Offer and acceptance

Section 2(a) of Indian contract act defines offer as

when one person signifies to another his willingness to
do or to abstain from doing something with a view to
obtaining the assent of other , such act or abstinence
is said as proposal.
 Legal rules regarding valid offer
• An offer may be express or implied
• It should give rise to legal consequences and be capable of
creating legal relations
• The term of the offer must be certain
• An offer can be made subject to any terms and conditions.

• It should be made with a intent to obtain the assent of the

other party
• An offer should not contain a term the non compliance of
which would amount to acceptance
• Two identical cross offers do not make a contract.
• An invitation of offer is not an offer
 Essential of offer
• It must be an expression of the willingness
to do or to abstain from doing something
• It must be made to another person
• It should be done with a objective to obtain
the assent of the other person
• The objective of offer should be legal one
When communication is complete
• Communication of offer (sec 4 para 1)- the
communication of offer is complete when ii
comes to the knowledge of the person to whom
is made.
• Communication of acceptance( sec 4 para2)- As
against the proposer-when it is put into course of
transmission to him so as to be out of the power
of the acceptor
• As against the acceptor- when it comes to the
knowledge of the proposar
 Time of revocation of offer and
acceptance(sec5)
• Revocation of offer(sec5 para1)- A proposal
may be revoked at any time before the
communication of its acceptance is complete
as against the proposer but not afterwards.
(Revocation of acceptance sec5 para2)- An
acceptance may be revoked at any time before
the communication of the acceptance is
complete as against the acceptor, but not
afterwards.
 Types of offer
• General & specific offer
• Express & implied offer
• Positive &negative offer
• Cross offer
 General and specific offer
• General offer made to the whole world at
large
• General offer can be accepted by any person
having notice of the offer by doing what is
required under the offer
• Specific offer made to some specific person
• Specific offer can be accepted only by person
to whom it was made
 Carlil vs Carbolic smokeball
• Carbolic smoke ball company advertised in the newspaper
that whosever would take smoke balls ,manufactured by it
,according to the printed instructions would not contract
influenza. The company offered a reward of $100 to anyone
who contracted influenza after taking its smoke balls
according to the printed instructions .It was added that
$1000 was deposited with alliance bank to show the
sincerity of the company. one Mrs.carlill used the smoke
balls according to the directions given but contracted
influenza. It was held that the offer was general one ,and
Mrs.carlill had accepted it by acting according to the
advertisement and therefore the company could not get
away from responsibility by saying that it was a mere puff.
She was entitled to get reward.
 Harbhajan lal vs. harcharan lal
• In this case a young boy had run away from his
father’s house. the father issued a pamphlet
stating ,anybody who finds trace the boy and
bring him home will get Rs500.Harbajan Lal
who knew of the reward, found out the boy at
a Railway station Dharamshala ,and took to
the police station. It was held that the handbill
was a general offer and therefore he was
entitled to the reward.
 LALMAN vs GAURIDATTA
• It was held that the reward for the missing child
cannot be claimed by a person who traced the
child without any knowledge of the
announcement. There was no contract between
the two in the first place because the proposal
never came to the knowledge of the
announcement. There was no contract between
the two in the first place because the proposal
never came to the knowledge of the person who
found the child and thus he could never accept it.
 Express and implied
• When an offer is expressed by words spoken or
written it is termed as an express offer. Implied
offer means an offer made by conduct. when one
person allows the other to perform certain acts
under such circumstances that nobody would
accept them without consideration it will amount
to an offer by conduct and the permission of the
party ,who is benefited by such performance ,will
amount to his acceptance .such an acceptance
will be asked to pay for it.
 Communication of offer
• Communication of offer(sec 4):The
communication of the offer complete when it
comes to the knowledge of the person to whom
it is made Example: A sends a proposal in the
mail to B and if the mail lost, it can be held that
the communication of the proposal is not
complete. Communication of
acceptance(sec4):communication of acceptance
is complete when it put in course of transmission
to him as to be out of the power of the acceptor
to withdraw same and when it come to the
knowledge of the proposer.