2003. The letter reaches Mr. Kumar on 8th
instant. The communication of the offer is
complete when Mr. Kumar, the offeree, receives
the letter i.e., on 8th.

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Communication of an acceptance:
(Section-4)
There are two rules regarding the completion of communication of an acceptance.
As against the offeror:
The communication of an acceptance is complete as against the proposer, when

the acceptance is put in a course of transmission to him, so as to be out of power of

the acceptor. For example, Mr. Habib offer by letter, to sell a house to Mr. Kumar for
Rs. 100000. The letter is posted on 6 th August. The letter reaches Mr. Kumar on 8th.
If Mr. Kumar accepts the offer of Mr. Habib in the above case and sends a letter by
post on 9th instant, the communication of the acceptance against Mr. Kumar is
complete on 9th instant.
As against the acceptor:
The communication of an acceptance is complete as against the acceptor, when it
comes to the knowledge of the offeror. As for instance, Mr. Habib offer by letter, to
sell a house to Mr. Kumar for Rs. 1000.00. The letter is posted on 6 th August, 2003.
The letter reaches Mr. Kumar on 8th instant. If Mr. Kumar accepts the offer of Mr.
Habib in the above case and sends a letter by post on 9th instant which reaches Mr.
Habib on 10th instant, the communication of acceptance against Mr. Habib is
completed on 10th instant.

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Revocation of offer and
acceptance:
A person making an offer or accepting an offer already made to him
retains the option to withdraw the said offer/acceptance. Such a

withdrawal of offer/acceptance made by the offeror or acceptor is

termed as revocation. But the Act imposes certain restrictions on the
power of the offeror or acceptor to revoke their respective offer or
acceptance.
Revocation of an offer:
Section 5 prescribes that a proposal may be revoked at any time
before the communication of its acceptance is complete as against the
offeror, but not afterwards.
Revocation of an acceptance:
An acceptance may be revoked at any time before the communication
of the acceptance is complete as against the acceptor, but not
afterwards.

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