Contractual agreement has always been viewed in terms of offer and acceptance. The universal principle to contract law has always been parties may get into an agreement in whichever way they deem fit and they are subject to certain terms as they choose. As far as legal requirements vital to their formation are binding contracts may be formed. Moreover a binding agreement may be manifested in terms of writing or in verbal form. One of the controversial issues in the law of contract formation has always been the issue of distance contracts. Matters regarding to the types of rules that should be used to govern this type of contracts have always been a topic of debate. One of these rules includes the age old Postal acceptance rule also known as the “postal rule” or the “Mailbox rule”. This paper seeks to examine the justification of the postal acceptance rule and its place in the modern world with the emergence of electronic means of communication Background Postal acceptance rule dates back in 1818 when it was established in a court case of (adam v lindsell) In this case the code had to reach a verdict on the moment of contract formation by post. Apparently the courts found out that the parties communicating acceptance through post office were never certain at the exact time the acceptance had been sent. Since postal communication is subject to delay, the involved parties could never be simultaneously aware of the acceptance of the communication, that is, the communication was non instantaneous. As a result this created a series of problems that in turn led to the formation of the postal acceptance rule that still is in so much use today The postal acceptance rule The postal acceptance rule as accepted in the law legal systems... ... middle of paper ... ... Journal (1997): 13. poggi, chrisopher T. "Electronic commerce legislation :An analysis of European and American approaches to contract formation." Virginia journal of international (n.d.). rule", The electronic formation of contracts and the common law: "mailbox. baylor law review. 8 april 2004. scott, Dave. Should the postal acceptance rule be applied t email. 8 april 2012 . T, Poggi and Christopher. "Electronic Commerce Legislation: An analysis of European and American Approaches to Contract Formation." Virginia Journal OF International Law (2000): 224. watnick, valerie. THE ELECTRONIC FORMATION OF CONTRACTS AND THECOMMON LAW "mailbox rule". 6 november 2004. Yamaguchi, mikio. "The problem of delay in the Contract formation Process: A comparative study of contract law' ." cornell international law (2004): 357.
The Mailbox Rule is an area of Utah state law that declares the contract to be effective once the person accepting terms of said contract delivers it to a mailbox. The buyers stated in Addendum No. 2 that if they had not heard back from the seller by 12 a.m. that day, they would consider their counteroffer accepted. The seller was aware of the Mailbox Rule and delivered the accepted contract to a mailbox at 10:15 p.m.. The seller then experienced a phenomenon known as seller’s remorse, and left a voice message for Jon and Marsha at 12:30 a.m., thirty minutes past the proposed
...head?: Norms, freedom and acceptable terms in internet contracting’ (2010) 14 Journal of Internet Law 18-31
The first post office in the United States was established in seventeen seventy-five, which makes it the oldest most reliable post service in history. It is a well know fact that in the beginning, this business was called the Pony Express, which began in eighteen sixty. Years later the US Post office has become the largest company that we rely on to deliver our mail. This mailing institution delivers more mail to a larger area than any other delivery service in the world. They are rendering assistance to more than one million people in North America. There are over six hundred thousand employees and in excess of thirty four thousand facilities nationwide. This institution thrives to provide customer service, available products, transport of products, and accessibility to all consumers. The United States Postal Service is a reliable, excellent, and efficient delivery service. They supply a wide variety of convenient products to help with any shipping needs consumers may have.
If English law decided to abolish the doctrine of consideration it would rely on alternative methods such as promissory estoppel to replace the role of consideration in filtering out non-contractual agreements. The outcome of using alternative methods rather than consideration would impact on case precedency and it would change the formation of contracts as consideration is a key element in forming a contract. However since there has been legitimacy and applicability issues raised regarding the doctrine of consideration, it seems necessary to look into the possible abolishment of consideration and finding an alternative method to fill its role in contract law. This alternative method could be promissory estoppel if it wasn’t limited to a defence
Based on common law and precedent, the English law of contract has been formulated and developed over a number of years with it’s primary purpose to provide a regulated framework within which individuals can contract freely. In order to ensure a contract is enforceable there are certain elements which must be satisfied, one of which is the doctrine of consideration. Lord Denning famously professed; “the doctrine of consideration is too firmly fixed to be overthrown by a side wind” . This is a crucial indication that consideration has long been regarded as the cardinal ‘badge of enforceability’ in the formulation and variation of contracts in English common law.
The first element of a legally binding contract is agreement. Agreement deals with a clear understanding on all parties involved as to what the offer is and the resulting acceptance. This is called mutual assent (Cheeseman, 2006).
Beatson J, AnsonR, Burrows S & Cartwright J, Anson's law of contract (Oxford University Press 2010)
In Krell v. Henry {1903} a plea of frustration succeeded because the court held that the common purpose for which the contact was entered into, could no longer be carried out. But in the same year for similar set of facts, the Court of Appeal decided in Herne Bay v. Hutton [1903] that the contract had not been frustrated because the "common formation of the contract" had not changed. It clearly was a policy decision which shows the reluctance of the courts to provide an escape route for a party for whom the contract ha...
“To constitute a valid contract there must be separate and definite parties thereto; those parties must be in agreement, that is there must be consesnsus ad idem; those parties must intend to create legal relations in the sense that the promises of each side are to be enforceable simply because they are contractual promises and the promises of each party must be supported by
The very beginnings of the concept of contract law can be traced back to several Latin legal principles. One of the most important of such principles is the ‘consensus as idem’, which approximately translates into an agreement between parties. This agreement synthesizes a legal relationship between the parties and involves certain
Contracts are based on agreements which arise from offers and acceptances where, in simple terms, one party makes an offer and the other party accepts the offer. The basic purpose of a contract is to establish agreements made by the parties involved while also establishing their rights and duties according to the agreement made knowing that any breach would be dealt with accordingly. For a contract to be legally binding or enforceable, some elements need to be considered, elements such as: offer and acceptance, consideration, capacity, certainty, and intention to create legal relations. Offers are valid when the terms of the contract are clearly stated. Also, an offer will include the intention to do business and as a final feature the offer
The postal rule is a concept of contract law is commonly referred to as the mailbox rule. It was established at a time when the contractual bargain deal despite their distance. Bargaining over long distances, often used by mail then have created a problem, because the parties could not know at the same time whether they have formed a contract or not. As a result, the general rule set effective time of receipt is required. Thus, postal rule have been created and stood for the proposition that the acceptance is effective on dispatch.
These condition are called essential elements of a legal contract. Now we discuss these elements
In order to decide whether a contract has come into being it is necessary to establish that there has been an agreement between the parties. In consequenc...
In the commercial sphere, contracts and the laws which govern them, have assumed a position of fundamental importance in the operation of businesses i.e. in the transactions which they undertake. Subsequently, Australian contract law has undergone a number of changes both on a judicial and legislative level in order to continue to regulate these transactions efficiently and effectively. However, the changes made have not been enough to keep Australia up to speed with the international legal systems of major trading partners. Evidence of this can be found in the recent decision of the High Court in Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Barker. In this case it was accepted that contracting parties have a duty to cooperate